Die Croods

A prehistoric parable for kids, but the most important thing is that it’s a lot of fun. And in the first minutes I was telling myself that I’d never seen such unlikeable animated characters (visually). (10.07.2013)

I wouldn't believe that an animated film could captivate me so much, but thanks to the setting and interesting characters, it's damn good stuff, with interesting animal mutations, beautiful colorful visuals, and a decent amount of jokes. A pleasantly spent hour and a half. Entertaining for everyone. Story****, Action****, Humor****, Violence>No, Entertainment****, Music***, Visuals****, Atmosphere****, Tension***. 8/10. (30.12.2020)

It definitely has a message, and it's up to the individual how they take it. But it's so bland, unoriginal, it's clear from the start how it's going to end. I wouldn't mind that, but if only it weren't dull, uninteresting. Everything is like it’s made from a template – the story, the music, the animation, the dubbing, the designs of the characters, their behavior, the jokes ... It's as if the creators said to themselves: "Okay and now let's get everyone drunk on dinner rolls. This was popular here, this is what the audience was happy with here, this is what worked here, this is my favorite joke, we have to put that in there too... and now we're going to take it all and make a great stew! And everybody will love it!!!" NOPE. I liked stuff like Tangled, How to Train Your Dragon, even the stupid Nemo or the even stupider Kung Fu Panda much better – at least they had some spark. A weak 2 stars. (17.05.2014)

Alles hat im Jahr 2005 begonnen, als die Studios Aardman und DreamWorks eine nächste Zusammenarbeit geplant haben – die Stop-Motion-Komödie Crood Awakening, deren Hauptheld ein urgeschichtlicher Erfinder sein sollte und die… John Cleese geschrieben hat. Ich weiß nicht, was dann passiert ist. Jedenfalls blieb bei Cleeses Drehbuch kein Stein auf dem anderen (haha), was sehr schade ist. Ich behaupte nicht, dass Die Croods ein schlechter Film ist, ganz und gar nicht. Die Handlung ist aber überhaupt nicht originell. Das, was jedoch vor Ideen sprüht, ist die handwerkliche Seite. Die digitale Steinzeit sieht sehr schön aus, die Musik von Alan Silvestri ist ausgezeichnet und es wurde eine Digitalkamera benutzt (so wie bei Rango), bei der Roger Deakins mitgearbeitet hat. In der Filmwelt leben unwiderstehliche Lebewesen, die sich selbst ein verrückter Paläontologe in Momenten der größten Langeweile nicht vorstellen könnte. Vögel, die mit Schafböcken gekreuzt sind, landlebende Walfische, Papageischildkröten, ein Krokodilschweinskunk, mit Piranhas gekreuzte Flamingos, zwei Lemuren, die durch einen Schwanz verbunden sind… Von solchen Ideen gibt es wirklich viel und dank ihnen ist der Film sehenswert. Beim ersten Mal habe ich aber leider nichts "montypythonartiges“ oder "cleeseartiges“ gesehen. (09.11.2014)

It's crazy, visually overstuffed and classically formulaic in plot, but at the same time taken to such extremes (whether in terms of humour, action or the dialogue itself) that as a big fan of cartoons I can't be dissatisfied. In this day and age, when quantity over quality is slowly beginning to prevail in American animation after the recent golden era, The Croods are almost the perfect example of enduring and endearing entertainment for the whole family. I'm just afraid that the drive for a sequel at any cost will have a bad effect on the "cool" prehistory in the future. 80% (17.12.2013)

"The Croods" have an incredible middle part, in which you will bond with the heroes and quickly get used to them. They are very likable and you forgive them for their schematic behavior, especially moralizing at the end of the story, but that can be expected from the beginning and you have to be prepared for it. Children must understand how important family is. I accept it, nothing can be done about it. At least it is explained to children in an interesting way. "The Croods" not only impress with beautiful visual design, those character's hairs are truly amazing, at some points one feels like watching a live-action film, which should actually be a standard nowadays, but the film also relies on good jokes and I must say that towards the end I laughed a lot and enjoyed it. It is an entertaining movie, something that is not just an ordinary attempt to profit from children. Although there are classic flaws of animated films (excessive moralizing, schematics, and copying from other movies), it is still a fun and interesting spectacle that I can confidently recommend not only to children. (19.11.2013)