Review: The Croods (2013)

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Cast: Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone
Director: Kirk De Micco, Chris Sanders
Country: USA
Genre: Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family
Official Trailer: Here

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Editor’s Notes: The Croods opened on March 22. For additional perspectives on the film, see our reviews from Jason and Jaime. If you’ve already seen the film we’d love to hear your thoughts on it, or if you’re looking forward to seeing it this weekend, please tell us in the comments section below or in our new Next Projection Forums.

Lowered expectations can sometimes be a film geek’s best ally in discovering either a new filmmaker or falling in love with a film that, under any other circumstances, would be either ignored or completely disregarded. Such was the case for How to Train Your Dragon: despite having Kung Fu Panda out two years earlier, everyone going in was expecting it to be your run of the mill Dreamworks Animation film with pop culture references galore, weak humor and weaker characters and story. What we ended up getting was a turning point for an animation studio now gaining respectability, and one of the best animated films in recent memory. It was like seeing the amateur garage band who for the most part created noise finally pulling themselves together to create Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as their first official album.

Three years later, we have The Croods, the follow up from Dragon‘s co-director Chris Sanders. A former Disney storyboard artist—whose resume stretches all the way back to Beauty and the Beast—turned animation director—whose first feature was Lilo and Stitch, the only good animated film from Disney proper in the first half of the ‘00s—Sanders has been instrumental in turning Dreamworks Animation around from being in the shadow of Pixar to a worthy adversary that recently has been beating them at their own game creatively. Continuing with my Beatles analogy, The Croods is their White Album: an equally good follow-up that some might say is better than Dragon. I give the edge to Dragon since it had the element of surprise, but that does not detract from The Croods in any way.

But the real MVP here is Nicolas Cage. If he were to announce that he’ll stop doing live action films and just go into animation, he just might save his career.

The film follows Eep (Emma Stone), the teenage daughter of the Croods—the last remaining family of cavemen—led by Grug (Nicolas Cage), who’s kept the family alive for so long by only allowing them to leave the cave for food and whose stories always end in bloody death for anyone determined to venture out into the world. One night, Eep leaves the cave to follow a strange light and comes across Guy (Ryan Reynolds), a wanderer who tells her about “The End”, insisting that they have to get to higher ground. After an earthquake destroys their cave, the Croods finally venture out into the world; as they come across various landscapes and creatures , Grug grows increasingly resentful of Guy as he leads them to safety.

There is quite a lot to love about this film. For starters, the cast assembled for the handful of characters is quite impressive. Cloris Leachman, Catherine Keener and Clark Duke round out the supporting cast well enough to keep you invested in their relatively minor roles. Ryan Reynolds, who, I was expecting to hate since I’ve never really understood his appeal, was surprisingly good in this. Emma Stone is able to play the straight lead of the film and our emotional core while also toeing the line between sexy and slightly crazy. But the real MVP here is Nicolas Cage. If he were to announce that he’ll stop doing live action films and just go into animation, he just might save his career. Given his manic energy, over-the-top acting and generally insane real life persona, it’s surprising that it’s taken this long for him to do a voice acting role as meaty as this, where he can be as over-the-top as he wants. Not only does he fit in within the film, his presence actually enhances its overall quality in a way that only Werner Herzog in the last few years has successfully done with him. Hopefully this’ll be the start to a long and fruitful career in a sound booth as opposed to in front of the camera.

Between the character designs for the Croods, the prehistoric creatures that they run into and the colorful and textured landscapes they journey across—along with another Roger Deakins visual consultancy—this film is more Quest for Fire than Flintstones in terms of visual wonder.

The animation is gorgeous as always. Between the character designs for the Croods, the prehistoric creatures that they run into and the colorful and textured landscapes they journey across—along with another Roger Deakins visual consultancy—this film is more Quest for Fire than Flintstones in terms of visual wonder. But the real surprise is in its story and emotional content. The film is basically a domestic drama road trip set in the Stone Age with a theme of traditionalism vs progressivism; of transitioning from safe isolation to adventuring out into the world regardless of its dangers. And while it may sound like it’s delivered with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, it is surprisingly more complex; the film distracts you in the first two acts with action and comedy before dealing out the emotional climax effectively in the third act. You almost wish that they’d go the extra mile and go further than Hiccup’s injury at the end of Dragon.

Overall, this is a strong animated film that will work for audiences of all ages. While I still give the edge to How to Train Your Dragon for its unexpected quality that no one was expecting, The Croods is a worthy follow up that continues the great roll that Dreamworks Animation is currently on.

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