THE CROODS

Cole's Rating: ★★ ½

Jesse's Rating: ★★★

Directors: Kirk De Micco, Chris Sanders

Year: 2013

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone

Genre: Animation/Adventure/Comedy/Family

MPAA Rating: PG

        About five minutes into The Croods, I recognized and welcomed the idea of this movie symbolizing teenage angst. About 10 minutes later, I pushed that idea aside, and welcomed another idea: the idea that this movie would symbolize a family adapting to the modern culture. But really, the finished product was a mumbo-jumbo, colorful mess. The plot was so thin, that Nicolas Cage fell right through it (he's bad enough in real life, imagine how he is in an animated flick (it's laughable)), and almost pulled the rest of The Croods down with him. 

        The savior was the visual effects. Had this movie been made at the time of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, it may very well have been a zero to no star movie. But since the visual qualities were so astoundingly brilliant, it picked up the slack of the script and Cage. All that I can say about these effects has already been said about Life of Pi, but it was the main thing that kept the film interesting; and it was the only thing that drove me to continue to watch it, as the film itself was less than engaging. Another great thing about the effects is that it provoked some laugh-out-loud moments, such as the baby girl who was used as something like a Rottweiler. Hilarious.

        The movie could have been a lot better had it expanded upon the initial ideas that the audience was convinced the film was going to delve deeper into; but it didn’t. Therefore, the movie suffered. This is why I stated that it was a mess; it kept turning in different directions for comical needs and purposes, and drove itself right into the ditch of weak storytelling, and couldn’t get itself out.

        But it ended just like every other kiddy animated flick: satisfying. And although it’s very cliche, it works because it leaves the audience satisfied. It closes it out on a good note because the producers want the audience to leave the film happy and filled with gratitude; this part of the movie was effective, but I would have been much more satisfied had it been good the whole way through.

        To add on to the description of the thin plot, it felt like it was forced. The family was escaping the continental divide (or so we assume, my uncle and myself didn’t easily pick up on it), and kept coming across different “worlds” if you will. My eight year-old brother’s exact words after the movie were: “the visual effects were cool, but I didn’t really get how they kept changing worlds and stuff”. This begs the question, who is this film intended for?

-Written by Cole Pollyea

Jesse's Thoughts: The Croods may have the best visual effects ever in an animated film. The story is  murky though. It was obviously made for a kid type audience (most animated flicks are). However, I do recommend it solely based on the look of it. It's an eye popping feast (especially in 3-D)