Review: The Croods

Review: The Croods

*Spoilers Alert

  Do NOT forget to rate this post when you finish.

Official 'The Croods' Poster.

      One of the movie hits of 2013, 'The Croods' is an enjoyable and entertaining animated family movie that will captivate you with this engaging story and wonderful visuals.

      'Eep'(Emma Stone) is a girl in a family of cavemen called 'The Croods', who are trying to survive the harsh prehistoric environments. Her father 'Grug'(Nicolas Cage) is an overprotective father, who always warns the family from the dangers of exploring 'new things'. One day 'Eep' meets 'Guy'(Ryan Reynolds), a small but movie evolved boy, who warns her about the end of the world. When the destruction of the world comes near and destroys 'The Croods''s home, they are forced to accompany 'Guy' to save themselves, something that 'Grug' isn't convinced of. And here 'The Croods' will go on a journey of exploration and self-discovery. Other characters include 'Ugga'(Catherine Keener) the open minded mother, 'Thunk'(Clark Duke) the nos so bright middle child, 'Gran'(Cloris Leachman) the crazy grandmother, and 'Sandy'(Randy Thom) the ferocious baby daughter.

      When I saw the trailer and previews of 'The Croods', I got really intrigued to watch this movie. When it was first released I didn't watch it and to be honest I wasn't really encouraged to go and check it out in the theater. After hearing the unprecedented positive feedback and finally finding the time to watch it, I could say that I really saw one of the most entertaining and enjoyable animated movies ever. After being delayed due to the release of 'How to Train Your Dragon', DreamWorks Animation brought us again another exciting and compelling animated movie, that really just makes you interested in the movie and watch it from beginning to end due to its unique and beautiful visuals, as well as its compelling and full of emotions story. However, the narrative execution wasn't the best, but still good to make you want to care and engage with it. Surprisingly, I had very good and clever humor moments in it.

      Directors "Kirk DeMicco"('Space Chimps) and "Chris Sanders"('Lilo and Stitch' and 'How to Train Your Dragon') in my opinion did an incredible job. Their previous works, such as "Sanders" who worked as a writer and storyboard directors in great movies such as 'The Lion King' and 'Beauty and the Beast' and "DeMicco" who worked as a writer for 'Quest for Camelot', helped them very much in this movie. They brought to it a certain flavor that made this movie special. Their directing style is very interesting and clever, that allows them to showcase the characters story as well as the impressive visual art of the movie. They also worked on the screenplay, which was a good screenplay. Although it had many clichés, yet it had this new feel to it. The group that worked on the visual effects did an incredible and perfect job. And "Alan Silvestri"('Marvel's The Avengers' and 'Beowulf') did a great score that enhanced the emotional baggage of the movie.

"Ryan Reynolds", "Emma Stone",
"Catherine Keener", "Clark Duke",
and "Cloris Leachman".

"Nicolas Cage".

      The opening scene was a clever way from the part of the writers to introduce us to the family and allowed them to develop the characters from there on, even though the character's journeys were simple and not that complicated. Overall the pace of the movie was acceptable, though it felt that it was taking too much time especially during the conversation scenes. But they were able to give breathing time between each scene. My favorite scenes were that when they decided to go with 'Guy' and start to discover the jungle, that of 'Grug' and 'Guy' working together to save themselves, and when 'Guy' and 'The Croods' jump to the other side and waiting for 'Grug'. The ending was somehow predictable, but at the same time satisfying and allows the setting up of the future sequels.

"Emma Stone".

"Ryan Reynolds".

      In general, the movie had one of the most interesting casts for an animated movie due to the harmony they had between one another. "Emma Stone" has definitely proven herself as a force in the comedy scene. So her venture to an animated movie after becoming an international star in a small time was very clever from her part. And her voice fits perfectly with the character and she did a great job sculpturing a unique character with the material she had. "Nicolas Cage" was the surprise for me, and the reason for that is because I never thought he would make his big comeback in this movie genre. But he did an incredible job and his voice oddly fitted his character. "Ryan Reynolds" also performed and had great chemistry with "Emma"'s character. "Catherine Keener" plays one of the interesting characters, who should have been involved more in the story. "Clarke Duke" provided good moments with his character 'Thunk', same goes with "Cloris Leachman" and "Randy Thorn". An the non-speaking characters, such as 'belt' and the lion were great creative additions.
      'The Croods' was able to establish itself during a year which had all the odds against doing such a thing. It may not be the most interesting animated movie; however, the elements it had were more than enough for it to succeed and improve on the mistakes it made in 'The Croods 2'.

Official "The Croods" Poster.

-'The Croods' Info:
-Starring: Emma Stone, Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Clarke Duke and Cloris Leachman.
-Studio(s): DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox.
-Directed by: Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders.
-Screenplay by: Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders.
-Music by: Alan Silvestri.
-Running Time: 98 minutes.
-Budget: $ 135,000,000.
-Box Office: -Domestic(US): $ 187,168,425.
                      -Foreign: $ 400,036,234.
-Ratings: -IMdb: 7.4/10.
                -Rotten Tomatoes: 69%.
                -Metacritic: 55%.

                -PERSONAL RATING: 7.6/10.

-'The Croods' Trailer: