Reviews WesternAnimation / The Croods

Another Dream Works favorite for me.

I'm a big Dream Works fan, precisely because their animation studio was founded on the principle of being exactly the opposite of Disney's sickening schmaltziness. They make beautiful, high-fun films with the right amount of darkness and danger, and this one is no exception. Here we have a guy (actually named Guy) creating things to help himself survive and making up names for them, and they're all basically the things we take for granted in modern life, redone prehistoric-style just like on The Flintstones. There we have Cloris Leachman being as delightfully batty as ever (even in animated form), complete with Black Comedy mother-in-law jokes made at her character's expense. Then there's the big, grandiose sense of adventure, with the family crossing strange lands and facing down the most freaky characters imaginable. Whoever designed the visuals for this movie may very well have been tripping on some heavy stuff.

Sure, it's a serious Cliche Storm, but just like The Avengers you're not really supposed to care. Just sit back and let the beautiful colors flow through your eyes.