Review by Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi

The Flintstones are beyond shadow of a doubt the timeless cartoon-family of the stone age. But DreamWorks tries to supply its own 3D animation version of prehistoric kith and kin cavemen facing evolution.

‘The Croods’ tells the story of the world’s first family road trip: when their cave is destroyed, the family must embark on a comedy adventure into a strange and spectacular territory in search of a new home.

The film somehow evokes the generational conflict of the animation movie ‘Brave.’ But in the case of Disney’s Merida the parent-adolescent collision is with the mother, whilst in DreamWork’s Eep tthe emancipation battle is with the father. This latter’s growing rebellion – against the physical and mental darkness of cave life – is fomented by love. One night Eep follows the light and meets Guy with his mysterious invention of fire and his warnings of the destruction to come, that will propel the Crood family onto a quest towards the higher ground of tomorrow.

Some gags are truly amusing, built around inventions and accidental discoveries, such as snapshots, shoes and popcorn. But the moral targets an extremely young audience, that will have no trouble grasping the simple message to face your fears and embrace change. The humour and charm in Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco’s film is too uneven to help it approach the podium of the palaeontology chart series, next to ‘Ice Age’ or ‘The Flintstones.’

The athletic Neanderthal family keeps the mammoth market share up through fast-moving roller coaster kinetic action and a menagerie of fantastic creatures that keep children entertained. But Sanders and DeMicco’s script doesn’t have the robust plotting, consistent wit or flavourful character development of the best family animation. Not even the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone and Ryan Reynolds hold up the flat animated comedy-adventure, that foists as new the hoary paradigm where old versus new.