The Croods

[Sam]

Saw this today.

I don't normally like Dreamworks animations very much. Even Pixar are overrated (Up and Wall-E have sublime first acts and then they lose it; Toy Story 3 was good but not a masterpiece).

I'd seen the trailer for The Croods and thought little of it. However, I was thoroughly impressed by the film. It's gorgeous to look at, full of flourish and detail (as with Wall-E Roger Deakins was a visual consultant).

It's a good length (hour and a half), with excellent, zippy pacing. The story arc is fairly predictable but it's touching rather than sentimental. The overall tone is actually incredibly joyous. It has a real kinetic energy and the action scenes had weight and heft. All of this is helped by Alan Silvestri's score (I've always liked him as a film composer).

Good voice talent, Nic Cage is surprisingly good and really suits the character.

The only criticism is that the final act got a little repetitive with too many similar scenes of peril (this is a problem that almost every mainstream film nowadays has). However, in other films this would have occurred after 2 hours, by which point you're bored, whereas here the shorter run time showed much more restraint. Another positive is that although the film is very fast-paced there's a lot happening quickly, as opposed to nothing much happening quickly, as in other films. Clunky exposition is avoided, most of the set up is done in a snappy and charming way.

There's tons to appreciate and marvel at, I think this will be a classic in years to come. Maybe the name has put people off or the fact that at first glance it resembles those shitty Ice Age films. But this was better than Wreck it Ralph (which I liked) and the best animation I've seen in years.

[Sam]

dp

[SteveDave]

dp

There's dp in it? Good Lord. They're marketing this filth at children!

[babyshambler]

It aint called crood for nothing.