Beautiful Animation!

Rating: 8/10 (14 April 2013)

Experiencing DreamWorks' The Croods leaps beyond giving you the feeling of a cinematic spectator, but instead the film actually accepts you as a member of the Crood family. This delightful animation follows a family of cave people as they are forced to depart from their comfort zone and embark on an adventure that will not only determine their physical and evolutionary survival, but also allow them to recognise that life can be worth living even when risks are taken.
Out of respect for The Croods (the film and the family), it would only be fair to divulge the negative aspects of the animated film first before pouring out the praise. This is because the 98 minute feature itself thankfully reserves its lesser qualities for the first half of the film, before unveiling a sensationally satisfactory conclusion, as well as everything leading up to it. The Croods does suffer at times from some annoyingly loud and unfunny slapstick comedy that becomes borderline awkward in the confines of a theatre when not even the young children (the target demographic) are laughing. The humour most definitely is not intended to accommodate to all ages, though there are still plenty of laughs to be had, but you feel you are searching for them, rather than they are finding you. Furthermore, the 3D contributes nothing; as opposed to enhancing the experience, it actually (albeit only slightly) diminishes it. It should perhaps be known I am not a fan of 3D cinema anyway, but the visual novelty in The Croods really is questionable as not only is there no aesthetic augmentation, but the 3D in fact causes blurred vision when wanting you to focus on unimportant objects. The answer surely lies in the studio's economic, rather than artistic, justification.
The animation itself is absolutely consistently energetic. It is both figuratively and literally full of life throughout, and the animators intentionally paint a bleakly coloured landscape for the initial setting of a repeated and oppressive lifestyle, before they allow a pallet of luminosity to blossom as the adventure commences and we and the characters are exposed to a greater sense of diversity. This parallels with the narrative of The Croods. The film essentially is a tug of war that sees the character Eep (voiced by Emma Stone) as the rope being pulled towards a life of safety and overprotectiveness by her father Grug (Nicholas Cage) while also allowing herself to be drawn to the exciting stranger guy named err... Guy (Ryan Reynolds). It is a battle between fear and hope and while Grug and Guy stand at the opposing ends of spectrum, the remaining characters are left to contemplate on which side they wish to be tempted towards.
The comedy that is greatly genius in The Croods is that type of humour that humanises and personifies elements of primitive civilisation in a way that is updated so that modern beings can appreciate its cultural value. There are a number of really terrific comedic instances in the film that are aided by the perfect voice casting of the ensemble, but unfortunately these are often overshadowed by the abundance in dull physical humour. The characters that the actors voice are all likable in their own unique way, and cohesively lovable as a family. Like a family, you may find traits that you dislike, but in the end, you know that you love them.
The Croods is certainly one of the superior animations that DreamWorks has to offer, though I would not necessarily guarantee that everyone will enjoy it as it becomes evident from the first second of the film that it has been made for a very young audience and is missing that adult appeal. The Croods is just a lot of fun with a predictable plot, but why regard that as negative criticism when in reality you desire for your predictions to come to fruition as you become so attached to this fictional family, especially at the surprisingly emotionally investing conclusion. No other two polysemic words could probably encapsulate the film more appropriately than: beautiful animation.