Forget The Flintstones – The Croods are the funniest and cutest cinematic stone age family. While all the families around their cave have died out (or been eaten) Dad Grug (Cage) has taught his Crood brood that the best way to survive is to be fearful of everything, so wife Ugga (Catherine Keener), ageing Gran (Cloris Leachman) and siblings Thunk (Carl Duke), a rather toothy baby and Eep (Stone) all know that the cave is the safest place to be and they should only venture out as a team to hunt for food when absolutely necessary.
However, Eep is a typical teenage girl who doesn’t want to stay at home with her parents, and when she slips out of the cave one night she discovers a young man named Guy (Reynolds), who introduces her to fire and warns her their world is about to come to an end. Sure enough, the Croods’ cave is destroyed and a very reluctant Grug enters the wide world with his family for an adventure, with Guy and his furry pal Belt (“cook, conversationalist, navigator… also he keeps my pants up”) leading the way.
Wonderfully funny and as adorable as cuddly Belt (who mutters ‘dun, dun, duuuun’ in times of trouble), this DreamWorks animated movie mixes adventure with some visual treats as the Croods discover a new world far more tropical and weird than their spartan rocky home, complete with flesh-eating red birds, multicoloured giant tigers and punching monkeys. And while the central story of a dad not wanting to let his teenage daughter grow up may be a very familiar one, it is told here with a great deal of wit and charm, and spot-on vocalisations from the cast.
Kids will laugh their heads off at the family’s various predicaments, and while parents may find one or two moments just a little bit sappy, they’ll be chortling along at this charming prehistoric adventure too.
Is The Croods suitable for kids? Here are our parents’ notes...
Very young viewers may find the carnivorous birds and giant tiger scary.
If you like this, why not try: Ice Age, Brave, The Land Before Time, The Flintstones, Mulan,