The Croods

Alice is always worried that I’m going to give a movie she likes a bad review.  “The Croods” is another of those movies that was fun and mildly deep.  I confess, however, that it didn’t really move me one way or the other.  I liked the characters and I like the interaction of the Dad (Grug Crood voiced by Nicolas Cage) and the future son-in-law, Guy (voiced by Ryan Reynolds).  I also appreciated how Eep (Emma Stone), the cave girl, was a liberated woman. 

Eep is a girl in a family of Neanderthals who live in pre-historic times and they all end up surviving while others perish.  They survive because of Grug.  He tells stories to his entire family—his wife Ugga (Catherine Keener), little daughter Sandy (Randy Thom), doltish son Thunk (Clark Duke) and his mother-in-law Gran (Cloris Leachman).  A running joke for Grug is his constant hope that perhaps Gran did not survive the latest disaster. A sloth named Belt (Chris Sanders) also accompanies them.  Grug also draws cave man pictures on the caves where they dwell.

Eep likes the light but Grug believes they can only survive by hiding in caves.  He is the classic conservative father figure who refuses to try new things.  The plot gets a little irritating when Guy comes on the scene and has many new ideas and even wants to woo Eep.  I was afraid that Grug would simply be the old fashioned doltish Dad and Guy would be the bright and inventive and modern man.  Grug does dwell in the past but, ultimately, accepts learning from Guy (things like fire and shoes and the dangers of caves) while Guy does come to understand Grug’s ultimate love for his family and his protective spirit.

Guy manages to convince the family that the world as they know it is coming to an end.  First they move to a new region and then must go toward twin mountains.  Ultimately, as the world as they know it begins to fall apart Grug literally throws the family members to a new world beyond a ravine and he is miraculously “saved” by devising a natural flying machine.

There is so much more to the plot and there are obvious fast food toy tie-ins all along the way.  It’s not a bad movie.  We didn’t see it in 3-D and we could tell that there were times when the 3-D would have wowed the eye.

The ultimate thought of accepting and dealing with change in our world and in our lives is a good lesson.  The movie helped me reflect on these a bit.  Moving toward the light and beyond the darkness of this present world is also a spiritual statement.  I’m sure you can find some deep meaning as you reflect on these parts of the plot. 

It’s just that there are so many outrageous animals and characters and inventions and more, that at times it was simply a little too much for me.  But, hey, it was a good clean movie with good language and respectful characterizations, though at times the movie is probably a little too intense for very young children.