The narrator of this wild and funny animated tale set in the Paleolithic era is a restless and rebellious teenager Eep (voiced by Emma Stone). She is upset with her overprotective father Grug (Nicolas Cage) who tells her and his two other kids — Thunk (Clark Duke) and Sandy (Randy Thom) — "New is always bad. Never not be afraid. Fear keeps us alive." Each day seems to prove his view as various animals attack them or compete with them for food. He wants them to spend as much time as possible safe inside their dark cave.
"With every sun comes a new day, a new beginning, a new hope that things will be better. Except for me," Eep laments at her own private pity party. One night, she disobeys her father and leaves the cave and runs into another human, Guy (Ryan Reynolds). He has learned how to make fire and warns Eep that an earthquake is coming which is "just the beginning of the end." After her family's cave is destroyed, they have no choice but to continue on to higher ground with Guy who has learned how to hunt with ease, to make shoes to protect his feet, and to handle most obstacles that come his way.
Filmmakers Kirk De Micco and Chris Sanders have crafted an incredibly entertaining movie filled with exotic land formations and a variety of creatures that run, jump, and fly. It's fun to watch Eep's family use their speed and prowess when pitted against predators who are bigger and more fierce than they are.
There are plenty of slapstick sequences and a batch of humorous one-liners contributed by co-writer John Cleese. The other women in this questing story are Ugga (Catherine Keener) as Grug's patient wife and Gran (Cloris Leachman) as his feisty mother-in-law. But The Croods revolves around Eep's yearning for a new life and the ways she responds to her father's change of mind and Guy's heroism. This attractive young man banishes her boredom by taking her on a trek towards the light.
In a dangerous world, curiosity, creativity, and collaboration are essential survival tools. It is a lark to watch Grug go through a series of personal changes as he leads his family on their adventuresome quest for a new home. With its captivating characters, rich and relevant themes, humor and imaginative visuals, The Croods is the most spectacular animated feature of 2013!
Special features on the DVD include "The Croodaceous Creatures of Croods"; Belt's cave journal; Croods' cuts: lost scenes; "Be an artist: Draw Creatures from The Croods!"
