OVP: The Croods (2013)

Film: The Croods (2013)

Stars: Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman

Director:

Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Animated Feature)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

It is now December, and as it is December, I find my Netflix queue has become filled with 2013 releases.  I like to see as many OVP films as is possible preemptively, so that I can jump into 2013 as soon as I get through the difficult-to-see foreign film nominees (last year I was only missing a pair of English-langauge movies if I remember correctly).  Therefore, based on its box office, critical standing, and in particular the weakness of this year’s animated film lineup, it seemed appropriate to watch The Croods.  It’s not a guarantee to make the race like Frozen is, but there’s a good shot, and at the very least, it feels like an essential movie to tackle when considering 2013’s cinematic output.

A surprise smash hit earlier this year, The Croods is the story of Eep (Stone), a fire-haired young cavewoman who, like all women in animated films, dreams of a life full of adventure, one bigger than her own.  She’s held back by her overly cautious father Grug (Cage), whose sheltered existence has allowed for their family to survive while all of their neighbors have vanquished (in a cute, if morbid sequence, we see all of their colorful deaths).  One day, she escapes from the cave and comes across a prehistoric Abercrombie model named Guy (Reynolds) who has “ideas” and is intent on reaching Tomorrow, a place where they have multiple suns and everything is magical.  The earth is experiencing a splintering (you get the sense that Pangea is occurring, even though we’re way later than that time chronologically).

The film takes a pretty traditional route after this, with Grug having trouble both letting go of his role as leader of the family (slowly everyone starts to fall under Guy’s cool dude attitude, particularly his daughter) and Eep slowly falling for Guy (and vice versa).  The film has a few great action sequences toward the end, with Grug coming to an understanding with Guy, his family, and the dangers of nature, as well as the final earthquake that provides the “destruction” of their old world in favor of the new coastal paradise they’ve encountered.

With animation, part of the appeal is usually the look of the movie, and this film has a pretty outlandish balance between gaudy and breathtaking.  I loved the way that Eep was drawn, for example-stocky, muscular, but still very attractive, while Guy’s narrow torso and jeans (seriously-I’m pretty sure he was wearing jeans) were not only period inappropriate but anatomically impossible (it says something when you can say he’s leaner than the guy who voiced him, and he’s voiced by the physical perfection that is Ryan Reynolds).  The lighting is very strong-Roger Deakins was part of the art department, and you can see his trademark work with lighting every time they contrast the landscape with the overly bright sun, which is dizzying and quite realistic in a film that doesn’t strive for that.

The film makes little mention of why we have so many creatures that never actually existed.  While we have saber-tooth tigers, and sure, why can’t they be green, we also have monkeys with tails connected to each other and a host of other creatures that never actually existed (unless you get pretty creative with fossils).  The film doesn’t lose much by this (we’re talking about cavemen who understand the concept of the brain and manned flight), but it’s a weird aesthetic choice nonetheless.

The central story is one you’ve heard a thousand times before, and gets a little tiring-is there a more over-utilized plot in animation than a father and a daughter fighting over her newfound sexuality?  Seriously-would it kill them to just once do an animated film about a mother and a son?  Emma Stone, pure charisma in her role, sells the clichés solidly, though, and when the inevitable sequel comes about, I hope that she takes on a more central role than Cage’s Grug, who is borrowing far too much from the real-life actor’s “dudeness.”

As for its role in the animated feature race, it probably shouldn’t be nominated, but with such a thin field I can’t say that definitively.  There are a number of Studio Ghibli and GKids productions I’m dying to see (The Wind Rises and Ernest & Celestine both at the top of the list), but The Croods is at least better than the tired Despicable Me 2.  It didn’t quite make that kind of money, but Dreamworks lands its original productions nominations on a frequent basis, so I stand by my prediction that The Croods is one of the final five movies to make this list.

But what about you-do you think that The Croods will score with Oscar, and more importantly, should it?  Did you find the lighting enchanting or a bit, well, bright?  And between Stone, Reynolds, Cage, the forgotten Catherine Keener, or the outlandish Leachman, who gave the best and worst in the vocal cast?