Joshua Palmatier (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jpskewedthrone) wrote2013-03-25 11:20 am
jpskewedthrone) wrote2013-03-25 11:20 am
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Movie Review: THE CROODS
So I went to see THE CROODS this weekend, in 3D, with a friend and her son. It wasn't high up on my list of movies to see, but it did look like it might be fun. And it was!
The premise is that we have a family of cavemen named the Croods. The main character is Eep, essentially a teenager, who's starting to get antsy about all of the rules that her father uses to keep the family safe from everything that's attempting to kill them. Which is literally everything. All of this gets interrupted when Eep runs into a boy who's good with ideas and who warns them all that the world is ending and they need to leave the safety of their cave and routine if they want to live. The rest of the movie is about the family being forced to flee toward the nebulous safety of a distant mountain, experiencing all new wonders and learning how to adapt to new situations and new relationships along the way.
I did enjoy this movie, however it is targeted toward the kids, with enough for the adults to be entertained as well. The real heart of the movie is the relationship between Eep and her dad, who's simply trying to protect everyone and doesn't realize that he's also stifling his daughter and needs to let go . . . at least a little. But the entire family is great in the movie and they all have defining moments and shifting relationships with each other along the way. So the characters are interesting and involving and keep you riveted to the movie. The visuals are also stunning, but in an appropriately stunning and non-gratuitous way. what I mean is that they were stunning when they should have been stunning (such as when the characters find themselves in a totally different environment than they're used to, so they're stunned as well) and even then the director didn't linger on the "stunning" so long that it became a gratuitous use of 3D special effects. It was stunning for as long as it needed to be stunning and then it became the background again, with the characters and their situation at the forefront. Which is as it should be.
My only real issue with it is that I can't say that it necessarily covered any new ground. Part of this is because it's targeted toward kids, and there's only so much ground you can cover with a kids movie. There were some darker moments in the movie that may bother some kids if they see it, but nothing that would make me recommend that you not take your kids to it. Everything works out in the end, as it should. But because of the "no new ground" thing, there wasn't anything that elevated this movie to the TOY STORY level.
But don't get me wrong. It was fun, entertaining, enthralling in places, humorous in others, and certainly a great way to wile away a few hours on a weekend. Based on the reactions of the kids around me, they'll thoroughly enjoy it. The kid inside of me certainly did.
The premise is that we have a family of cavemen named the Croods. The main character is Eep, essentially a teenager, who's starting to get antsy about all of the rules that her father uses to keep the family safe from everything that's attempting to kill them. Which is literally everything. All of this gets interrupted when Eep runs into a boy who's good with ideas and who warns them all that the world is ending and they need to leave the safety of their cave and routine if they want to live. The rest of the movie is about the family being forced to flee toward the nebulous safety of a distant mountain, experiencing all new wonders and learning how to adapt to new situations and new relationships along the way.
I did enjoy this movie, however it is targeted toward the kids, with enough for the adults to be entertained as well. The real heart of the movie is the relationship between Eep and her dad, who's simply trying to protect everyone and doesn't realize that he's also stifling his daughter and needs to let go . . . at least a little. But the entire family is great in the movie and they all have defining moments and shifting relationships with each other along the way. So the characters are interesting and involving and keep you riveted to the movie. The visuals are also stunning, but in an appropriately stunning and non-gratuitous way. what I mean is that they were stunning when they should have been stunning (such as when the characters find themselves in a totally different environment than they're used to, so they're stunned as well) and even then the director didn't linger on the "stunning" so long that it became a gratuitous use of 3D special effects. It was stunning for as long as it needed to be stunning and then it became the background again, with the characters and their situation at the forefront. Which is as it should be.
My only real issue with it is that I can't say that it necessarily covered any new ground. Part of this is because it's targeted toward kids, and there's only so much ground you can cover with a kids movie. There were some darker moments in the movie that may bother some kids if they see it, but nothing that would make me recommend that you not take your kids to it. Everything works out in the end, as it should. But because of the "no new ground" thing, there wasn't anything that elevated this movie to the TOY STORY level.
But don't get me wrong. It was fun, entertaining, enthralling in places, humorous in others, and certainly a great way to wile away a few hours on a weekend. Based on the reactions of the kids around me, they'll thoroughly enjoy it. The kid inside of me certainly did.