Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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Release the Baby The Croods (Rated PG) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS The Croods (98 minutes) wasn't Pixar, but that doesn't mean it was bad. In fact, if I was looking for a film to enjoy with my infant son I might even pick this one. It was no ParaNorman, but lacking "edge" isn't a reason to hate on it. While it was a basically decent movie, there were some glaring mistakes in the depiction of the cave-people family. One of my majors in college was Anthropology, and I am huge fan of those Jean Auel cave-people books, so I feel qualified to comment on some of the finer details. First, the Neanderthals (homo sapiens neanderthalensis) are depicted as enjoying a fine swim in a primeval lake. Really, their bones were so dense it is unlikely that they would swim as easily as depicted in the movie. Since that was their first time in the water, at least one of them would have sunk straight to the bottom. Second, when new male Guy (Ryan Reynolds) invaded the territory of Alpha Male Daddy Grug (Nicolas Cage) it was far more likely that a fight to the death would have ensued instead of the mild bickering that did occur. In fact during the second act, when Guy convinced Grug's family to follow him, the death of the shamed alpha male and subsequent takeover of the small group would be nearly certain. Third, Neanderthals were not the brutish bunch that popular culture makes them out to be. They had a rich spiritual life, they buried their dead and they played with fire. In fact, recent anthropological consensus suggests that many famous cave paintings, often attributed to Cro-Magnon, are actually the work of Neanderthals. So, DreamWorks got the cave art right, but depicts its heroes as less civilized than they actually were. Of course, since the entire world is a fantasy complete with neon colored Sabrekittens, mous-e-phants, walking whales and birds that are a cross between piranhas and flamingos, maybe I'm holding it to unrealistically high standards. The heroine of the film is named Eep (Emma Stone). She is a teenager chafing under the strict rules of her father. Even though these strict rules have kept her alive, she aches to explore the nearby rocks. One night she spies a torch and follows it's light over the hills and far away, where she meets Guy, a cave boy dressed as a warthog and his sidekick, Belt (Chris Sanders). After some mutual misunderstanding that plays just a little bit cutesy for my taste, he tells her of the coming apocalypse and wanders off before the arrival of her Alpha Male Daddy. She is grounded for life. Not that it matters much, because soon after fire and rockslides and earthquakes (Oh my!) drive them from their home in the rocky desert into a lush floodplain rich with bizarre animal life. Grug's wife Ugga (Catherine Keener) is fairly supportive of her husband's need to find a new cave, so the family sets off. During the journey Guy is held captive in a log, Son Thunk (Clark Duke) is almost eaten by his grandmother (Cloris Leachman), and the feral baby Sandy (Randy Thom) is released at random moments to gnaw on unsuspecting animals. Overall, there are lots of age appropriate shenanigans and everything looks very pretty. There are worse ways to spend a couple of hours. Now showing at Wynnsong HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing 7, Carmike 12 and Carmike Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandMarket Fair 15. comingweekly.com. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM APRIL 17-23, 2013 UCW 23