Where to watch The Croods
3 1/2 Stars
This is no ordinary boy, Guy (Ryan Reynolds) holds the secret to making fire and leads the Croods to a new land in search of a better cave. Along this journey Eep becomes increasingly infatuated with Guy. Much to the chagrin of her father, Grug (Nicolas Cage)
Cage having worn-out his onscreen welcome after a series of continually worsening movies, appears in vocal format as the father. His odd speech pattern and vocal range are ideally suited for voice-over animation and his line readings are the best in the film. Emma Stone also shines as the visually similar Eep, surprisingly it is Ryan Reynolds who comes off flat and bland.
The Croods doesn’t have the sweeping beauty or depth of Pixar’s Brave, even though both feature a ginger haired female protagonist. Then again Dreamworks has never been in that league, however The Croods is their sharpest entertainment since the original Madagascar. I prefer this over How to Train Your Dragon and I liked that a lot too. The elements are there for a successful new franchise if the writing and voice talent stay this focused.
Director: Kirk De Micco, Chris Sanders
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds
I really liked the movie. I didn’t expect the animation to be so vivid and detailed. Some of the shorts of their skin, showing the age, freckles, hair, scars, etc. up close was pretty sweet.
I agree it was by far the most accomplished visually of all Dreamworks’ releases thus far. I really enjoyed Cage as the caveman father Grug too.