#66 The Croods

#66 The Croods

Year: 2013

Director: Chris Sanders, Kirk DeMicco

MPAA Rating: PG

Epic Co-stars: Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener

Running Time: 97 mins.
Cage Time: 95%
Cage Kills: 0 
Cage Flip-outs: 2 

James' Review: As the final movie during our year in the Cage I was worried that we would go out with a sappy and toned down Cage, just the opposite of what originally sucked us in.  What I got was a well thought out, visually pleasing adventure starring a quite animated (both visually and auditor-ily (yes I just made that word up)) Dr. Cage.  

Cage worked out a lot for this film.  You can really see it in his chin.

Cage plays Crug Crood, the fearless dad of the last caveman family on earth.  All the other caveman families have been wiped away by the many horrors that lurk in daily neanderthal life.  Cage keeps his family safe with his mantra that rules the Crood family over anything else - Fear Everything and NEVER LEAVE THE CAVE!  His daughter Eep (Emma Stone), being a typical teenage girl, goes against her fathers wishes and sneaks out of the cave to make trouble and meet boys.  This leads to the start of their adventure that eventually forces them away from the safety of their cave and out into the wide world with a hot young cave-boy Guy (Ryan Reynolds).   Guy does something completely novel to the Croods to get by in life: he has ideas.

A group of lovable morons.

Guy and Crug battle for authority while on their adventure, one using his brains looks and  charm and the other using his brute strength and his inability to see a world that he doesn't want to see.  This "stupid cave-man" role leaves plenty of opportunities for Cage to dazzle us with his comedic timing and rapist wit.  The expression in his voice comes through to build Crug Crood from just a crappy drawing of a cave-man to what seems like a living breathing moron that you wish you could have a beer with.  

This is a picture of some cartoon characters gazing into the beautiful eye of Nicolas Cage.

As he has on so many of his previous 65 films, Dr. Cage carries this performance and ultimately all of the other "actors" that surround him.  In the Croods he'll make you laugh and cry.  The tears won't just be due to the top gun acting, but to the fact that after spending an entire year with him week in and week out, there is no more of him left.  Upon starting this expedition, it seemed like an impossible and seemingly endless task to watch every bit of film that Cage has ever been immortalized in. Now that the end is here all I can think is I can't believe it's already over.  This has been the  most important task I've ever accomplished, the best year of my life, and the most spiritually fulfilling thing I've ever done.  Nobody else will ever come close to giving me what Dr. Cage has.  Thought the year may be over, for the rest of my life I'll always be looking forward to the next Nicolas Cage movie.

...But until then who's next?  Lou Diamond Phillips?  Jean Claude Van Damme?

Movie quotability:

• "That's the screen that means we're gonna be watching this." - Henry (upon seeing the 20th century fox logo)
• "Release the Baby"
• "C'mon, c'mon, darkness brings death.  We know this."
• "Wait!  ...okay" x 100
• "Kill Circle!"
• "And I also thought it would kill your mother.  Win Win."
• "Hand me those acting sticks!"
• "I have an I-DE-A."

Plot Holes:

• No plot holes! This probably actually happened.

	CAGEamatic	Cinamatic
Skyler	Exceeds Expectations	Outstanding
Shauna
James	4.49/5	4.12/5
Martine	!Made great memories in the CAGE!