Fun, but derivative...

Rating: 6/10 (25 February 2014)

Wow. Forget The Flintstones...the original 'modern stone age family' are The Croods. They spend half their life cooped up in a cave for safety (all the other people in their neighbourhood have either been eaten or fallen victim to diseases) and the other half in a desperate search for food.. There's the lovable big lug of a husband, the responsible, sensible wife, a sassy teenage daughter, her slow witted brother, a baby who thinks it's a dog and the abrasive grandma who's sole purpose seems to be to torture her son-in-law. Hmm... I may have heard of character dynamics like that before in... I dunno... Nearly ever single recent animated film ever made?
They are introduced during a scene where they play American Football with an egg to keep it away from some hungry beasties... Shades of Ice Age perhaps? Then we find out the teen girl (who, with her muscles and red hair, resembles a bulked up Merida from Brave) is sick of her lot in life and wants to travel over the horizon. Is the feeling of De Javu overpowering you yet? Later, she meets a cute youth (he's drawn differently to the rest of the cast. Strange) who warns her THE END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH and she and her family must climb a mountain to ensure their safety. He also is ahead of his time in terms of his inventions (See: Flik in A Bug's Life, Rodney in Robots etc...) and has a cute little sloth sidekick called Belt. This creature expresses itself through squeaking noises and reaction shots. I bet you've never heard of any animal 'comedy relief' do THAT before.
That's the main problem here... everyone is very nice and adorable... we care about their quest and want them to succeed. And lovers of slapstick will be in absolute heaven, there's more pratfalls and bonks on the head here than probably in the entire Laurel & Hardy back catalogue (Guess who bares the brunt of the punishment... THAT'S RIGHT!! The dad. You win no points). It's just everything has an air of: Seen it, Done it, Ate the T-shirt. It fails to add much depth to a format which was stale even before the movie is set, and the lack of many jokes for adults means it's one the kids will appreciate more than their jaded caregivers.
Still, while it may be just going through the motions, that's not to say... to borrow a phrase from another cartoon show, you won't "Have a gay old time". I did, and so will you.
And get your mind out of the gutter now. You know what I mean... 6/10