The Croods

The Croods is one of my favorite animated movies. I find it very entertaining, fun, and insightful to watch. There are no dull moments and every scene opens an opportunity to learn from.

The movie is all about a caveman family who must survive by trekking in an unfamiliar fantastical world after their cave was destroyed. There were a lot of rules but the big, simple one was to never leave the cave at night. Until one day, things have changed and the family changed the rules by discovering new things all throughout their adventure.

Never not be afraid.

The Croods is a family that follow the traditional rule that if they want to survive, they have to follow the rules. Grug, the father, kept on telling Eep, his daughter, that fear is what keeps them alive and new is always bad.

But Eep, who is a brave, strong, and full-of-curiosity lady, tried to see what is out there and wanted to convince his father that new things are good. Then Guy, who introduced her the fire and the concept that the world is ending, helped her to discover new things that brought her to new learning, adventure, and fun.

When her family experienced the whole journey, they changed the rules and now believe to never be afraid and take all the chances that will come along their way.

Go for tomorrow.

Guy, the inventive boy who met Eep, shared a short story with the family on the first night they were together. A story that is different from the usual ending that Grug used to tell. A story that made the eyes of each member of the family to be wide open and brought curiosity.

“She go near the cliff, for the closer she came to the edge, the more she could hear, the more she could see, the more she could feel. Finally she stood at the very edge, she saw a light, she leaned out to touch it. She slipped, she fell, and she flew, she fly in tomorrow. A place with more suns in the sky than you can count. A place not like today or yesterday. A place where things are better. That’s where I’m going.”

Tomorrow brings us hope and courage to pursue our dreams.

Ideas will keep you alive.

During their adventure, they met a lot of unfamiliar  places and creatures. In order to move on, they have to do or give something that will keep them go forward. They created shoes to step without pain on the pointed rocks, gave bananas to monkeys who knocks out visitors, and brought flowers when they walked with giant-eater-flowers.

These are all because of ‘ideas’ that, as Guy said, are from human brain. The ideas that keep us to innovate and adapt in every situation that comes our way.

Keep moving forward.

When the family was in a maze, Grug told them to stay where they are so he can save them. However, Guy told them that the idea will keep them to be too slow and they need to keep forward.

There are certain circumstances that we do what we usually do, through the usual rules we used to have. But if there are more efficient way to be faster, that will help us to keep moving forward.

What do you value most? 

At the climax of the movie, Grug sacrificed himself to save all the members of the family including Guy and belt by throwing them to the other side of the world. That kept him in the disastrous ending of the world where he was standing. Then one time, he was drawing every member of the family including Guy and made a big circle where he was as if hugging all of them.

This simply reminds me of what do you value most. If you will create your own drawing with one big circle that you hug, what will you put?

This incredible movie reminded me to not hide, to live, to follow the sun and make it to my tomorrow. No more dark, no more hiding, no more cave as we changed the rules, the one that kept us in the dark.