The Croods Review

Well it’s sure as hell better than yesterday’s movie. The Croods is a new animated feature by DreamWorks (the company who brought us Shrek, Madagascar, and How to Train Your Dragon). The movie follows a family called the Croods, the last of the Neanderthals (cave men). The family spends 9 out of 10 days of the year hiding in their cave because they are afraid of what's out in the world could kill them. The dad of the family is super over protective and only let's them venture out every few days to hunt. The daughter named Eep hates her life; she just wants to be free. One night she manages to get out of the cave and meets a homo sapien named Guy. He tells her that the world is going to end and that he's heading to safety, soon after he disappears. When heading back to the cave after being found by her dad, an earthquake hits and destroys the families cave. But it opens up a path to a jungle they've never seen before and they decide to venture into it. They later meet up with Guy who convinces them that the only safe place is a mountain several miles away. While the father is reluctant, they decide to trust Guy in the hopes of finding a new home. To be honest, I really enjoyed The Croods. The movie had some funny moments, it was pretty heartfelt at times, and the voice acting was well done. Visually the movie is quite beautiful, the world is busting with color and detail. In the close ups you can see individual hairs on the characters heads. While the movie had many aspects I really liked, I can't shake the feeling that it’s missing something. But the thing that bothers me the most is that it's not really special. The Croods isn't on the same level as a movie like Up, we're not going to be talking about it five years from now. After it's done in the theaters we'll see a couple commercials for the DVD and then The Croods will vanish into obscurity. While The Croods did some things right, it's not that special of an animated movie and will soon be gone from our memories. 3.5/5