# The Croods
**The Croods** is a 2013 American computer-animated comedy-adventure film from [DreamWorks Animation](https://www.edgepedia.org/dreamworks-animation), directed by [Chris Sanders](https://www.edgepedia.org/chris-sanders) and Kirk DeMicco, about a prehistoric family forced from their cave and into an unexplored world by the impending destruction of their environment.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the-croods) The family is led by the fearful patriarch Grug ([Nicolas Cage](https://www.edgepedia.org/nicolas-cage)), with Ugga (Catherine Keener), teenage daughter Eep (Emma Stone), son Thunk (Clark Duke), and Gran (Cloris Leachman); their world changes when a more evolved caveman named Guy (Ryan Reynolds) arrives and proves correct about the coming catastrophe.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the-croods) The film was distributed by 20th Century Fox, grossed $587,267,229 worldwide, and was nominated for an Academy Award.[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0481499/) • [3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-croods/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | March 22, 2013 (wide), distributed by 20th Century Fox; rated PG for some scary action; runtime 1 hr 38 min[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the-croods) • [2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0481499/) |
| Directors | Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco; written by DeMicco, Sanders, and John Cleese[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-croods/) |
| Voice cast | Nicolas Cage (Grug), Emma Stone (Eep), Ryan Reynolds (Guy), Catherine Keener (Ugga), Cloris Leachman (Gran), Clark Duke (Thunk)[4](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/the-croods) |
| Box office | $587,267,229 worldwide ($187,168,425 domestic, 31.9%) on a $135,000,000 budget[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0481499/) |
| Production scale | 80 million compute hours to render, 15 million more than DreamWorks' previous record holder; 300 to 400 animators over three years; about 250 TB of storage[5](https://www.computerworld.com/article/1402909/dreamworks-tops-compute-cycle-record-with-the-croods.html) |
| Reception | 71% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (142 reviews); Metascore 55 on Metacritic; one Academy Award nomination[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the-croods) • [3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-croods/) |
| Franchise | Sequel *The Croods: A New Age* (2020); Netflix prequel series *Dawn of the Croods*; spin-off *The Croods: Family Tree* on Hulu and Peacock[6](https://www.thewrap.com/the-croods-a-new-age-animation-coronavirus/) • [7](https://www.dreamworks.com/shows/the-croods%3A-family-tree) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and characters
The Croods survive in a dangerous prehistoric era by gathering food by day and hiding in a cave at night. When their cave is destroyed, the family journeys through a spectacular landscape of fantastic creatures and strange surprises, guided by Guy, a young man who has discovered the use of fire.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the-croods) • [8](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-xpm-2013-mar-20-la-et-mn-croods-directors-20130321-story.html) The story's core is the tension between Grug's fear-driven rule to stay hidden and Eep's eagerness to explore; the film's stated message is that hiding leads nowhere, that courage opens up your world, and that love needs to be expressed, summed up in the line "Don't hide, live!"[9](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-croods)
Character design reinforced this contrast. Head of character animation James Baxter made the Crood family look simian, while Guy, the forward-looking outsider, was designed as more of a regular-looking guy.[10](https://www.awn.com/vfxworld/embracing-change-croods)
### Franchise
DreamWorks announced a sequel the same year the original was released, but *The Croods: A New Age* took seven years to complete, delayed by production problems and the studio's move from 20th Century Fox to Universal, until first-time director Joel Crawford and producer Mark Swift came aboard in 2017.[6](https://www.thewrap.com/the-croods-a-new-age-animation-coronavirus/) The sequel, released in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, follows the Croods meeting another, more advanced family with a different worldview.[6](https://www.thewrap.com/the-croods-a-new-age-animation-coronavirus/) • [18](https://keyframemagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/TAG20_Mag_Q4_web-1.pdf) The franchise also extends to television: *Dawn of the Croods* streams on Netflix, and *The Croods: Family Tree*, following the two families from the sequel as they build a shared farm community, streams on Hulu and Peacock.[7](https://www.dreamworks.com/shows/the-croods%3A-family-tree) • [19](https://www.dreamworks.com/shows)
## Development history
The project began in May 2005 as **Crood Awakening**, a joint venture between DreamWorks Animation and [Aardman Animations](https://www.edgepedia.org/aardman-animations), planned as the fourth collaboration after *Chicken Run*, *Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit*, and *Flushed Away*. It was described as a stop-motion comedy about a big man in a small village called Crood, whose position as leader of the hunt is threatened by a prehistoric genius who invents things like fire. [John Cleese](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-cleese) signed on to write it with Kirk DeMicco, and Cleese holds a story credit on the finished film.[11](https://animatedviews.com/2013/directors-chris-sanders-and-kirk-demicco-introduce-the-croods/) • [8](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-xpm-2013-mar-20-la-et-mn-croods-directors-20130321-story.html)
The project changed direction twice. In November 2006 DreamWorks and Aardman ended their partnership. In March 2007 Chris Sanders, who had left Disney over creative differences on *American Dog*, joined DreamWorks to direct and substantially rewrite the film; after a year he was pulled away to co-direct *How to Train Your Dragon* with Dean DeBlois.[11](https://animatedviews.com/2013/directors-chris-sanders-and-kirk-demicco-introduce-the-croods/) During that production DeMicco reshaped the story from a two-hander about a genius and a Luddite into a tale about a family, a change Sanders later called the single most important development in the story's evolution.[8](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-xpm-2013-mar-20-la-et-mn-croods-directors-20130321-story.html) • [11](https://animatedviews.com/2013/directors-chris-sanders-and-kirk-demicco-introduce-the-croods/) The original theme, the fear of changing technology, became the fear of change itself.[11](https://animatedviews.com/2013/directors-chris-sanders-and-kirk-demicco-introduce-the-croods/)
## Production and technology
DreamWorks called The Croods its most sophisticated production to date by compute-cycle hours: 80 million hours of rendering, 15 million more than *The Rise of the Guardians*, with between 300 and 400 animators working over three years and roughly 250 TB of storage used from raw sketches to stereoscopic high-definition shots.[5](https://www.computerworld.com/article/1402909/dreamworks-tops-compute-cycle-record-with-the-croods.html) HP supplied the studio's converged infrastructure of servers, storage, networking, workstations, and digital rendering, a relationship dating to 2001.[12](https://www.awn.com/news/hp-helps-power-croods)
**World-building drove the technology.** The film has no man-made structures; even cave interiors read as exteriors, and everything organic was labor-intensive to build, which the directors identified as the hardest part of production.[13](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/chris-sanders-and-kirk-de-micco-interview-the-croods/) The production team deliberately avoided anchoring the world in known animals such as mammoths and saber-toothed tigers so the audience would see creatures for the first time, and the art department and scriptwriters worked with unusually fluid back-and-forth rather than the script leading the design.[14](https://www.artfestspokane.com/assets/PDFs/Education/DWA-Touring-Education-Resource-MAC-Logo-US-English.pdf) New particle-simulation technology was pushed to its limits for the jungle environments, and an individual sculpting tool let animators deform any part of a character beyond normal rigging capabilities.[15](https://www.acmi.net.au/stories-and-ideas/making-croods-welcome-jungle/) • [10](https://www.awn.com/vfxworld/embracing-change-croods) The film's liquid simulation work was documented at the DigiPro conference as a case study in production-scale water effects.[16](https://www.museth.org/Ken/Publications_files/Budsberg-etal_DigiPro13.pdf)
## Reception
Critical response was mixed to positive. Rotten Tomatoes recorded 71% on the Tomatometer from 142 reviews, with a critics consensus calling it solidly entertaining for families seeking a fast-paced, funny cartoon adventure, and 77% from audiences.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the-croods) Metacritic's Metascore was 55, based on 30 critic reviews, against a user score of 7.1.[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-croods/) The film received one Academy Award nomination at the 86th Academy Awards, three Annie Award wins with nine nominations, and a Golden Globe nomination.[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-croods/) • [17](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0481499/awards/) Common Sense Media praised its message of courage and strong family relationships while noting intense moments that could scare younger viewers.[9](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-croods)
## References
1. [The Croods, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the-croods)
2. [The Croods (2013), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0481499/)
3. [The Croods Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-croods/)
4. [The Croods, Universal Pictures At Home](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/the-croods)
5. [DreamWorks tops compute-cycle record with 'The Croods', Computerworld](https://www.computerworld.com/article/1402909/dreamworks-tops-compute-cycle-record-with-the-croods.html)
6. ['The Croods: A New Age's' Big Challenge: Creating a New World During a Global Pandemic, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/the-croods-a-new-age-animation-coronavirus/)
7. [The Croods: Family Tree, DreamWorks](https://www.dreamworks.com/shows/the-croods%3A-family-tree)
8. [The evolution of 'The Croods', Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-xpm-2013-mar-20-la-et-mn-croods-directors-20130321-story.html)
9. [The Croods, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-croods)
10. [Embracing Change in 'The Croods', Animation World Network](https://www.awn.com/vfxworld/embracing-change-croods)
11. [Directors Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco introduce The Croods, Animated Views](https://animatedviews.com/2013/directors-chris-sanders-and-kirk-demicco-introduce-the-croods/)
12. [HP Helps Power 'The Croods', Animation World Network](https://www.awn.com/news/hp-helps-power-croods)
13. [Chris Sanders and Kirk De Micco interview: The Croods, Den of Geek](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/chris-sanders-and-kirk-de-micco-interview-the-croods/)
14. [DreamWorks Animation education resource on The Croods worlds](https://www.artfestspokane.com/assets/PDFs/Education/DWA-Touring-Education-Resource-MAC-Logo-US-English.pdf)
15. [Making the world of The Croods, ACMI](https://www.acmi.net.au/stories-and-ideas/making-croods-welcome-jungle/)
16. [Liquids in The Croods, DigiPro 2013](https://www.museth.org/Ken/Publications_files/Budsberg-etal_DigiPro13.pdf)
17. [The Croods (2013) Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0481499/awards/)
18. [The Croods: A New Age production feature, TAG20 / Keyframe Magazine](https://keyframemagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/TAG20_Mag_Q4_web-1.pdf)
19. [DreamWorks Shows](https://www.dreamworks.com/shows)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Franchise and series entries as standalone works › Animated and family franchise film entries › Comedy and adventure entries*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license