The Croods
Rated
PG for some scary action
Starring
Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener and Cloris Leachman
98 minutes
We joined the
masses one Tuesday afternoon during Spring Break for a discount movie. Oy, do
those masses (read: kids) leave a messy theater. We wanted to see Oz: The Great and Powerful, but our
friends suggested this movie instead. What an entertaining choice The Croods turned out to be!
It had been a
long time since DD and I frequented a theater. Since we moved out to the
country, movieplexes are not plentiful like they were in the city. I was happy
to discover that a nearby theater (still a 45 min drive) has $5 Tuesdays. My
wallet and I did a happy dance over this joyous news. (Thanks, Gina for this golden nugget of
information!) I urge you to check your local theaters to see if they have discounted
movie times. I know that AMC has $6 tickets on movies before noon every day. I
mean, who wants to pay $12 to see a movie? I certainly don’t.
First, a quick
word about upcoming shows. Summertime is just around the corner and the previews
gave a taste of some fine future entertainment. MU or Monsters University
will be high on the must-see list, followed by Smurfs 2. I’m on the fence about Despicable Me 2 since I didn’t really care for the first one, (I’m
a Megamind fan) but the preview
looked funny so, who knows? And, there seemed to be a forest-creatures trend in
Hollywood as Turbo, (a snail infused
with nitros oxide races at the Indy 500), and Epic (a good-vs-evil-save-the-world adventure featuring a caterpillar,
a snail, a slug, a toad and a few “humans” too) with a stellar cast: Beyonce,
Colin Farrell, Christoph Waltz, Josh Hutcherson and Amanda Seyfried. DD and I
both agreed that when Epic is
released, we will be running, not walking, to the theater.
Now, I wouldn’t
call The Croods a great flick but it’s
the next best thing. It got some big laughs from the audience, myself included,
and with the annoyingly endearing caveman family and the incredibly imaginative
prehistoric creatures, what’s not to love?
Just a reminder
since Flixy Mom has been quiet for a while: I don’t like to post the whole plot
of the movie (that’s for you to discover), just a quick introduction of
characters with the basic premise.
The Croods sleep
like a pack of animals, sharpen their teeth before bed, and rarely go outside
of their comfort zone of the cave. Grug (Nicolas Cage) keeps a firm hand to
force the family inside the darkness and away from danger. Eep (Emma Stone),
the eldest daughter, runs like a jungle cat and is as strong as a dinosaur. She
just wants to get out into the light, and she and Grug butt heads as any
over-bearing father and rebellious teenager would. She meets Guy (Ryan
Reynolds) who introduces her to fire and entices her with life on the outside.
But, Guy brings a dire warning, the world is changing, like near-apocalyptic,
continents-shifting type of changing. So, when the family’s cave is destroyed,
they embark on a journey with the help of Guy and follow the sun to tomorrow.
Those might seem like flowery, generic words, but I’ll just say that “the sun”
and “tomorrow” have more meaning than you think and they do not denote the end
of the movie.
The funniest
part of this movie is the family and their dumb-as-a-caveman, crude and
barbaric ways, and they are, of course, the brunt of most of the jokes. Eep is
my favorite character, and I got the impression that she just wants to club Guy
over the head and drag him by his hair to the nearest, well, you know.
As we were
leaving the theater, DD said “she liked it” and “it was funny.” She did mention
the scary parts (a few prehistoric animals tried to eat the Croods once or
twice), but I didn’t think it was as scary as say, Brave, when Mama Bear goes after her cubs.
So, if your
Spring Breakers are bored playing video games and you need to get them out of
the house, I whole-heartedly recommend The
Croods. Enjoy!
