I saw Dreamwork’s The Croods today. True to the recent Dreamworks… uh… forumula? Tradition? They somehow managed to take the stupidest looking movie idea possible and make a really good movie out of it. It wasn’t quite How to Train Your Dragon or Kung-Fu Panda, but it was certainly good. I’d even say “very good”. The broad plot points were fairly predictable, but the connecting tissue between those plot points can really keep you guessing.
Don’t pay attention to the trailers, as usual they took a good movie and boiled it down to the stupidest scenes and worst pieces of humor in it. Overall it was a thoughtful, fun, creative, and absolutely visually stunning movie. They pushed some of the themes (roughly tradition vs innovation) a little far for my tastes, but never so far that I was crying “yes, yes, we get it. MOVE ON.”
I’d recommend it if you like animated or family films at all.
I just saw it with my family last night. They liked it (my partner and my two girls aged 4 and 7), but I definitely felt like I was getting bludgeoned over the head by a caveman with the “message”. I was also kind of confused by what they were trying to achieve. I didn’t buy the world consisting entirely of animals that were odd combinations of familiar real animals. The animals all seemed to be cute for cute’s sake without having any kind of internal world consistency at all. I think I would have preferred that they either go with “realistic” animals ala Finding Nemo, or something completely out of this world.
Just saw it with two of my sons, ages 13 and 10. We all liked it, pretty much.
I agree with RP’s critique. Despite the attempts to create dramatic tension, the caveman dad’s survival was never in doubt at the end, but it was fun. Nicolas Cage and Emma Stone both did good voicework as dad and daughter - nice to hear Cloris Leachman as the old mother-in-law, too. Belt the sloth was a good sidekick.