Chris Sanders is one of my favorite animation directors of all time. He's worked some pretty fantastic animated movies both at Disney and DreamWorks and I have loved the previous two movies he's directed, "Lilo and Stitch" and "How to Train Your Dragon". Now he and director Kirk DeMicco bring us "The Croods" which focuses on a prehistoric family trying to survive in a crazy environment. It's not as a good as his other works, but I still think that this is a pretty fun movie with an okay story, gorgeous animation and some memorable characters to go with it. Here's how the film plays out.In prehistoric times, a cave family called The Croods is stubborn to typically leave their cave due to their stubborn father named Grug (Nicholas Cage) being scared of the dangers of the outside world. Although most of the family consisting of his wife Ugga (Catherine Keener), her mother Gran (Cloris Leachman), son Thunk (Clarke Duncan), and his ferocious young daughter Sandy are fine by these rules, his older daughter Eep (Emma Stone) is curious about the outside world and sick of always being stuck in a cave and goes out to explore. Pretty soon however, the families cave is destroyed in a massive earthquake and the family soon discovers a massive tropical forrest and are forced to find a new home in a matter of time. After discovering another young boy who can create fire named Guy (Ryan Reynolds), they embark on a crazy long journey to the mountain to find a cave before an impending apocalypse destroys them all.Now before we go over some of the problems the film has, let's talk about the good things that are in it first. The best thing about the movie is the animation. This is some of the best animation I have ever seen not just from DreamWorks, but in general. Everything looked so vast and beautiful and the colors were just eye-popping and rich. The jungle really reminded me a lot of Pandora from James Cameron's "Avatar" it was that good. Everything had so much beauty to it that I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. The characters are also a lot of fun. I think the chemistry between Guy and Eep was the strongest throughout the film as her curiosity matched with his clever personality match perfectly. I really liked how the animators at DreamWorks actually made the characters a little like the actors who were playing them. I found that Eep really did have a resemblance to Emma Stone which included her red hair and even Ugga looked an awful lot like Catherine Keener. It was kind of surprising how much the animators captured there looks in a way. As for the story, it's just okay. I feel that some of the scenes were more sequences of jokes sewn together rather than an actual movie at times, but as a whole I think it's alright. With that said though, the movie does have some problems. For one, I don't think the movie is as emotional as it could have been. It has some slightly effective moments, but they don't make a huge impact like "Lilo and Stitch" and "How to Train Your Dragon". Also, I felt that the movie's ending, which I'm not going to spoil, was a little too long. I felt like it could have been cut down a lot in order to make it work, but it kinda went on and I just kept thinking to myself "How much longer is this?" which is typically not a good sign. Though overall, I did like "The Croods". It definitely could have been a lot stronger that it was, but as a whole this is a pretty fun flick. The animation is fantastic, the characters are a lot of fun, and it's story is actually pretty okay for an animated movie. It's definitely not Chris Sanders' best work, but it's certainly not a bad film. I think it's a film you should check out eventually if you want to. Just don't expect anything too grand.

Think if Dreamworks try to take their twist on Ice Age but focuses on a modern cave family. What do you get? You get a smi good and fun that will have your little ones laughing till they die. While at most points it's trys to be too modern and a bit cliche manly at the first half and takes away form the story and focuses on just pop cultural references and modern jokes. Which makes the film fall flat on. But of coruse this film isn't all that bad. Nicolas Cage voice work was one thing that worked in this. But even with that, it's because he's a over the top actor so it's not that hard to laugh at. As for the other voice work like Emma Stone and Ryan Reynolds, they didn't do half bad. Plus I really enjoy the world they go through. It's wonderful to look at.

I knew this film was about cavemen, that's about it really, I was prepared to give it a try and make myself feel like a kid again, directed by Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon) and Kirk DeMicco (Space Chimps). Basically in the prehistoric era, The Croods are a Neanderthal family: father and husband Grug (Nicolas Cage), mother and wife Ugga (Catherine Keener), teenage daughter Eep (Emma Stone), son Thunk (Clark Duke), ferocious baby daughter Sandy (Randy Thom) and grandmother Gran (Cloris Leachman). The family hardly get out of their cave, having seen many of their friends and neighbours killed by various elements and creatures of the world, Grug is over-protective and stubborn to make any changes, even if it would benefit them for food and survival. Eep is a rebel and questions why they have to live in the dark, one day she sees a light and sneaks out of the cave, she finds inventive modern human boy Guy (Ryan Reynolds) and his pet sloth Belt (Chris Sanders). Guy has discovered how to make fire, he also warns of an oncoming apocalypse, that will destroy the land, he offers to help Eep and her family find safety, but concerned she stays, he gives her a shell horn to blow if she needs help. Soon enough a massive earthquake destroys the land, and the home of the Croods, the family are forced to venture into the tropical forest and escape the carnivores and other new creatures, Eep calls for Guy, but worried for his family, Grug imprisons Guy in a log until he can guide them somewhere safe. Escaping the destruction, Guy is let out of the log and creates shoes for the family, to walk across the harsh landscape, Guy explains that he and all humans have a brain and can come up with ideas, Grug becomes jealous of Guy's impression on the family, and realises Eep has fallen in love with him. Attempting to invent things like Guy, Grug only embarrasses himself and drives the family further away from him as they continue to travel to a place called "Tomorrow", there is a point when the family are split by tunnels, all but Grug escape, coming up with ideas. Reaching the mountain, Grug wants the family to hide in a cave, they refuse, saying they don't want to "survive", but to "live", Grug is enraged and attacks Guy, they end up falling into the tar flow, Guy tells that his family perished in one, Grug realises Guy's method of survival is better than his, they work together to get out, they succeed and reunite with the others. Then the land violently rips apart and the family are cut off from their destination, Grug realising the error of his ways throws his family to safety, he shares an invention which he calls a "hug" with Eep, it appears that Grug has fallen, but manages to create a makeshift airship and fly across the chasm. In the end the Croods are happily reunited, Grug apologises and promises not to be so overbearing again, and they find a beautiful land to live on a vast beach, where everyday they can follow the light to "Tomorrow". The voice cast are all well chosen for their parts, the story is nice and simplistic, the ideas thrown together about what Neanderthals discover is clever, and their many weird and wonderful creatures and landscapes along the way that you will never have seen before, I admit some of it is predictable, the worried father trying to right for his family but being a complete buzzkill I have seen before, but the colourful animation, which can be seen in 3D also, is great, and this is something all the family can enjoy, a fun computer-animated comedy adventure. Worth watching!

The Croods take place many years ago in a prehistoric time that should be like the stone age on planet earth and at the same time it presents creatures, colors and scenery that is not of this earth :) Lets just say that this family is different, they are strange and yet peculiar familiar, they are a good blend of characters and they live in an interesting world.There are great animations, it might not be like a Disney classic or Pixar film, but Dreamworks really hits the spot with this different and sometimes weird family animation film. It is very entertaining and the characters are both charming, likable and sometimes strange, but they fit into the story and experience a lot of new stuff and that keeps you interested and watching all the way.