What could the latest from DreamWorks animation, The Croods (2013), possibly have in
common with Kon-Tiki (2012), a
Norwegian historical drama and a recent Oscar contender for best foreign film?
Well, quite a lot actually. In both films someone asks the
question, when faced with an insurmountable challenge, ‘What would Tiki do?’ or
in the case of The Croods, ‘What
would Guy do?’ Both questions are asked in the face of certain doom when
radical strategies are called for to survive.
Both are exciting family films that pack an emotional punch
and can be enjoyed by adults and children. One film looks forward to find the answers;
The Croods is about ancient man evolving
by reinventing themselves. The other looks backwards to find the answers; Kon-Tiki is about devolving to prove
that ancient men were actually more advanced than we gave them credit for.
Our pre-historic past and the achievements of early man have
always fascinated me. A world that was both brutal and mysterious in its
unlimited potential for discovery, a natural untouched paradise of unknown
vastness. Much like our Oceans, the world was mostly unexplored by humans but our
predecessors were quickly breaking new barriers, testing new ideas and discovering
new lands.
The Croods deals
with the historical displacement of Neanderthal (Cave men) by Homo sapiens
(modern humans) during pre-historic times.
A family of Neanderthals fights all manner of strange pre-historic
beasts to survive using their superior strength and fear of the unknown. But
when their world crumbles beneath their feet, they are forced to follow a
strange young boy with some progressive ideas on a journey through the unknown.
The humor is quite clever and deals with the theme of living
day to day while barely surviving, as opposed to living to dream of and invent
a better way of life. It’s a look back at how we evolved from brute strength
beings, to thinking reasoning inventors of new technologies that improved our
daily lives and set us on a course to the future we live in today.
Whereas Kon-Tiki
is about modern humans recreating ancient methods used by primitive humans to navigate
ocean currents and winds, while re-discovering the basic thought processes and
ideas they may have had.
The results are very similar in both films as we follow clans
of barely clothed hominids on voyages through vast distances, isolated from
other humans, and battling the elements using only their physical strength and
ingenuity.
Kon-Tiki is about a band of young Norwegian adventurers who set out
on a voyage drifting across the Pacific Ocean using only a balsa wood raft made
of materials available to pre-Columbian Indians, to prove the theory that the
Polynesian islands could have and were actually settled by ancient South
Americans.
Isolated from the civilized world and using only basic
primitive materials, the crew places their fates into the hands of nature and
the ancient knowledge of our ancestors to float across the perilous unknown expanse
of the open seas.
Both these engaging films are inspired by the adventurous
spirit of our early ancestors and pays homage to their courage and perseverance.
JP
1 comment:
I enjoy your reviews very much. Now all I have to do is find time to see a movie! Love your blog - very colorful and well written.
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