A Delightful Family-Oriented Movie!

Rating: 9/10 (29 July 2014)

The Croods is actually a very good, family-pleasing DreamWorks animated film that is better than expected because of a well-written story and some excellent voice acting. Who knew that an animated movie about a bunch of prehistoric people would receive an Oscar nomination. Speaking of the animation, the film is also visually impressive as this should be eye candy for everyone. As for the jokes, some are actually quite funny and most of them do not fall flat.
Kirk De Macco and Chris Sander's film is about a bunch of prehistoric people named the Croods whom do not like to try new things and they spend the majority of their days holed up in a cave. However the daughter, Eep wants to do things and she runs away from home much to her father's, Grug displeasure and she learns about what will happen. But due to a changing world, the family must leave their cave and venture out in the wilderness to begin a new life.
This film has an impressive voice cast. Nicolas Cage finally chooses a good role as of late and does a neat job voicing the concerned, stubborn Grug. Emma Stone shows she can do well in animation as the voice of Eep. Then we have some good voicework from the likes of Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, and Cloris Leachman.
Overall, The Croods is much better than anyone could hope for and it's pleasing animated fare for the entire family. The kids will love this, and I think the adults would be pleasantly surprised. Somehow, this film reminds me of Ice Age and I think that is a favorable comparison because I enjoy those films. But thanks to beautiful animation, a good story, excellent voice-acting, and of course from that prehistoric teen angst, we get a very good family film. I rate this film 9/10.