Movie Review: The Croods

Title: “The Croods”

Directors: Kirk De Micco, Chris Sanders

Writers: Chris Sanders, Kirk De Micco, John Cleese

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone

My Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

A caveman who is afraid of everything and tries to instill the same fear in his family and has to pick up and move when the cave and the surrounding land they live in is about to be destroyed by an active volcano.

Or, at least, I think that’s what’s going on. We’re never really shown what’s happening and why the area is blowing up around them. Often in movies like this, the audience will be given an omniscient view of what’s happening even if the characters don’t see it. I can sort of understand the choice to get the audience to be as ignorant as the characters to put the audience in their shoes, but it just doesn’t work here, and more leaves the audience scratching their heads.

The characters are simplistic and two-dimensional (for a computer-animated movie). They all become rather annoying after a short while, and it becomes tooth-grinding to make it to the end of the movie with them. Even the characters we are supposed to like, such as the heroic Guy (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) or the rebellious daughter Eep (voiced by Emma Stone) get irritating after a while.

The plot is simplistic with an obvious and completely unsurprising conclusion. There are few surprises throughout and the overall lesson the audience is supposed to take away from the movie is whacked over the audience’s head from the first frame. There are a few minor laughs here and there, but for the most part, it will leave most adult viewers groaning.

Notice how I point out adult viewers specifically. This movie is probably okay for kids. It’s actually relatively harmless when it comes to child-friendly material, although not without parental supervision due to “perilous situations.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t leave much for grown-ups, who, as I mentioned, while likely find the film somewhere between annoying and boring.

“The Croods” earns 1.5 out of 5 stars.