The Croods

I've just returned from the screening of Dreamworks' "The Croods" and I was pleasantly surprised by the film.  I don't know why, because it was co-directed by Chris Sanders, who's famous for directing "Lilo & Stitch", one of my faves.

What really impressed me was the story.  It was definitely a "family" film - very cuddly and pro-family values.  But the jokes were also quite good and the action scenes were very visceral and thrilling.

My problem, as usual, was with the character design, which was very bland and homogenized.  The monsters looked like their creators gathered all the scary attributes of evil characters, then threw them in a blender, from which out popped a dozen prehistoric predators.

Now that I think of it, that's how Stitch from "Lilo & Stitch" looked...  There was no feeling that these animals were real evolutionary beings.

The giant sabertooth tiger is a great example - they designed him using all the colors of the rainbow.  It looked like some juiced-up graffiti artist went gonzo on the poor animal.

Still, the story and humor kept me involved in the film.  And good news, it's doing very well at the box office.

I give "The Croods" a "B".