Done Did Reviews: The Croods

Did The Croods rock our world? Or should they have stayed in their cave...

*Disclaimer*: I LOVE ANIMATED MOVIES. Dreamworks and Pixar have long been two of my favourite studios, simply because of the abundance of animated movies coming from either of them at any given time, there's always a fantastic animated movie in the cinema. I heard about The Croods pretty early in development, and was more than a bit excited with the trailers that was released so far. I was lucky enough to see the movie at an advanced screening this weekend, and my family was lucky enough for me to take them along too.

In prehistoric times, when the world itself is changing and everything is new again, one family manage to survive by remembering their fathers simple rules, always be afraid, never leave the cave, and new is bad. Meet The Croods. Protective and narrow minded (not surprising with a Neanderthal brain) father Grug (Nicholas Cage) and his loving wife Ugga (Catherine Keener), Ugga's mother and bane of Grugs existence Gran (Cloris Leachman), and the family's three children, baby Sandy (Randy Thom), thick-headed son Thunk (Clark Duke) and eldest daughter Sandy (Emma Stone). They're just your ordinary family, the son tries to live up to his dad, the dad's never good enough for the gran, and the eldest child is having some issues with her dad and their living arrangement. It would be a normal enough situation, if it weren't for the fact that the world is breaking and crumbling beneath their feet, and their home is destroyed in the chaos. The family meet another, more advanced human Guy (Ryan Reynolds) who is travelling to a safe place away from all the disaster, and much to Grugs unhappiness travel with him to find a new, safe home.

The casting is amazing, each character is fully realised in both voice work and animation and the animators should seriously be applauded for this. The visuals in this movie are absolutely phenomenal, the colourful jungle environments are full of life and the destruction scenes are on such a massive scale, it makes the journey they undergo truly daunting. The film was written and directed by Kirk De Micco (Racing Stripes, Space Chimps) and Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon, Lilo & Stitch), and is actually worth going to see in 3D. It never abuses the fact that its 3D, by throwing items at the screen sporadically and getting cheap thrills that way, instead holding the 3D for more environmental effects, think how Avatar looks when they hit Pandora, that's the type of effect you'll see here to.

Without going into too much detail, the film hits home on many of its themes, the family dramas, the sorrow of losing your home, the realisation that the world is changing with or without you and the cast makes each character incredibly relatable in such an un-relatable environment. It was great to see such a wonderful return to form for Nicholas Cage, after such disappointment with some of his more recent work (Ghost Rider 2, Drive Angry, sadly enough I could go on) and another success for Emma Stone, her recent movies finding her more and more in the spotlight.

The Verdict

Have I mentioned how much I loved this movie yet? No? That's strange, I could of sworn I had but if not - I LOVED THIS MOVIE! Not just because it's an animated movie, I will attempt to review the absolutely dreadful looking Zambezia soon to prove this. No this movie was truly great. It's a warm family movie, full of laughs and some really heart-wrenching moments (I'm not ashamed to admit I had a considerable lump in my throat during some scenes). I didn't think I would see another animated movie that could top How to Train Your Dragon, and The Croods comes dangerously close to doing so.

Welsh Says: REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REA- Good! (4.5/5 Reallys)