It may be set a few thousand years before the invention of comedy, but that’s no excuse for the truly primitive attempt at humor in Dreamworks’ newest animated film, “The Croods.”
Set in an imaginative land reminiscent of the long-gone supercontinent of Pangaea, the Crood family is supposed to be your average prehistoric nuclear unit — with a saber tooth tiger for good measure.
The concept of “The Croods” is typical. A lovingly dysfunctional family banding together while their ancient world literally crumbles beneath their feet in the separation of continents, this tight-knit family of cavemen must traverse the dangerous outside world with the help of a brave young man aware of their apocalyptic fate.
Their unexpected adventure forces this sheltered family to encounter and accept change while learning about themselves in the process.
Sentimental, cute and easily predictable, “The Croods” is just too contrived for their dazzling 3D graphics and stone-age frontier theme to overcome. Clichéd pop culture archetypes, a muddled plot line and bland character development leave this animated film with little original or stimulating material.
The film literally gets off to a running start with bad humor, using a goofy chase scene to overdo the “Cro-Magnon” humor of fur hides, barbaric behavior, coexistence with extinct creatures and other hackneyed ideas.
If the humor isn’t tedious enough, a plotline as sluggish as the adorable pet sloth one of the characters keeps as a companion makes “The Croods” even more tired.
To inject some energy into a dull story, meaningless montage sequences and even more bad jokes are used to cover the bare-bones plot of a family travelling cross-continent.
Where unique character narratives could have saved this cartoon movie, generic film roles were employed instead.
A caring mother, thick-headed yet humorous father, insignificant son and a brave young girl defying gender roles is not exactly new ground for children’s movies. Dreamworks could have livened up this flop of a film with intriguing characters.
So is “The Croods” worth seeing? Vivid 3D cinematography and bold landscape shots are entertaining, yet even bright splashes of color through 3D lenses don’t compensate for the bland storyline and humor.
The color palette may fool your children into a good time, but for those paying for the tickets, “The Croods” is a wearisome experience made tolerable with its bold and vibrant backdrops.
C-
http://youtu.be/xrbwgn_kRBo
