Movie review: ‘The Croods’

The Croods is a feel-good, cute, family-friendly animated film that will appeal to kids and kids at heart. While the storyline is deceptively simple, the gorgeous cinematography and impressive 3-D imagery more than make up for it. And, who can resist a furry multicolored saber-toothed lion and an adorable sloth named Belt?

Eep (Emma Stone) is a teenaged cavewoman who lives with her family, quite literally, in a cave. Her overprotective father, Grug (Nicolas Cage), terrifies the family with scary stories of the demise of other cave people and discourages them from leaving the safety of their cave.

Things all change when their cave is destroyed and they’re forced to seek safe shelter elsewhere. Along the way, they meet Guy (Ryan Reynolds), Eep’s love interest, whose pants are held in place by an adorable sloth named Belt. Guy is somewhat of a renegade and embraces innovations like shoes, fire, and the know-how to survive outside of a cave.

It goes without saying that Eep obviously falls head over bare feet in love with this adventurous boy with outlandish ideas so different from her father’s. Papa Grug, on the other hand, vows to do whatever he can to separate the two lovebirds, especially because Guy threatens his strong hold on his family.

While the plotline is almost ridiculously predictable, one is still nonetheless drawn into the incredible, gorgeously rendered world in which the characters live. The imagery and landscapes match “Avatar” in beauty and realism. The kid in you will feel like you’re touring a magical world elsewhere on this planet, with turtles and piranhas that fly and whales that live on land.

Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, and Ryan Reynolds do a great job in voicing their characters, but ultimately “The Croods” is all about the visually arresting landscapes, flora, and fauna. That, along with a few laughs here and there plus a few tear-inducing scenes sprinkled throughout, gives The Croods a solid three stars.

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