Synopsis:
The Croods is a 2013 American computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The film was written and directed by Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders,[6] and stars the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke, and Cloris Leachman. The film is set in a historically inaccurate prehistoric Pliocene era known as "The Croodaceous" (a prehistoric period which contains fictional creatures) when Grug, patriarch of the Croods, is threatened by the arrival of a genius named Guy, who comes up with revolutionary new inventions as they trek through a dangerous but exotic land in search of a new home.
Voice cast[edit]
- Nicolas Cage as Grug Crood, an overprotective caveman who is Ugga's husband, Gran's son-in-law, and the father of Eep, Thunk, and Sandy.
- Emma Stone as Eep Crood, a teenage cavegirl who is Grug's and Ugga's first daughter, Thunk and Sandy's older sister, and Gran's oldest granddaughter. Eep is the eldest child and is much more willing to try anything new than the rest of her family. She holds romantic feelings towards Guy.
- Ryan Reynolds as Guy, a more evolved teenage caveboy that, with the help of his pet sloth named Belt, thinks of new ideas and inventions that can help themselves or others. He holds romantic feelings towards Eep.
- Catherine Keener as Ugga Crood, a cavewoman who is Grug's wife, the daughter of Gran, and the mother of Eep, Thunk, and Sandy. She is more open-minded than Grug, but also finds it difficult to keep her family safe.[12]
- Clark Duke as Thunk Crood, a caveboy who is Grug's and Ugga's son, Eep and Sandy's brother, and Gran's grandson. Thunk is the middle child and is not bright and has bad coordination, but has a good heart.[12] He gets a "Crocopup" named Douglas for a pet.
- Cloris Leachman as Gran, an old and ferocious cavewoman who is the mother of Ugga, the mother-in-law of Grug, and the grandmother of Eep, Thunk, and Sandy.[12]
- Randy Thom as Sandy Crood, Grug and Ugga's youngest daughter, Eep and Thunk's younger sister, and Gran's youngest granddaughter who still bites and growls instead of speaking. Thom created her voice with creature noises.[12]
- Chris Sanders as Belt, Guy's pet sloth.
Production[edit]
The film was announced in May 2005 under the working title Crood Awakening.[13] It was originally going to be a stop motion film, being made by Aardman Animations, the creators of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit,[14] as part of a "5 film deal" with DreamWorks Animation. John Cleese and Kirk DeMicco had been working together on a feature based on Roald Dahl's story The Twits,[15] a project that never went into production.
DreamWorks got a copy of their script and liked it, and invited Cleese and DeMicco over to take a look at the company's ideas to see if they found something they would like to work with.[16] They chose a basic story idea about two cavemen on the run, an inventor and a luddite,[16] and wrote the first few drafts of the script.[17] In January 2007, with the departure of Aardman, the rights for the film reverted to DreamWorks.[18] Aardman, however, continued experimenting with the idea of a Stone Age-themed story into Early Man, which would eventually be released in 2018.
In March 2007, Chris Sanders, writer and director of Lilo & Stitch, joined DreamWorks to direct the film, with intentions to significantly rewrite the script.[19] In September 2008, it was reported that Sanders took over How to Train Your Dragon putting Crood Awakening on hold,[20] and thus postponing its original schedule for a year to a then planned March 2012.[21] The film's final title, The Croods, was revealed in May 2009, along with new co-director, Kirk DeMicco.[22] In March 2011, the film got another delay, being pushed back a year to March 1, 2013,[23] and finally settled at March 22.[24]
