I'm not that jaded but...

Rating: 2/10 (25 March 2013)

The Croods is a new Dreamworks animated film that takes its cues from the Flintstones, Ice Age, and The Gogs, and tries to be oh so hip and with-it and falls flat at nearly every attempt.
OK. I get that it's just an animated film and is not trying to really emulate the lives of early humans, but I found the modern societal references (and the sheer volume of them) to be extremely distracting, annoying, and just frankly misplaced. A few modern references, maybe, but the amount in The Croods was overkill and didn't work.
Secondly, I didn't know that cavemen had what seem to be superhuman powers. I'm not talking about running from predators at ridiculous speeds (that happens in all animated films) There is a certain amount of suspension of disbelief that is expected.
No, I'm talking about climbing sheer cliffs and and upside down cliffs, and falling (not just once but many, many times) from tremendous heights without getting hurt or injured or showing any sign of doing so. Yet needing "shoes" to walk over a bed of sharp seashell-like thorn.
You expect things like this in a Road-Runner/Coyote type slapstick movie. Here, again, it is out of place and doesn't work.
While the 10 and under set may not be bothered by all this, it made for an extremely unpleasant movie for me.