The world's very first prehistoric family goes on a road trip to an uncharted and fantastical world.
Ploughing this coming-of-age furrow is fine, though The Croods hardly does it with any sophistication, preferring to wow us with hyperkinetic action. But there are some nice moments amid the relentless swooping and whooping.
What do you do when a film franchise about cuddly prehistoric mammals appears to have run its course? If you are Fox, you move from the Ice Age to the Neanderthals.
Loud, dull and daft, this piece could do with crawling back to the cinematic primordial soup.
Occasionally [amuses].
Only kids will appreciate the celebrity voices and snappy action sequences.
As in the similarly themed Ice Age movies, the non-stop motion is faintly exhausting, and the jokes are hit-and-miss. But it's pleasant enough.
It's amiable enough, but it makes The Flintstones look like it was scripted by Karl Popper.
Disappointing.
Bold visually but thumpingly ordinary storytelling.
Crude attempt to radicalise the young.
The complacency and lack of imagination are painful.
The Croods is a visual banquet of textures and colours – and as Roger Deakins, cinematographer extraordinaire, is its visual consultant, I can say that without loss of film-crit credibility.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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