Review of The Croods (2013) by Alex Z — 24 Jun 2015

The Croods is a mishmash of good & odd choices. The animation is good and has a lot of bright, beautiful colors. However, it lacks a bit in the story department. I don't know whether to praise or criticize the creatures in this movie. They take things like a saber tooth tiger and gave it fur that's all the colors of the rainbow. There's another giant creature that attacks them constantly that looks like kind of like The Cheshire Cat. There's two different giant animals that attack them. Why? Had there been a moment where they tame one to help fend off the other, I could understand it. In the end, both of them were tamed by the family (one of which is not even shown being tamed). Seems like a missed opportunity for extra conflict. I found it funny that at the end, they pretty much had a pet for every family member. Seemed like overkill on the cutesy animals to me.

That's one of the biggest problems I have with this film: there's such a lack of legitimate conflict here that I got bored and annoyed with watching the family just walking and getting into minor inconveniences most of the time. "Oh no! There's a bunch of pointy shells on the ground! What can they possibly do to survive this harrowing situation? Oh wait, Guy knows how to make shoes - problem easily solved." I know it's a kids movie, but I really feel like it could have thrown in a bit more drama for the adults and would have left the entire audience more satisfied.

It's worth noting that the trailer made it look like it's Eep's (the teenage girl) journey, but this film is really mostly about the conflict between Grug (the dad) and the character named Guy. However, that's generally the bulk of any real story here. The rest of the film is just them running into relatively minor inconveniences.

As for the characters themselves, most of them are pretty good. Ugga (the mom) kinda gets lost in the shuffle and almost looked too much like her daughter, Eep. Eep actually got on my nerves a bit.

The film had a lot of good things going for it, but I feel like it could have been so much better. Kids will probably love it, but I think it's hit & miss for adults.