So Nicolas Cage keeps making these animated movies which means I have to watch them. Sigh. 

For context, I haven’t always been so anti-cartoons. I loved cartoons growing up. When I was a kid, way back in the last century, before cable television and on-demand everything, there was one particular day of the week (time slot really) dedicated to cartoons. Saturday morning cartoons. The 3 major TV networks each had a lineup of shows (and advertising) tailored for/at kids. I religiously watched these cartoons. I’d even get the TV guide (yes, a printed schedule with show times and descriptions) so that I could plan my mornings around which cartoons I would be watching and when. Mostly Hanna-Barbera creations, but I was no discriminator. I would watch almost anything. Super Friends, Thundarr the Barbarian, Space Ghost, The Herculoids, Dungeons & Dragons, Bugs Bunny’s Looney Tunes, and Mr. T and Friends. This is a sampling, but I assure you the list is pretty infinite. Even growing into my teenage years, I was more than willing to sit through (and enjoy) a Disney movie at the theater. I remember seeing Aladdin, The Jungle Kind, and Beauty and the Beast at the theaters, perhaps more than once. College and young adulthood brought anime (Akira, Ghost in the Shell) and Tim Burton gothic cartoons (Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, etc).

And of course, raising my own kids I saw all the Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks stuff: Frozen, and Up, and The Toy Story. I watched them all, and enjoyed the now-adult humor peppered into the soaring anthems, cutesy love stories, and the slapstick jokes. I think I even saw The Croods with my own pre-teen daughters. 

So, with all this history and appreciation, why are these Nicolas Cage-voiced animated films so difficult for me to sit through now? 

I don’t know. Because I’m 50? The Croods (2013) is the fourth fully animated production he has starred in and if I’m being honest, I could have easily skipped all of them. Age is one factor, getting older and being more selective; I don’t watch nearly as many animated cartoons as I used to, but I think the other factor is saturation. So many Dreamworks / Pixar movies were churned out when my kids were growing up and the proliferation of on-demand and mobile devices made them even easier to turn to for entertainment. Every week a new animated feature to tune into. Every Christmas more merchandise to buy. Theme park rides and fast food deals. I think I just kind of burned out on the formula and the lowered artistic standards. All quantity, little quality. Or at the very least very little new and creative ideas to be explored. 

But I am digressing here. Maybe filling the space with thought rather than dissecting the movie itself. Maybe because I don’t really want to. But I’ll pay a few paragraphs to fulfill my obligation to myself. I am a dad with starter-adult daughters–so I could very much relate to Grug’s dilemma of identity and fatherhood.

The World According to Grug

Grug (Nicolas Cage) is a caveman. He is the protector and provider for a family of cave people (?) including his wife Ugga (Catherine Keener), his son Thunk (Clark Duke), a baby daughter, Sandy, and his eldest daughter Eep (Emma Stone). Oh, yes, and begrudgingly also provides for his near-toothless mother-in-law Gran (Doris Leachman). They live in tenuous safety in a protected cave and only venture outside for hunter-gatherer duties during the daylight hours. Grug is highly aware of the dangerous world he and his family live in and helicopter parents his entire family by requiring them to adhere to strict rules that involve constant vigilance, fear of anything new or different, and taking zero risks. “Never not be afraid,” is his mantra.

Grug tells stories each night by drawing on the cave wall that usually begin with a “risky” behavior (leaving the cave at night, standing too close to a cliff, wandering away from the family) and end with a worst case scenario and a moral “they die, the end.” Eep is not happy with the protective parental arrangement anymore. She likes to be outside, to try new things, and is constantly at odds with her overbearingly protective father. One night she sneaks out of the cave while the family sleeps and meets a young man Guy (Ryan Reynolds) who has mastered the art of making a fire, constructing shoes for his feet and wearing a live sloth named Belt for a belt. Eep is intrigued by this young man who can “make fire” and who tells her the world is going to end in a short time and that anyone who wants to live must travel to a distant mountain where “the land of tomorrow” offers the promise of escape. 

When Eep returns to the cave, Grug is furious with her and distrusts both Guy and his message, but when earthquakes destroy the family cave and rock the area, Grug must lead his family to safety in unexplored territory. The rest of the movie is about the conflict Grug experiences trying to accommodate to this new reality (change) and to this new person Guy who is disrupting the family dynamic (stealing his daughter’s heart!) that Grug has created and casts doubt on Grug’s core identity as provider / protector / sole decision maker of the family. Grug must change how he thinks about the world and his daughter–accepting that to live truly you must take risks. Guy must assimilate and find compromise in becoming part of a new family with the Croods. Eep must come to acknowledge the love and appreciation she has for her father and see his actions for what they really are–motivated by love of family. The family must find a way to escape to “tomorrow land” before volcanoes and earthquake swallow them whole. Spoiler: they do.

Dad Stuff

It’s a cartoon for kids. Made with lots of action, and cutely-not-that-dangerous creatures, amped up for kids to laugh and be surprised and stay engaged. I get that. It’s watchable from that perspective. From a content perspective, what adults will take from The Croods is that it’s about the changing role of Dad as the world changes and kids grow up. Especially, the dad / daughter dynamic. Men–the best ones–who are fathers do want to protect their family. They want to provide, teach, and entertain their children. They don’t want their kids to take big risks that will get them hurt. Daughters hold a special place in dad’s hearts. Grug, at his core, has the right motivation, but his tactics are antiquated and smothering. He has to flex. But it doesn’t come easy for him.

The thing I resonated with most, was that at a certain point, Grug feels like he can’t adapt to the new world where people wear “shoes” on their feet, sleep out in the open, and have wild hair cuts. In one sense Grug goes through a midlife crises about three-quarters of the way in, where he can’t see a way forward for himself in the new world he is thrust into. His daughter has found another man to “replace” him and he’s not too happy about it. This is real world stuff. Boyfriends come along (or girlfriends) and eventually spouses and the family dynamic changes. When your kids matures this also brings a change in perspective, roles, and relationship. While The Croods is at its core a kid’s movie, the themes are spot on. I’ve been there. Still am.

Cage does the Dad stuff voicing really well here too. From his character’s side-eyed view of Guy getting a little too close to his daughter, to his “No. No. No”s and anger-filled arguments, Grug is a totally believable dad–if still a bit of lunk-headed buffoon. Aren’t all dads a bit of this anyway?

I did like that about this film. By the end he flexes his values and changes his opinion (personal growth) and finds that his strengths are his own and will never be completely outmoded (he literally throws his whole family across a chasm to safety; bad ass!).

Mother-in-Law Stuff

I also liked the mother-in-law stuff. Leave it to the mom from The Brady Bunch to be that snaggle-toothed annoying MIL that is the constant thorn in the side of Grug. To keep track of his clan, Grug often will count out each of his family members. One, two, three, four…and whenever he finally get to the last number, his mother-in-law, and ascertains that she is “present” and “safe” his tone trails off in obvious disappointment, “(sigh)…five”. Hilarious. 

Firsts for a Nicolas Cage character as Grug

• In a role as a caveman
• Wearing dreadlocks
• Taming a giant saber tooth tiger
• Painting on cave walls

Recurrences

• Irritating his daughter (The Weather Man, Matchstick Men, Stolen) 
• In a film with Cathleen Keener (Adaptation., 8MM)
• Helping his child escape the end of the world (Knowing)

Quotables

“Never not be afraid.”

“No more dark. No more hiding. No more caves.”

“You know, I’ve wanted to throw you away ever since I met you.” [To Guy.]

“I… have… an… IDEA!”

Conclusion

In case you’re wondering. Yes, there is a sequel to The Croods. No, I have not yet seen it. More animations to come it seems. Sigh. Ok. Trying something new is a good thing, right? If Grug can do it, so can I.