History Fridge / TheCroods

* The scene where Eep gets annoyed at Grug for telling her the water was dangerous only to unquestioningly listen to Guy when he says the same thing is clearly PlayedForLaughs, but Eep would have a valid reason to think that way. She knows for a fact that Grug is extremely paranoid and has been treating everything as bad or dangerous, even when it clearly isn't. Guy, on the other hand, has been exploring and living in the outside world all his life, and thus knows what is ''actually'' dangerous and what isn't.

** If Belt could scrounge suitable materials for a she-Chunky Cat puppet plus drum solo in their immediate vicinity in a matter of minutes, he could probably pick up some predator-stripped discarded animal skins while he was at it.

* [[spoiler:Guy watched his family die a slow death. He saw each of them breathe their last breath as they sank in the tar pit. And he was just a child at the time. Wouldn't be surprised if he has depression issues or night terrors because of it]].

* When Guy first meet's Eep's family, he tells Eep to stay back because they're animals and for her to close her eyes because he's going to have to kill them. This means Guy has encountered other cavemen before and things didn't go too well...
** Of course, it's just as likely that Guy had heard stories about cave people from his parents, possibly as a warning not to engage them. Remember, he initially mistook Eep as a fellow Cro-Magman despite her animalistic movements, suggesting he'd never actually seen a cave person. The second movie seems to back this up, with [[spoiler:the Bettermans knowing what cave people are and saying they thought the species was "extinct"]].

!!FridgeSadness
* It makes sense in a way why Grug is so eager for his mother-in-law to kick the bucket (despite the fact that they honestly care for each other deep down). Grug is considered by both himself and the family as the family's main provider, and even with them scrabbling for every bite they could get and him often sacrificing his own food so his family can eat, they'd still have to go ''days'' without food sometimes, as evidenced by Grug saying he "ate last week." With his elderly mother-in-law gone, old and weak and unable to help much with the hunt, he could potentially feed his wife and children even just the smallest bit more, maybe with something left over for himself.
* The Croods live relatively close to the lush jungle they are eventually driven into by the great disaster. Such a place surely has tons of food, yet the Croods live in a barren desert a short distance away, where they were perpetually hungry. Why? Because the jungle also has a much higher concentration of predators, and Grug would rather keep his family out of danger in the desert.
** After watching [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpSlLoarWxA this scene]], you can easily see that there was no way to reach the jungle until their cave was destroyed. [[{{Irony}} The very thing that kept them safe also prevented them from having an easier life]].
*** Even more ironic? If Eep had climbed all the way up the cliff and walked just a short distance, she would have easily found the jungle. Because of the Croods' insistence on avoiding danger and anything "new," they almost missed out on an oasis right next to them, one they'll never be able to reach again due to the great disaster.
** Dry on one side of the mountains, lush on the other. It's called a "rain shadow"; look it up.

* Grug's "motto", ''never not be afraid'', seems like paranoia at first, considering "never not" is a double-negative synonymous with "always". However, if you read it literally, it starts to make sense, as he's essentially telling them to never be ''devoid'' of fear, taking new or unknown things with a grain of salt instead of rushing blindly into something you're not prepared for. It's only his own, misplaced paranoia that makes his motto seem like paranoia in turn, and he grows out of that by the finale. Inversely, the logical antithesis, ''never be afraid'', basically tells the recipient to never be ''paranoid'', and ''accept'' new things instead of blindly shunning them.
* Light and/or illumination is a major theme of this series, as it involves the family being able to see beyond their own borders and limits and be able to take steps forward.
** The [[LogoJoke Logo Jokes]] for each film are themselves lit up by various light sources (a spark for the first film, and Belt using a torch for the second)

* Sandy, the most feral of her family, is the one with the most common/normal name.
* GeniusBonus: You really can tell time by putting your fingers between the sun and the horizon. One finger's width is equal to about 15 minutes. So the "Two-Kunckle Warning" is just the Croods' way of saying that there's only a half hour left till sunset.

** From what anthropogeny has told us, it's clear that kisses and hugs existed well before modern humans started developing. Many primates (and even none-primates like cats) have been known to wrap their paws around each other or make lip contact for several reasons. The question is not whether or not they existed at all, it's whether or not they existed as simple gestures of love or affection. So while Eep and Guy might not have revolutionized the concept, they still introduced the element of romance to it.

* Grug's casual remark about how he ate last week sounds like exaggeration, either on Grug's part as to how long he's gone without food or on the writers' part about how food-deprived the Croods are. But later we see just ''how much'' food the cave family can scarf down in a single sitting, when they devour a huge bird's entire carcass (minus the normal human amount Guy eats) in a matter of minutes. So he literally ''could'' have gone that long without food, if the family's last substantial meal was large enough to let them gorge that way.

** Actually a sun is a star with planets orbiting it. However, there are some stars in the sky that function as these, so it still works. And how can you determine which is a sun or star by just looking at it? You can't, and so you ''can't'' count them.
* Guy said that Grug was riding the sun, even though it was actually just a stick on fire. But earlier [[CallBack Grug's wife called fire 'a baby sun']].
* Gran is the eldest and the only one who wears lizard skin. Similarly, reptiles roamed the Earth way earlier than mammals.
* At the beginning of the second movie, Eep mentions that Grug didn't like Guy at first, but that eventually Guy won him over. While saying this, it shows Grug being mesmerized by Guy's fire, which obviously isn't how Grug actually accepted Guy. However, this is ''Eep's'' retelling, and she didn't see Grug and Guy's conversation in the tar pit. Instead, she shows Grug being won over the same way she was -- by seeing Guy make fire.
* The bird/barracuda hybrid which Guy hunts with a trap and his puppetry skills is evidently a male, as it takes an interest in the "egg"-laying female puppet and has different plumage from this (phony) prospective mate, as birds often do. Yet, this creature is also caring for an egg when encountered. In both real-world ratites (ostriches, emus, and other birds with a similar flightless build to the movie's), and those real-world bony fishes which engage in nest-guarding behavior, it tends to be partially or solely the male that protects the eggs.
* While the scene of Eep getting annoyed at Grug for telling her the water was dangerous had her tell him off followed by instantly listening to Guy when he says the same thing was clearly PlayedForLaughs, but Eep would have a valid reason to think that way. She knows for a fact that Grug is extremely paranoid and has been calling just about everything bad or dangerous, even when it clearly isn't. Guy, on the other hand, has been exploring and living in the outside world all his life and thus, knows what is ''actually'' dangerous and what isn't. Thus, the sudden change of Eep's mind makes a bit more sense.

* Though more a case of Fridge Sadness, it makes sense in a way why Grug is so eager for his mother-in-law to kick the bucket (despite the fact that they honestly care for each other deep down). Grug is considered by both himself and the family as the family's main provider, and even with them scrabbling for every bite they could get and him often sacrificing his own food so his family can eat, they'd still have to go ''days'' without food sometimes, as evidenced by Grug saying he "ate last week." With his elderly mother-in-law gone, old and weak and unable to help much with the hunt, he could potentially feed his wife and children even just the smallest bit more, maybe with something left over for himself.
* Another case of Fridge Sadness: the Croods live relatively close to the lush jungle they are eventually driven into by the great disaster. Such a place surely has tons of food, yet the Croods live in a barren desert a short distance away, where they were perpetually hungry. Why? Because the jungle also has a much higher concentration of predators, and Grug would rather keep his family out of danger in the desert.

*** Even more ironic? If Eep had climbed all the way up the cliff and walked just a short distance, she would have easily found the jungle. Because of the Croods' insistence on avoiding danger and anything "new," they almost missed out on an oasis right next to them, one they'll never be able to reach again due to the great disaster.

* [[spoiler:Guy watched his family die in a slow death. He saw each of them breathe their last breath as they sank in the tar pit. And he was just a child at the time. Wouldn't be surprised if he has depression issues or night terrors because of it]].
* How many animals died during ''The End''? To say nothing of all those beautiful ''plants'' in the forests the family passed through. At least some of the animals could flee, but any plants that were endemic to the devastated areas effectively went extinct as we watched.

* Though more a case of Fridge Sadness, it makes sense in a sort of way why Grugg is so eager for his mother-in-law to kick the bucket (despite the fact that they honestly care for each other deep down). Grugg is considered the family's main provider, and even with them scrabbling for every bite they could get and him sacrificing his own food often for his family to eat, even he will have to go days without food for his family to have enough. With his elderly mother-in-law gone, old and weak and unable to help much with the hunt, he could potentially feed his wife and children even just the smallest bit more, maybe with some leftover for himself.
* Another case of fridge sadness: the Croods live relatively close to the lush jungle they are eventually driven into by the great disaster. Such a place surely has tons of food, yet the Croods live in a barren desert a short distance away, where they were perpetually hungry. Why? Because the jungle also has a much higher concentration of predators, and Grug would rather keep his family out of danger in the desert.

** The LogoJokes for each film are themselves are lit up by various light sources (a spark for the first film, and Belt using a torch for the second)
** The first film has the Croods encounter fire, and a star-filled night
** Both films involve the Croods and sunlight at the finale: the first film has the Croods running towards the light, and the second has Eep and Guy enjoying a quiet morning.

* As a foil to the above, we have tar: liquid darkness that keeps you from moving forward. No wonder Guy considers it his enemy.
* Remember how Guy told Eep that he hates the dark? [[spoiler:He later revealed to Grug that his family died in a tar pit, which can be described as having a dark/darkness-like appearance. Guy's hatred of darkness came from the most tragic day of his life.]]
** [[spoiler: Even more so, if you consider that Cro-Magnon parents smart enough to produce Guy aren't likely to stumble into a tar pit, unless they can't see the ground in front of them. They may well have died because they were ''walking at night'' and didn't see it in time.]]
* [[spoiler:Ugga's hairstyle changed after she, Gran, and Sandy escape the man eating flowers. In other words, ''she blossomed''.]]
* A Fridge Funny and Ironic moment: Sandy is the most feral of her family and the one with the most common/normal name.

* It's fairly clear that kisses and hugs existed well before modern humans started developing. Many primates, and even none-primates like cats have been known to wrap their paws around each other or make lip contact for several reasons. The question is not whether or not they existed at all, it's whether or not they existed as simple gestures of love or affection.
* In this universe, the word "Dog" could have derived from "Douglass".
* Every time Grug comes face to face with Chunky the Death Cat, he smacks or steps on Chunky's paw and Chunky swats back at him. [[spoiler: Some RealLife cats and their owners enjoy play-swiping at one another's hands/paws as a game, foreshadowing how the two will eventually bond.]]
* For all their aggressiveness in the initial egg-hunting sequence, none of the Croods evidently even ''think'' of actually ''killing'' the trip gerbils or other animals that are competing with them. Early confirmation that, for all their brutishness, they're actually quite gentle people.

* Fridge Funny: The art style the Croods are drawn in has a very rough texture... in other words, it's very ''[[StealthPun crude]]''.
* Also they were right when they referred to the stars as suns. The sun is a star after all.

* Grug getting an idea from hitting his head when Guy had made Belt hit him with a stone makes sense. Grug is consistently shown to have great strength, it's just that his head might also be able to withstand a lot of blunt-force trauma, but it's enough to jump-start an idea.

** It was probably entirely to avoid having two cast members naked for the rest of the film and avoid breaking tension for them to procure new clothes from whatever animal was in killing range.

* [[spoiler:Guy watched his family die in a slow death. He saw each of them breathe their last breath as they sank in the tar pit. And he was just a child at the time. Wouldn't be surprised if he has depression issues or night terrors because of it.]]

* How many animals died during ''The End''?
** To say nothing of all those beautiful ''plants'' in the forests the family passed through. At least some of the animals could flee, but any plants that were endemic to the devastated areas effectively went extinct as we watched.

* Though more a case of Fridge Sadness, it makes sense in a sort of way why Grugg is so eager for his mother-in-law to kick the bucket (despite the fact that they honestly care for each other deep down). Grugg is considered the family's main provider, and even with them scrabbling for every bite they could get and him sacrificing his own food often for his family to eat, even he will have to go days without food for his family to have enough. With his elderly mother in law gone, old and weak and unable to help much with the hunt, he could potentially feed his wife and children even just the smallest bit more, maybe with some leftover for himself.