From The Croods, photo courtesy DreamWorks
The Croods (2013)
Sure, it’s animated, but it’s the best thing Nicolas Cage has been in for years.
Cage plays Grug Crood, a family patriarch shepherding his family through dangerous times. He’s taught his children to be abundantly cautious, locks the cave up tight every night, and all his bedtime stories are cautionary tales where the protagonist dies a terrible, bloody death.
But then one day, an earthquake crushes the family cave. The Croods meet a young guy named (appropriately) Guy, who seems to be full of ideas and knows of a place called Tomorrow—a place certainly safer than where they’re at now.
Grug doesn’t cotton to this know-it-all newcomer, and it doesn’t help that Grug’s teen daughter, Eep, seems to have a thing for him. But they have no choice but to move on. And as they all make their way toward Tomorrow, Grug feels himself growing more antiquatedand irrelevant with each step they take. Moreover, Eep’s not just growing up: She’s seemingly outgrown him. But when they finally reach tomorrow, Grug finds that he’s not so irrelevant after all.
I saw this movie when my youngest was in her late teens. I resonated with Grug’s fear of obsolescence. We love to watch our kids grow up, but it’s hard when they actually do. But the Croods offers a reminder that while time changes our relationships with our kids, it never severs the bonds we share.