REVIEW: The Croods (2013)

Movie Reviews

The Croods was the first of two film releases for DreamWorks Animation in 2013. Written and directed by Kirk DeMicco (Quest for Camelot, Vivo) and Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon,) the film follows a family of cave people as they adapt to their changing surroundings. I saw The Croods once a few years ago and didn’t like it at all. I was downright disappointed to see Chris Sanders attached to such an ugly, mediocre film after co-directing Lilo & Stitch and especially How to Train Your Dragon. However, it’s been a long time, and I’ve changed my mind about movies before. Let’s take a look. 

Eep (Emma Stone) is the oldest daughter of a family that avoids all possible danger. Her father, Grug (Nicolas Cage), is obsessed with keeping his family safe and demands everyone be in the cave by sundown. However, Eep wants to explore and hates being in the dark cave as much as she hates being told what to do. Things begin to change when Eep meets Guy (Ryan Reynolds), a smarter, less brawny humanoid who doesn’t hide in a cave and makes his own tools. Nature intervenes, forcing Grug and the rest of the family out of the cave and on an adventure with Guy to find a new home. 

The Croods contains some truly stunning animation. The landscapes in this movie are to die for, not to mention the insanely inventive designs for the animals. The big-headed big cats, turtle-birds, and other wacky critters have Chris Sanders’ name all over them and are some of my favorite things about the film. The sequence where the family is out at night for the first time and they all see the stars come out is just breathtaking. I’m glad I watched The Croods again because I didn’t remember the visuals being so impressive and inspired. I don’t like the human character designs, though, especially Eep. She’s just off-putting to look at. Sanders is known for his drawings of curvy and unconventionally-shaped women, but Eep is visually unpleasant. I get that they’re cavepeople and not necessarily supposed to be beautiful, but the triangular shape of her body, her massive arms, and minuscule feet are unappealing to the eye. I find this dissonance between the characters and their environment to be somewhat distracting. It reminds me of The Good Dinosaur, which also sports gorgeous backgrounds and realistic foliage combined with uninspired character designs. The Croods’ original musical score by Alan Silvestri is alright. It suits the mood and aesthetic (confused though it may be) of the film, but it’s nowhere near as good as his work on the Marvel movies or Lilo & Stitch. It works well enough for the movie it’s attached to, but it’s nothing memorable. 

The Croods has a small but impressive cast led by Emma Stone as Eep and Nicolas Cage as Grug. Catherine Keener plays family matriarch Ugga, and she’s mostly sweet and understanding, though the film doesn’t give her much to do. Cloris Leachman does her typical kooky old lady schtick here as Gran. Clark Duke unconvincingly voices the 9-year-old Thunk, and Ryan Reynolds plays Guy. Despite starring a talented array of veteran performers (and Clark Duke, who I know absolutely nothing about), the acting in The Croods isn’t worthy of much mention. Emma Stone’s Eep is your usual rebellious daughter who wants more out of life, but she doesn’t do much to endear you to the character or feel what she’s feeling. Grug seems stubborn and stupid most of the time, Guy is just as generic as his name, Ugga is a stock mom character, and there’s little to say about Gran or the baby, Sandy. On top of Thunk’s voice not fitting his age or character design, his jokes all fall flat. I don’t blame the actors for this because it’s all of them, and they’re not given much of anything to work with. 

I think it’s a shame that such beautiful landscape animation was put to use with these characters and this story. The more I think about it, the more The Croods really does remind me of The Good Dinosaur. They both take place in prehistoric times, a period we know very little about and with which a filmmaker could do anything. The Croods is about a family of Neanderthals being exposed to the outside world and meeting a Cro-Magnon. I feel like a lot could have been done with this premise, but the film is at times insultingly simple. I like simple movies a lot when they work; there’s nothing terribly complex about How to Train Your Dragon or Lilo & Stitch. But those films had a lot of heart, specifically convincing and well thought out character relationships and motivations. I can’t tell you how much I didn’t need to see another animated film about an overprotective father and a headstrong daughter. Between The Croods and Call of the Wild, it seems like Dean DeBlois was the heart of the Sanders-DeBlois partnership on their previous films. I guess Sanders was the comedian and the one who did the funny voices, but that’s not enough to carry a movie. An attempt was clearly made to build characters and relationships in The Croods. The friction and reconciliation between Eep and Grug is supposed to be the emotional crux of the film, and her relationship with Guy was obviously supposed to be important too. But none of that works well at all. They feel like stock characters going through the well-worn motions we all know from movies like this. 

I’m glad I rewatched The Croods for the lovely animation on its creatures, backgrounds, and plants, but I really don’t like this movie. None of the characters feel like anything more than worn-out tropes because neither the writing nor performances add anything new to differentiate them. The technical aspects of The Croods are pretty good, but artistic choices like the character designs and a safe, bland story undercut anything of merit. This movie has some good ideas, but the execution just isn’t there.