Back in March, Mr Z and I went along to a preview screening of The Croods in Leicester Square (read the post here). This was actually his first ever trip to the cinema! Since then, we have taken the boys to see quite a few films and they all really enjoy the experience of going to the cinema now. Even after seeing plenty of new movies over the last year, Mr Z does still remember The Croods and often mentions the movie so I was really happy to have the chance to review the Croods Blu-Ray through Mumsnet. Mr T, Mr R and their dad had all missed out on the chance of seeing the movie in the cinema so it was the first time they watched it, and for Mr Z and I it was great to have the chance to watch it again.
We decided to have a family movie evening which was the perfect way to relax after a busy day out. It was almost a disaster as I asked the boys’ dad “Can you put the blu-ray player on while I sort out Mr R?”, and he responded by telling me we don’t have a Blu-ray player anymore as we always used our ps3 to play Blu-rays but we have sold it and haven’t bought ourselves a new ps4 yet!! Luckily, we spotted that there is a digital copy included with the Blu-Ray and this enabled us to watch it via Flixter, by linking up one of the laptops to the main TV. Phew! I’ve never tried this feature before but it really saved the situation as I had already told the boys they were going to be watching The Croods and they would have been very disappointed. This feature also allows you to watch the movie via your tablet or smart phone which I’m sure will come in handy.
As for the movie, for those who have not read my original cinema review, it is the story of a family of Cave People and how they transition at a time of change. The old world is ending. All of the old rules go out of the window and they have to learn to adapt in order to survive and move forward in a new world. It’s primarily a story of family and relationships. Despite the characters being cave men, the relationship dynamics are timeless – a teenage daughter struggling for independence and a dad struggling to let go.
The movie has loads of funny bits throughout and kept all the children fully entertained. They love the character of “belt” especially when he goes DA.. DA…DAAAAAA!!!! (See that in the trailer) and they also love the character of Sandy the cave-baby. Especially when they say “release the baby!!”
There is a great landscape as a back drop to the movie, especially once the family starts making their way towards the mountains and the new world. There are beautiful colourful scenes of water, rain forest type environments and exotic animals which work really well on Blu-Ray.
It’s an ideal family film as it works well for both adults and children. Even the second time round I still really liked the emotional scene towards the end between the dad and the daughter, where they invent the word hug (rhymes with Grug!)
Overall it’s a great movie from Dreamworks, beautiful made and definitely worth a watch if you have not seen it yet. It is U rated, and has a little bit of mild (very mild really) peril. I can’t see many young children being scared by it as mine weren’t and they do scare quite easily!
THE CROODS is released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 9
To see the trailer, have a look at my previous post as it is included there.
If you have seen The Croods, what did you think? Let me know in the comments!
