The Croods

Cast of Characters:
Grug Crood - voiced by Nicolas Cage
Guy - voiced by Ryan Reynolds
Eep Crood - voiced by Emma Stone
Ugga Crood - voiced by Catherine Keener
Thunk Crood - voiced by Clark Duke
Gran - voiced by Cloris Leachman

Director - Kirk DeMicco & Chris Sanders
Screenplay - Kirk DeMicco & Chris Sanders
Rated PG for some scary action

      DreamWorks Studios hasn't had quite the success that Pixar Animation has enjoyed over the years; however, that being said, they've still have created some very imaginative animated tales from Antz to the Shrek films, Kung Fu Panda and the underrated Over the Hedge. This year, DreamWorks has released their next animated endeavor, The Croods. 

      Eep Croog (voiced by Emma Stone) is a teenage Neanderthal girl living back in prehistoric times. Her family is one of the few to survive primarily due to the strict rules of her overprotective father Grug (voiced by Nicolas Cage). While in their cave home, Grug tells nightly stories to his family - wife Ugga (voiced by Catherine Keener), son Thunk (voiced by Clark Duke), baby daughter Sandy, and mother-in-law Gran (voiced by Cloris Leachman) - about the dangers of exploration and "new things". The stories all seem to revolve around a character more than coincidentally similar to the curiously explorative Eep and all end with the character dying due to her curiosity. 

      Ignoring the advice of her father, Eep leaves the cave one night where she meets Guy (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) - a young, bright, and extremely inventive cave boy who may or may not have caught Eep's eye just by creating what she thinks is a "baby sun". It's actually fire. Guy warns her about what he feels is the world's "end". She tells her family of this theory of Guy's, but her obstinate father refuses to budge. In his mind, they're perfectly safe as long as they stay in the cave... until the cave is destroyed by an earthquake, that is.

      Following the earthquake, the family is forced to move and enter what they see as a whole new world. They soon meet up with Guy, who Grug finds to be nothing more than a young, obnoxious know-it-all. It's even more annoying to him when he sees how his family comes off as totally enamored by him. Together the Croog family, along with Guy, must brave the new world and the possible dangers that it presents as they venture out to find a new and suitable home.

      When I first saw the advertisement for this film my first reaction was, "Hmm... Probably just another Ice Age." While it's true that there are some similarities, this is still a creatively animated and funny film. Right at the opening of the film there's a cleverly funny introduction of the family going hunting for food in a way that resembles a football playbook more than anything else. The animation here is first rate. The color is extremely vibrant and it's just a beautiful film to watch. The voice-over performances are terrific. It's been a while since I've seen anything with Nicolas Cage in it that was worth my time, let alone money. He's great as the patriarchal head of the Croods, and it was just great to see (or I should see hear) him back in a role that's thoroughly entertaining. I mentioned above the scenes with him telling a different cautionary tale each night, but always containing the same character and ending with, "... And then she dies!" Both Emma Stone and Ryan Reynolds are perfectly cast as Grug's typical teenage daughter Eep and Guy respectively. Catherine Keener is solid as the soft-spoken voice of reason counterpart to Cage's hysterically overprotective Grug, and no matter what she does, when isn't Cloris Leachman funny? Along with the gorgeous visual style and great voice-over work, this film also has some genuine heart that adds a nice touch to the film. They may be Neanderthals (that just so happen to be more fluent and well spoken in the English language than some of my friends), but even they realize as a family they are all they got, and that it's vital they cherish each other when it appears the world around them is crumbling away.

      While not as heartwarming as Shrek or as imaginative as Over the Hedge, this is still miles better than the DreamWorks dud Shark Tale. I certainly wasn't expecting to hate this film, but I also wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. Yeah, Grug doing the mother-in-law jokes are cliche and get a bit long in the tooth after a while, but you'll love the way the animation jumps out of the screen and grabs your attention. You'll enjoy the voice performances, and I think you'll appreciate the heart it contains at the center of it. I give The Croods a B+ (★★★½).