The animated cave-people comedy The Croods is a fun, enjoyable, visually intriguing movie that was better than I figured it to be.  Because of its scope — depicting the very abrupt, incredibly destructive tectonic plate shifts changing the prehistoric world — it had to be animated, and the film veers sometimes uneasily between its danger sequences and its comic sequences.  Yet I really enjoyed the matter-of-fact tone with which the characters understand, relate and accept the generally meager prospects of their own survival.

The Croods pokes fun of ignorance and short-sightedness.  The father, Grug, is so focused on daily survival that he never even thinks about improving the family’s lot in life.  The daughter, Eep, is the focal character, representing the evolution of spirit and adventure in the early human species.  Because she isn’t afraid to experiment, explore and learn, she is mankind’s best hope for the future.  Another character, Guy, arrives on the scene as a reluctant savior figure.  It is his presence that moves the family and protects them, yet he is just so far ahead of them that he doesn’t seem authentic.  He’s like the professor on Gilligan’s Island, just younger and with more humor and purpose.

The film, directed by Kirk De Micco and Chris Sanders, is inventive and contemporary at the same time.  Although prehistoric, the family acts like people just down the street.  Subtle references to things connect the past with the present, both visually and through dialogue.  It’s an odd movie in many ways, yet because it is animated, its oddity is appealing and amusing.  The Croods is one of those movies that is designed to be critic-proof; it isn’t meant to be taken seriously as social commentary, drama or even art, but it contains elements bound to appeal to both kids and adults as entertainment.  As such it succeeds surprisingly well.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  24 April 2013.