
Animation shows, from left, Thunk, voiced by Clark Duke, Gran, voiced by Cloris Leachman, Ugga, voiced by Catherine Keener, who is holding Sandy, voiced by Randy Thom, Eep, voiced by Emma Stone and Grug, voiced by Nicolas Cage, in a scene from "The Croods."
Movie review by Roger Moore, of McClatchy Newspapers
Skip past the lame title and weary Stone Age premise. The Croods is the first pleasant surprise of spring, a gorgeous kids cartoon with heart and wit, if not exactly a firm grasp of paleontology.
Its about a family of cave men and women who have survived, unlike their neighbors, by minimizing risk. But risk is how we grow, how we better our lives and achieve great things. Thats just one of the things the Croods learn as their world turns upside down literally. Earthquakes and volcanoes do tend to upend a neighborhood.
Daddy Grug, hilariously and sensitively voiced by Nicolas Cage, has just one motto, one he reinforces in their cave as he tells stories and animates his lessons on the cave wall: Never be NOT afraid.
His athletic daughter Eep (an energetic Emma Stone) may bristle at that as she invents rock climbing, parkour and assorted other dangerous sports while exploring their limited world. But fear has kept them all Grug, Eep, mother Ugga (Catherine Keener), lunky brother Thunk (Clark Duke), Gran (Cloris Leachman) and feral baby Sandy (Randy Thom) alive.
They hide in their cave at night, huddled in a dogpile. They only go out to feed. An epic egg hunt (the creatures in their world have more to do with Dr. Seuss than Darwin) that opens the film shows what they have to go through just to eat. They basically invent football (and the way Fox Sports covers it) with this gonzo chase through the high desert.
But Eep has slipped out at night, lured by a strange light. Lets call it fire. Shes also lured by the handsome lad who has fire. Lets call him Guy, given a typical wry and sarcastic turn by Ryan Reynolds.
Guy has a sloth hes tamed and uses as a belt, named Belt. He cooks. You know, because he has fire.
Hes got shoes. For your feet. Eep and Ugga go all Manolo Blahnik on those.
And Guy has a message, which everybody but Grug hears.
Our world is ending. The earthquakes and eruptions mean they have to migrate, to move on, because Tomorrow is a place where things are better.
The big lug Grug thinks Ideas are for weaklings, but he comes around, inventing the long, slow trip across the country that will bring us together, as a family. Right.
The animation is first rate, even if the cutesy critters bear the hallmarks of co-director Chris Sanders Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon wide, round faces, big cuddly eyes.
Another Sanders touch? Emotion. For all the (mostly weak) wisecracks about Grug wishing his mother-in-law dead, The Croods has a warm sense of family, responsibility and letting Dad save face.
And the actors are, to a one, dazzling getting across emotions and delivering this very visual comedys verbal zingers with great timing. Cage, Stone and Keener are naturals at this sort of acting.
The Croods arent the Flintstones. But mercifully, they arent living in the Ice Age, either. That makes the movie about them a welcome 3-D cartoon, the first decent kids movie of the year.