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The Croods is a 2013 American 3D computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It features the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke, and Cloris Leachman. The film is set in a prehistoric era known as The Croodaceous, a period which contains fantastical creatures, when a man's position as a "Leader of the Hunt" is threatened by the arrival of a prehistoric genius who comes up with revolutionary new inventions, like fire, as they trek through a dangerous but exotic land in search of a new home.

The Croods was written and directed by Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders, and produced by Kristine Belson and Jane Hartwell. It was released in theaters on March 22, 2013. As part of the distribution deal, this became the first film from DreamWorks Animation to be distributed by 20th Century Fox, since the end of their distribution deal with Paramount Pictures in 2012 with Rise of the Guardians.

Plot

Eep is a girl in a family of Neanderthal Cavemen (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) living and hunting in pre-historic times, talking about how her family is one of the few to survive nearby, mainly due to the strict rules of her overprotective father, Grug. When in their cave home, Grug tells a story to the rest of the family which includes his wife Ugga, his daughter Sandy, his son Thunk, and his mother-in-law with a character that mirrors Eep's curious nature. He uses this story to warn the family that exploration and 'new things' pose a threat to their survival, and says to never not be afraid. This irritates the bored and adventurous Eep, and when the family falls asleep after dark, she ignores her father's advice and leaves the cave when she sees a light moving outside the cave.

Seeking the light's source, she meets Guy, an intelligent caveboy (Homo sapiens sapiens). She becomes fascinated with the fire he manages to create and is eager to learn more. He tells her about his theory that the world is reaching its 'end' and asks her to join him. She refuses and Guy leaves, but not before giving her a noise-making shell to call him if she feels the need for help. Shortly afterwards, Eep is then caught by Grug (who had been frantically searching for her) who brings her back home, planning to keep her in the cave for the rest of her life. He is joined by the rest of the family, who Eep then tells them about Guy and shows them the shell given to her, only for them to destroy it in fear of 'new things'. An earthquake then occurs, sending everyone running for the cave, only to be stopped by Grug moments before the cave is destroyed by falling rocks. When they climb over the wreckage to discover a land with lush vegetation, much different from their usual surroundings of rocky terrain. Grug takes his family into the deep forest to find a new cave.

While becoming aware of their new surroundings, the family are chased by a "Macawnivore" (a large, macaw colored machairodont later called 'Chunky') and attacked by a swarm of "Piranhakeets" (deadly red-furred, piranha-like birds). In an act of panic, Eep sounds a horn similar to that which Guy gave her. Guy hears this and rushes to her. Thinking quickly, he creates a torch of fire, which scares the birds away. The rest of the family are then captivated by the fire, having never seen it before. They steal Guy's torch and accidentally set the land around them in flames. Some giant corn is also lit, which rockets up to the sky, prompting a display of fireworks and covers them as popcorn. After feeling impressed with Guy's intelligence and mind of 'ideas', Grug bottles him in a hollow log to carry him in, then suggests that they take solitude in the cave of a nearby mountain mentioned by Guy. Guy is forcibly persuaded to lead the way, and soon begins to learn of the Croods' way of living, which he thinks of as unusual.

After an unsuccessful hunting attempt, Guy along with his 'pet' sloth, Belt (Chris Sanders), as well as Eep, build a puppet to fool and lure nearby animals. Having captured something afterwards, the family greedily devours everything they caught. Guy and Eep are more sparing. The others realize their greediness and stop eating. Grug then tells another of his morale-lowering tales, this time mirroring the events of their day, mentioning a girl Grug and Ugga had before Eep was born who did venture away from her cave and died. Guy then tells a story of his own, about a paradise he nicknames "Tomorrow".

The next day, the family reaches a path coated in spiked rocks. A freed Guy then presents one of his various inventions called shoes. He makes some out of all the resources he can find, for each family member. This gains him some respect from the others, except for Grug, who starts to feel jealous of Guy's cleverness. After a slew of Guy's ideas help the Croods on their continuing journey, all the family members gain something. Ugga, her mother and Sandy have their first idea to get past carnivorous plants (which showed what Ugga looked like without her hairband), Thunk encounters a crocodile-like dog who he calls Douglas (and later teaches him to roll off a tree), Eep and Guy grow closer together, while Grug is stranded in a ravine, forcing Ugga to go back for him. They all reach a tree to stop for another night–except for Grug, who feels distraught by his family abandoning his traditions of 'Yesterday' for Guy's traditions of 'Tomorrow.' The next day, a 'desperate' and left-out Grug shows the others some of his ideas, which all end up failing and humiliating himself. They soon reach the mountain, where Grug is unable to convince the family that settling in nearby cave is a better option, reaches to full anger, and proceeds to attack Guy. The two become stuck in tar and Guy reveals his family died drowning in it, and their last words inspired his traditions of "Tomorrow." Grug has a change of heart towards Guy, before he and Guy use a trap to use Chunky to free themselves.

As they are about to reach their destiny, an earthquake opens a deep ravine in their path. Grug throws each of them across the gap and reconciles with Eep, but is left behind. He takes shelter in a cave and makes a torch. After seeing a large blank rock face, he paints a large cave-drawing of the Croods and Guy together. He then encounters Chunky, who proceeds to attack him until the torch is accidentally blown out, panicking them both. The newly reformed Chunky lies near Grug where he has an idea. He then uses a skeleton carried by the piranhakeets to transport himself, Chunky, Douglas, and several other animals across the revine barely escaping the oncoming "end" destruction. He and the whole Crood family settle down in a paradise-like environment, and Grug invents the first hug with Eep. Grug becomes less protective, letting the family be more adventurous and risk-taking, and gaining some pets, thus bringing happiness to them all and ride out towards the sun for "Tomorrow."

Cast

• Nicolas Cage as Grug Crood, a caveman who is the well-meaning, overprotective but old-fashioned patriarch of the Croods family.
• Emma Stone as Eep Crood, a cavegirl who is Grug and Ugga's eldest daughter and is filled with curiosity and a desire for adventure. She has a crush on Guy.
• Ryan Reynolds as Guy, a nomadic caveboy who is not as strong as the Croods, but prefers using his brain and comes up with various ideas and inventions. He is accompanied by a sloth named Belt and is Eep's love interest.
• Catherine Keener as Ugga Crood, a cavewoman who is Grug's wife. She is more open-minded than Grug, but also finds it difficult to keep her family safe.
• Clark Duke as Thunk Crood, a caveboy who is Grug and Ugga's son. Thunk is the 6-foot-9, 320 pound, 9-year-old middle child, who is not very bright and has bad coordination but has a good heart. He gets a crocopup named Douglas for a pet.
• Cloris Leachman as Gran, a very old (45 years) and ferocious cavewoman who is the mother-in-law of Grug and the mother of Ugga.
• Chris Sanders as Belt, Guy's pet sloth.
• Randy Thom as Sandy Crood, Grug and Ugga's ferocious baby daughter who still bites and growls instead of speaking. Thom created her voice with creature noises.

Production

The film was announced in 2005 under the working title Crood Awakening, originally a stop motion film being made by Aardman Animations as a part of a five-film deal with DreamWorks Animation. John Cleese and Kirk DeMicco had been working together on a feature based on Roald Dahl's story The Twits, a project that never went into production. But DreamWorks got a copy of their script and liked it, and invited Cleese and DeMicco over to take a look at the company's ideas to see if they found something they would like to work with. They chose a basic story idea about two cavemen on the run, an inventor and a luddite, and wrote the first few drafts of the script. With the departure of Aardman in beginning of 2007, the rights for the film reverted to DreamWorks.

In March 2007, Chris Sanders, the director of Lilo & Stitch, joined DreamWorks to direct the film, with intentions to significantly rewrite the script. In September 2008, it was reported that Sanders took over How to Train Your Dragon putting The Croods on hold, and thus postponing its original schedule for a year to a then planned March 2012. The film's final title, The Croods, was revealed in May 2009, along with new co-director, Kirk DeMicco. In March 2011, the film got another delay, being pushed back a year to March 1, 2013, and finally settled at March 22.

Release

The Croods had its world premiere in the out of competition section at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival on February 15, 2013. It premiered in the United States on March 22, 2013. The film was the first feature film to be shown in the 4DX format, featuring strobe lights, tilting seats, blowing wind and fog and odor effects in Hungary.

Reception

Critical response

The Croods has received generally favorable reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 68% based on 123 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "While it may not be as (ahem) evolved as the best modern animated fare, The Croods will prove solidly entertaining for families seeking a fast-paced, funny cartoon adventure." Another review aggregation website Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 55 based on 30 reviews.

Claudia Puig of USA Today called the film "A visually dazzling animated adventure with a well-chosen voice cast is hampered by lackluster humor and a meandering story." Tom Russo of The Boston Globe gave the film two and a half stars and wrote in his review, "Had the movie figured out a way to stay the less-cliched course, it might have helped the DreamWorks oeuvre take steps toward Pixar's emotional resonance." Keith Staskiewicz of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C+, and wrote in his review, "A handful of adrenalizing sequences of animated anarchy can't save this story from feeling overly primitive." David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter called the film "Further back on the evolutionary chain than the Flintstones, and also lagging in the comedy stakes, this sweet Stone Age clan nonetheless will captivate the youngsters." Leslie Felperin of Variety found that "The main problem with the film is that the script simply isn't very funny, and its various subplots never quite mesh satisfyingly together." Tirdad Derakhshani of The Philadelphia Inquirer gave the film a 3.5 of 4 star rating saying, "The movie is well-edited and lean, a fast-paced, action-filled bit of froth that manages to be diverting and surprisingly fun." Betsy Sharkey of The Los Angeles Times found that "Too many of the "solutions" the guys concoct are so impossibly complex or just downright ridiculous — puppetry comes to mind — that like the continents, it's a little too easy to drift away."

Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times found that "The movie is at its most interesting and amusing when riffing on how cavemen might have reacted to new experiences and ideas, like fire and shoes. Whether the kiddies will appreciate that is unclear, but they’ll certainly like the voice work done by Emma Stone as Eep." Nell Minow of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars saying, "Despite a few too many mother-in-law jokes, The Croods nicely makes it clear that even before they had fire, families understood how important it was to cherish and protect each other." Tom Keogh of The Seattle Times gave the film three stars saying, "There isn’t much compelling sophistication to The Croods, not a lot to engage adults beyond a couple of Wile E. Coyote moments for hapless Grug." Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post gave the film two and a half stars saying, The Croods is just good, goofy fun, for a generation too young to have met Bamm-Bamm. But for those of more precocious intellects, it offers a little something extra to chew on besides rock-smacking slapstick and a brontosaurus burger." Richard Corliss of Time said that "The family-dramedy genre that the film inhabits demands a bit more narrative ingenuity than is on display." Peter Howell of the Toronto Star gave the film two stars saying, "The filmmakers may have misjudged their audience. They aim low enough so that tots won’t be terrified, but adults, teens and older children may well be bored by the blandness."

Box office

As of April 18, 2013, The Croods has grossed $144,672,604 in North America, and $242,605,000 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $387,277,604.

In North America, the film earned $11.6 million on its opening day. On its opening weekend, the film topped the box office with $43.6 million from 4,046 locations, a vast improvement over the DreamWorks Animation's directly preceding release Rise of the Guardians, yet still below other original of the studio's films, like Megamind or How to Train Your Dragon.

Outside North America, the film topped the box office during its first weekend with $62.4 million (including previews from the previous weekend). The biggest opening weekend were achieved in the UK, Ireland and Malta ($8.08 million), Russia and the CIS ($7.82 million), and Mexico ($4.37 million).

Soundtrack

Alan Silvestri composed the original music for the film, which was released digitally on March 15, 2013, by Relativity Music Group, and on CD on March 26, 2013, by Sony Classical. The soundtrack also includes an original song performed by Owl City and Yuna.

Video games

A video game based on the film, titled The Croods: Prehistoric Party!, was released on March 19, 2013. Developed by Torus Games, and published by D3 Publisher, it was adapted for Wii U, Wii, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo DS. The game enables players to take the members of the Croods family on an adventure through 30 party-style mini-games.

A mobile game, titled The Croods and published by Rovio, the creator of Angry Birds, was released on March 14, 2013 to the iOS and Android platforms.

Sequel

On April 17, 2013, it was announced that DreamWorks Animation has started developing a sequel to the film, with Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco returning to direct the sequel.

References

1. Felperin, Leslie (February 15, 2013). "The Croods". Variety. Retrieved March 8, 2013.
2. "Alan Silvestri to Score Dreamworks Animation's 'The Croods'". FilmMusicReporter.com. May 8, 2012. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
3. ^ Finke, Nikki (August 20, 2012). "EXCLUSIVE: DreamWorks Animation To Fox For New 5-Year Distribution Deal; UPDATE: Paying Fees Of 8% Theatrical And 6% Digital". Deadline.com. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
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47. D3Publisher (December 3, 2012). "Compete in a Survival of the Crood-est in The Croods: Prehistoric Party! Video Game from D3Publisher". DreamWorks Animation. Retrieved December 4, 2012.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
48. "ROVIO AND DREAMWORKS ANIMATION MAKE PREHISTORY AND BRING THE CROODS TO YOUR FINGERTIPS ON MARCH 14TH". Rovio. March 1, 2013. Retrieved March 2, 2013.
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External links

• Official website
• The Croods at IMDb
• Template:Bcdb title
• The Croods at Box Office Mojo
• The Croods at Rotten Tomatoes
• Please use a more specific Metacritic template.
• The Croods on Soundtrack Stream

• 2013 films
• 2013 animated films
• 2010s 3D films
• 2010s adventure films
• 2010s American animated films
• 2010s comedy films
• 2010s fantasy films
• American films
• American adventure films
• American animated films
• American comedy films
• English-language films
• Computer-animated films
• Films featuring anthropomorphic characters
• Prehistoric fantasy films
• Prehistoric life in popular culture
• Prehistoric people in popular culture
• DreamWorks Animation animated films
• 20th Century Fox animated films
• 20th Century Fox films