# The Croods - Blu-ray Review



## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=12828[/img] 
*Title: The Croods* 

*Movie:* :4stars:
*Video:* :5stars:
*Audio:* :4.5stars: 
*Extras:* :2.5stars: 

*HTS Overall Score:*88.5




[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=12829[/img]*Summary*
Animated films tend to be rather hit or miss, enjoyability wise. Some can be too kiddy, some can be too adult and being that the genre tends to try and cater to BOTH audiences, some weird hybrids tend to given birth. A majority of the non-Disney and Pixar films tend to lean more towards the mediocre to good range. Dreamworks, on the other hand has done a lot of hard work to try and rival the Mouse house and legend that is Pixar. While not coming up to par with them, they still have created some WILDLY entertaining films that range from good to absolutely fantastic. Here is their latest foray into the digital world and the result is surprisingly good. When I saw the trailers for “The Croods” in my local Cineplex I honestly wasn’t wildly impressed. None of the trailers really looked that good and the animation was about the only intriguing thing in the whole sales pitch of a trailer. It just seemed like it was going to be another middle of the road flick like “Epic” or “Rango”. Even when the film came out it had some rather mixed reviews so I skipped the theatrical release. I’m good at eating crow and right now I am munching on one of the legs. While not the smartest film of the year, “The Croods” is witty and sly enough to actually work despite the addition of Nicholas “crazy” Cage. 

Grug (Nicholas Cage) is the overprotective father of a family of cro magnum cavemen living in isolation. Being that world is a dangerous place (or so he thinks) Grug keeps his family well hidden in a system of caves only allowing them to go out and forage under his supervision. Terrified of the outside world, he has ingrained that same fear of the unknown into all the members of his family. The only one who hasn’t accepted it just yet is his daughter, Eep (Emma Stone). She has an insatiable curiosity and years for something more than just the day to day subsistence that her family is eeking out hiding in caves. Struggling to live in a family that fears everything she becomes more and more depressed. All of that changes, however, when she follows a light outside of her cave and runs straight into another human being named “Guy” (Ryan Reynolds). Guy is the exact opposite of her family. Instead of hiding in caves and fearing the world, he is out in the middle of it, searching for the next adventure, in this case escaping the cracking and crumbling location that they are in right now. Realizing that Guy is her way out, Eep gets her parents to follow (or in this case kidnap) Guy and have him lead them out of the dangerous earthquakes and fires that is headed their way. 

Along their way the family has to face ACTUAL trials and tribulations, all of which Grug grumblingly predicts due to his fearful and pessimistic nature. However, with the addition of trials comes the beauty and wonder that is the world. The rest of the family starts to realize that there is more to life than just staying alive, all of them that is except Grug. Firmly stuck in his ways he tries to lead the family the same way he’s done in the caves, but fails miserably, losing to the charismatic Guy who’s spent his whole life in the open world. Out of his element and feeling like he’s losing his family, Grug struggles to try and maintain his role as leader of the family. Only after committing a selfless act of love though, is Grug able to realize his shortcomings and try and overcome them. 

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=12830[/img]
I have to say that “The Croods” is not THAT good a movie writing wise. It’s got its fair share of cliché’s and simplistic morality tales, but what really holds the film together is a clever blending of witty dialogue and physical humor that just WORKS. Nicholas Cage is surprisingly tame in this film and his over the top acting actually fits with the crazed character of Grug. Emma Stone is sweet and laugh worthy as the tomboy Eep and the rest of the cast does well playing a group of savages. While I REALLY like Ryan Reynolds (please don’t stone me!), his voice just didn’t suit the character of Guy for some reason. He did a solid job with his voice acting, but for some reason the voice and the character seemed a bit out of place. 

The story was sweet, the laughs were long and plentiful, but the visuals were just jaw dropping to look at and told as much of a story as the actual dialogue. The creators didn’t just create a cro-magnum world, they created an almost fairytale world of crossbred monsters and jungles in the middle of an ancient earth setting. The animals and cross blending of said animals into things such as walking wales, a piranha bird and an elephant mouse were so interesting and kept me wonder what they were going to show next that I found it very hard to be bored the whole 98 minutes. Beautifully rendered with some of the most realistic animated CGI I have ever seen and dialogue track that really kept me laughing and I have to say this was a film that I am very happy to have been wrong about.



*Rating:* 

Rated PG for some scary action



*Video* :5stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=12831[/img]WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW! Is all I can say after viewing “The Croods”. Probably one of THE very best animated films I’ve ever seen, picture wise. I got so excited viewing this one that I can’t figure out where to start! The colors were jaw droppingly beautiful, with a rich display of very different colors, shades and hues. Instead of just having one shade of dark blue for an ocean, there was about 5-6 different shades and hues entwined amongst themselves giving it one of the most realistic looks I’d ever seen for animated water. The film starts out filled with tans and browns as the Croods are stuck in their dusty little cave, but this soon opens up into a wild cornucopia of colors as they explore the great unknown. From the soft pastels of a flower field, to the rich greens, and reds and blues of a tropical style forest. The detail was through the roof and looked INCREDIBLE, shadows were drawn so cleanly and clearly that they moved and acted as a real shadow did, Pores and creases are drawn with loving care and even individual hairs are replicated down to the last detail. Shadows and blacks are beautiful and just about perfect in every way. No digital artifacting or banding or any other negative problems were present in this encode. Honestly, Dreamworks knocked this one straight out of the park.






*Audio* :4.5stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=12832[/img]Almost as perfect as the video was the 7.1 DTS-HD MA track that “The Croods” was given. Dreamworks has always had great sound design on their home video releases, and this one is no different. A fantastically layered track, “The Croods” is sonically one of the better releases of the year. Fully immersive and encompassing the surrounds grab the user from their chair and place them right in the middle of the action with the busy sounds of the forest, a rock slide that feels like my own walls were caving in and even the simplistic sounds of a bird flying by your shoulder or a pebble hitting the ground behind you. Dialogue is beautiful and has some great imaging to it. The front sound stage is alive with movement and shifts from one side of the screen to the next at a moment’s notice, while keeping the dialogue firmly planted in the middle. LFE was strong and powerful when called upon, mostly used to keep a nice low end to the film it stays silent till needed and then it unleashes the storm from the heavens! Rockslides and earthquakes shake the walls and dig DEEEEP into the teens. Again, I have nothing but kind words for this track. Bravo Dreamworks, Bravo.


[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=12833[/img]*Extras:* :2.5stars:
• The Croodaceous Creatures of Croods!
• Be An Artist! – Now you can draw Belt, Macawnivore and Mousephant 
• The Croods Coloring & Storybook Builder App
• Belt’s Cave Journal 
• World of DreamWorks Animation 





*Overall:* :4.5stars:


Again, I was honestly surprised by this film. I expected a mediocre, but still entertaining film ala the last few dreamworks films, but this one was a pleasant diversion. Is it the smartest movie in the world? No, of course not, but the witty dialogue and the clever blend of physical and verbal comedy had myself and my friends rolling on the floor half of the time. With such fantastic video and audio it really is a must grab for those fans of the animated genre. This one is luckily one of those films that even the adults will enjoy as well as the kids, and with the original story by John Cleese, the dry and witty humor will appeal to wide range of people. Definitely worth a pickup in my opinion.

*Additional Information:*

Starring: Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Nicholas Cage, Catherine Keener
Directed by: Kirk De Micco, Chris Sanders
Written by: Kirk De Micco, Chris Sanders, John Cleese (story)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 7.1, English, French, Spanish DD 5.1
Studio: Dreamworks Pictures
Rated: PG
Runtime: 98
Blu-Ray Release Date: Oct 1st, 2013


*Buy The Croods 2D Combo Pack Blu-ray on Amazon*
*Buy The Croods 3D Combo Pack Blu-ray on Amazon*
The Croods (Blu-ray / DVD + Digital Copy + Toy) (2013)



*Recommendation: Buy It​*







More about Mike


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## pddufrene (Mar 14, 2013)

Great review! Sounds very entertaining, I'm gonna have to go out and rent this one this weekend and have a little family time in front of the tube. And also get to play with my sub!


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## tripplej (Oct 23, 2011)

Thanks for a great review. Yes, the movie is worth getting. We saw this in the theater actually and to be honest, I didn't expect much prior to seeing it but was very satisfied when the movie completed. Kids also enjoyed it. A good movie to own.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Thanks for the review Mike! 

We took the kids to the theater to see this one, and I remember turning to my wife at some point during the movie and saying "this is going to look amazing in the HT".

Already bought it - now just need the time to watch it!


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Yep... just ordered it. Looks like a really fun movie, even for us grown-ups.

Amazon currently has the 2D version for $27.29... the 3D version for $24.99... HOWEVER the 2D version with a Toy is only $19.99... which I just ordered.

I need another toy. :bigsmile:

It's Prime, but not two day shipping, although that is not a big deal, as it may be a couple of weeks before I have time to watch it.


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Good review, I am gonna have to order it as well for the kiddos. I love movie night and so do they. Get the popcorn ready


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## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

Sonnie said:


> Yep... just ordered it. Looks like a really fun movie, even for us grown-ups.
> 
> Amazon currently has the 2D version for $27.29... the 3D version for $24.99... HOWEVER the 2D version with a Toy is only $19.99... which I just ordered.
> 
> ...


be warned that the version with toy is in an ultra slimline case (ala the Matrix boxset) if you're OCD about that type of thing


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Not a big deal at all to me.


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## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

Sonnie said:


> Not a big deal at all to me.


lol, just wanted to give a heads up since a lot of the people on other forums are out about it


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## Jon Liu (May 21, 2007)

Mike, thanks for the review! I was really intrigued by this movie, but never got to see it in theaters. All of my friends who saw it said it was well worth watching. Based on the positive reviews of the film itself that I've heard, I think I have to buy this one sight-unseen, especially after reading your glowing technical review!


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## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

I don't think you'll be disappointed Jon. the animation is by far the best I think I've seen. the amount of detail and realism in the way characters move and shadows move is incredible. there's a scene where the croods take a dip in the ocean and it is by FAR the most realistic CGI water I've ever seen. My movie viewing buddy and I had our jaws on the floor the whole movie


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## raynist (Aug 16, 2011)

I just ordered this too will probably watch it this weekend.


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## Jon Liu (May 21, 2007)

Sadly, a lot of my enjoyment for animated movies nowadays has to do with how well the computer animation does. So if what you say is true, then this one is definitely a no-brainer!


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## ericzim (Jun 24, 2012)

Thanks for the review Mike. Will definitely check this one out with the grand kids. Can't wait to see the expression on their faces when the booms happen.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Watched this movie this afternoon with my two daughters.
Although the story was just ok it did have some good ha ha moments but WOW!!! The animation is over the top! The fluid and natural camera motion and attention to depth was not shy of Stunning!
The color and detail blows away everything I've seen to date and is a must have for the collection. The audio is superb and the use of the sorround channels in many parts was so good that it really felt like you were right there with them.
What ever age you might be this movie is eye and ear candy and worth every penny


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## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> Watched this movie this afternoon with my two daughters.
> Although the story was just ok it did have some good ha ha moments but WOW!!! The animation is over the top! The fluid and natural camera motion and attention to depth was not shy of Stunning!
> The color and detail blows away everything I've seen to date and is a must have for the collection. The audio is superb and the use of the sorround channels in many parts was so good that it really felt like you were right there with them.
> What ever age you might be this movie is eye and ear candy and worth every penny



I KNOW! Right?!? The fluidity was absolutely incredible! I honestly have to say the actual animation was a worthy rival to pixar


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Mike Edwards said:


> I KNOW! Right?!? The fluidity was absolutely incredible! I honestly have to say the actual animation was a worthy rival to pixar


I am actually very surprised that more people are not talking about this. You were right about the water! Just amazing how accurate it was. The "camera" movement was as if a real person was using them. It had shakiness that made it feel non animated if that makes seance?
I think Dreamworks has set a new bar here and Pixar will need to step up.


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## bkeeler10 (Mar 26, 2008)

Well I was going to see this anyway, but wasn't sure what to expect. I'm now very much looking forward to scrutinizing (and enjoying) the animation. It always amazes me how much work must go into animation. I mean, consider that in a live movie things like backgrounds and natural objects (trees, water, animals, sky, human hair in the breeze, etc) just take care of themselves detail-wise (unless it's CGI of course), but in an animated feature literally every single detail has to be deliberately created and probably agonized over in most cases. It's remarkable.

Thanks for the review.


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Thanks for the review Mike. I bought it a week ago on Amazon and received it yesterday. The kids are excited to watch it tonight.


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

Watched the movie with family last night. I thought it was a great film with a good storyline and quite funny.


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## bmoney003 (Nov 21, 2012)

asere said:


> Watched the movie with family last night. I thought it was a great film with a good storyline and quite funny.


agreed. And my son loves it!


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## ShawnMc (Sep 4, 2009)

Thanks for the great review. I agree with your comments entirely.

I picked this up on release day, watched it with my family for the first time a couple nights ago, and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Great family movie.


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