Fun family adventure...

Rating: 7/10 (12 July 2013)

When I heard about this film I won't lie, I wasn't that enthusiastic. My reasoning for this is mainly that I thought it would be a rehash of other pre-historic animations we've been barraged with in recent years. Now I'm not pointing any fingers *cough* Ice Age *cough* too-many- sequels *cough*okay, so I am. But anyway I just figured that there was only so many ways you can tell that "its-the-end-of-the-world" story without killing (pardon the pun) the subject. After watching The Croods however, I quickly changed my mind, because the film doesn't just tackle this subject but a whole lot more.
The film tells the story of The Crood family who are living a simple and desperately frustrating life in a cave where there day-to-day routine consists of hunting and sitting in the dark listening to the same stories from family patriarch and all-round fuss-pot father Grub (Nicholas Cage). All of this changes however when an earthquake destroys there cave and they must travel across the new and fantastic planes of a land they have never explored. Along the way the Crood family pick up Ryan Reynolds' character Guy who shows them that there is more to their caveman lifestyle than simply surviving and forms a romance with the adventurer of the family Eep (voiced by Emma Stone).
The characters that make up this family are surreal in their realismif that makes sense?! We've got the pre-requisite rebellious teen Eep, the understanding Mother (Catherine Keener) trying to keep the family together, the loud and opinionated mother-in-law that you love to hate (Cloris Leachman), the oft-humiliated middle child (ain't that always the way?), the kid sister and the over-protective father. The actors portraying this everyday family bring an hilarity and sincerity to their roles and really play up to the stereotypes attached to each archetype, to the point where you're watching and thinking "oh-my-god. It's like my family. In fact it's so much like my family that it's kinda scary". The fact that these animated characters seem like real people is important in emphasising that heart-warming message of love and family that we are left with at the end, and also makes those funny family frustrations that much more hilarious.
Fancy reading the rest of my unedited thoughts on The Croods? Come see my film blog... (http://www.filmrambler.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-croods-2013.html)