Waking up on the 10th of April felt like a dream. I knew I was going to meet Justin that day. A radio station said that Justin was going to greet fans at his hotel at 1 p.m., so my friend and I took the train to his hotel. Sadly, it was a rumour and he didn’t show up. We stayed there until 2 and got caught up in the adrenaline. We completely lost track of time and there was no way we could go back home to get ready so we just went straight to the venue. While we were waiting, Dan Kanter showed up! He stayed with us for about 30 minutes and took pictures. We went up to Dan and asked if he could follow us on Twitter. He said, “You have to tweet me saying we met in Belgium, not just ‘I love Justin’” Eventually he gave me his phone and said, “Here, you can follow yourself.” He is so nice. When Justin arrived and the line started moving, it all felt so unreal. I was finally able to meet my hero after all those years. We were getting closer to the small room he was in and a bodyguard stood in front of me. I looked over his shoulder and saw Justin! I couldn’t believe how perfect he was. It was my time to meet Justin and the bodyguard said “Go, stand in front of the curtain” but I couldn’t even move, I got scared so he pushed me in the room. The room was super dark, every wall was black and Justin was all dressed in black. I felt so special. Even though Justin was wearing glasses, I could see his eyes through them and we made eye contact. He said “Hi” in the sweetest voice EVER. Somehow I could walk again and stood next to him. He put his arm on my back and the the picture was taken. I wanted to say, “Thank you for everything” but it barely came out of my mouth. Also, I got pushed out of there really quickly, it was literally like 3 seconds, but I enjoyed every moment. When I got out, I wanted to see Justin one more time, so I turned my head and I almost went out the wrong way. I started crying my eyes out, I felt so happy. There were a lot of girls disappointed because it was so short but I felt on top of the world. Standing next to Justin was an amazing feeling. I just felt satisfied, my biggest dream became a reality. We went to our seats and I had the best time at the concert. During ‘As Long As You Love Me,’ the entire crowd held up signs. This was the best night of my life. We also saw Justin on the 11th, I’m so glad he performed twice in Belgium. I used to read Bieber experiences from other beliebers and was determined to meet Justin too. I never stopped fighting for my dream because I knew it was worth it. I’m still hoping that one day I can hug Justin and finally thank him for changing my life. Until then, I won’t stop supporting him. He’ll always have a special place in my heart. -Louise (@kidrauhlyummy) Excerpt from: Waking up on the 10th of April felt like a dream. I knew I was…
First I need to say like everyone else here, that I never ever thought in my whole life that I would be able to write my own Bieber Experience, but what I am doing now? I am writing my own MBE with a smile on my face! I have been a Belieber since 2009. My name is Veronica, I am 17 years old and I live in Denmark . Here is how it all started. When the Believe Tour dates for Europe came out, I screamed! “Copenhagen, Denmark,” I read. I decided to join BieberFever so I could get good tickets with my pre-sale code and I managed to get the best seats for my friend and I. This was finally my time to see my idol for the first time in my whole life. When the concert was coming closer I entered all the competitions to win a meet and greet, also the competition on BieberFever. My MBE happened on April 20th 2013 in Denmark, but first we need to turn back the time to April 19. Justin arrived to our country that day, so the Danish Beliebers were hyped. I was so excited. Me and 6 other girls found out which hotel Justin was staying at and we went there. When we arrived at the hotel, it was only us. All the other Beliebers were at a wrong hotel. We were quiet because we know how annoying it can be when people screamed loud, and especially for Justin. It was cold and windy that day. Two of the girls had to pee and asked a security from the hotel if they could borrow the hotel’s toilet. The security said yes and we saw the girls go into the hotel. Right after they came out, they smiled so big and said, “OMFG GIRLS, shh we need to be quiet, but listen.. Scooter Braun is in the building! He is in the lobby and he is sitting with his computer.” Holy shit, was this even real life? We couldn’t believe what we just heard. Suddenly a man walked out of the hotel. SCOOTER FUCKING BRAUN. The other girls and I ran to him and we all were like “Omg hi Scooter! Can we take a picture? How are you? You are so amazing!!” It was so crazy. He smiled and said, “Hurry up, guys! I have a flight to catch.” He took pictures with a lot of the other girls and was nice. I gave my phone to one of my friends and she took the picture. After he left, all of us girl hugged each other and we screamed so hard. He is the man who is the reason that Justin is a worldwide famous artist today! Then we were waiting for the train to pass and I looked at my phone and I was in shock. I opened my email and there was one new message. It was from BieberFever. We had won the contest to meet Justin! The next day around 4 p.m, we got in line for the M&G and went into a room. While we were waiting we saw Dan Kanter. Suddenly they start letting people in. The line was moving and I was getting closer and closer to Justin. People who had gotten their picture had to walk up at some stairs and I saw a lot of them crying. I looked at my friend and said “Omg, I can’t hold back my tears anymore!” She looked at me and said, “Veronica, please don’t! You don’t want to look like an idiot beside Justin, right?” and smiled. She was right. Now it was my turn. I went into the room and the first person I saw was Lil Za. He is so cute by the way. Then I looked to the left and I saw him. He was standing right there. My lifesaver. The person I have seen on pictures and videos and now he was in front of me in real life. Justin Drew Bieber. The time stopped for like 3 seconds. I looked at his face. He looked like a doll. A wax figure or something. I couldn’t believe my own eyes. He looked even better in real life. He doesn’t even look like he does in my M&G picture with him. Justin suddenly looked at ME. He smiled and he said “Heeeyy.” He indicated that I should come over on his right side and stand by him. He put his arms around me and I put my arms around his waist. I could feel his back. He was so soft. We looked into the camera and it went so quickly and suddenly we were out of the room. I started crying. I can finally say that I have met Justin. Justin Bieber. I have been waiting for this for so long. On April 20 I realized how much Justin means to me. I wanna thank Justin for everything. He has told me and the rest of this fan base to believe in our dreams, and he was right, because dreams do come true. Justin deserves way more respect from people. He is more than people think. He is the best idol you could ever ask for. Justin, if you are reading this right now, I just want to say, thank you so much for all the things you do. You have helped me so much through the hard times and to stay strong. I love you and I will always stand by his side no matter what. Thank you for everything. Oh, and I need to say something to the Beliebers out there: Good things happen to those who wait! -@Bieberpanda More here: First I need to say like everyone else here, that I never ever…
My name is Hannah, I’m 14 years old and I’m from Manchester, England . When I became a belieber around 5 years ago, I never ever, ever thought I’d be writing a MBE, this is crazy. It all started around June 2012. I had already been promised by my mum that I would one day meet Justin and that I could get Believe Tour tickets, so when the Bieberfever pre-sale came out, my grandad tried to get tickets for me because I was at school, but we had no luck. He tried again and again and again. When the regular sale came out on Ticketmaster, my friends mum tried. She rang us while we was at school and told us she had some tickets, on the lower tier! We were crying and I’ve never been so happy. Little did we know that she was lying and when we got home they were going to surprise us with M&Gs! When I got home my mum just kind of said it. I was like, “Pardon..” with a tear streaming down my face. She said, “I said you’re finally going to meet Justin, I bought you meet and greets.” That was the best moment of my life so far. I was screaming and crying and rang my friends who I was going with. It was perfect. After the long wait of 8 months, everyday taking a loop off my ‘Believe tour countdown chain,’ February 21st was finally here. Alex, Toria, Olivia and I got the train to the arena. We queued for our bands and M&G packs and they took us into the arena. After waiting a total of 4 hours, (within that time doing chants, meeting Kenny, singing, trying not to cry) we were going to meet Justin. My friends managed to calm themselves down, but there was no way for me to stop crying. The VIP host Ryan said, “Aw don’t cry! Here, have Justin’s guitar pick.” I didn’t stop thanking him. Then all of a sudden from behind the curtain Justin was like, “I’m here guys!” His head popped out of the curtain and smiled at me. I just fell to the floor. When it was my turn, I dropped my bags and ran up to him and hugged him so tight. I held onto him and he held my waist so tight. I never wanted to let go. He was like, “Hi!!!” I was crying and my friend said, “You’re so perfect!” Justin said, “You both look very pretty.” They took my picture and security grabbed me and was pulling me but Justin still had hold of my arm. Then they pulled a bit more till he had hold of my hand, then my fingertips. I got outside and fell to the floor and cried for 2 hours straight. I cried so much I had my head over the arena toilets nearly being sick. I phoned my mum and we cried on the phone together for about an hour, she was so happy for me. We then went into the arena and had a picture with Justin’s vest that a girl won. During the show it was perfect, I’d never seen so many people happy in the same place at the same time. The vibe was unbelievable and the atmosphere was incredible. My Bieber experience was perfect and I only have two people to thank for that, Justin and my mum. Never give up hope on meeting Justin, ever. -@beadlesrxuhl More here: My name is Hannah, I’m 14 years old and I’m from…
One night I was going to take the train to Barcelona for the second Spain show, but then I heard my phone make the little sound. I thought it was a Twitter mention or a new follower but then I saw and it was an email from BieberFever saying I had won the meet and greet contest for March 16. I literally dropped my phone and fell to the floor crying. Lets skip to the day of the show: I went to go pick up my wristbands at the box office and made my way into the met and greet! Ryan came out and gave his whole lecture about the rules and I didn’t listen, as usual. Since I had met some security at the Madrid show, before taking the picture I asked if they could please let me take the picture with Justin alone and they let me switch lines to the bought M&G’s! Then I saw Kenny and Fredo. I went up to Kenny and said that my mom wanted a picture with him and he held onto my hand and said “Of course.” I saw Scrappy and kept asking him for a picture and he said, “I’ll get you when you finish with Justin!” Then it was my time to meet Justin. They opened the curtain and Justin was looking at the picture he took before me. He said, “Hey” and I said “Hey Justin, you better smile this time.” He giggled and I stood next to him. He put his arm around me, tilted his glasses down and said, “Baby, I’m Justin Bieber, nobody tells me when I gotta smile, I was gonna smile for you but now I’m not.” I looked at him all shocked and legit said, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WON’T SMILE?” I swear everyone in the room looked at me like I was crazy for talking to him like that. Justin just looked at me, smiled and said, “Lets take the picture.” He grabbed me by my waist and looked at the camera. When the camera snapped some people said, “Aww” and I knew why. I saw that he put a pouty face on that was so adorable. Anyway, after that it was my moms turn and they let me wait in the curtains. He was looking at the picture, laughing and said, “Thats gonna be a good one!” After that I took my picture with Scrappy and left to the concert. It was the best 2 days ever! -@iSwaggyBiebz See more here: One night I was going to take the train to Barcelona for the…
I have to say that I never ever thought in a thousand years that I would be writing my own Bieber Experience. My name is Paula, I’m 16 and I’m from a little town in Barcelona, Spain . Everything started on July 2009 when a friend of mine showed me a video of a little boy from Canada, the video was ‘One Time.’ I liked it at first and I saw that it was the only song he had. Months later, I heard about Justin Bieber and his album My World . I listened to his new songs and I started to like him more and more until I made a Twitter account to follow him: @BarcelonaBieber. I just wanted him to notice that there was a lot of Beliebers in Barcelona. He followed me a few weeks later! 6 months later, he announced that he was coming here. I was so happy, I knew that my dream was about to come true. On April 6th, 2011 I went to his concert in Barcelona. Justin also came 2 more times to Madrid to “El Hormiguero.” I couldn’t go to Madrid, but the same day he went there, on 11/11/11, he re-tweeted me! I felt so special. In July 2012 I bought tickets to see him again in Barcelona, on March 16th 2013 for the Believe Tour and was so excited. For me, meeting Justin was something “impossible” because meet and greet tickets are very expensive. Something inside of me was telling me “You gotta try, you can make it happen.” 3 weeks before the concert I decided to participate in all the different contests to win M&G passes. Then 3 days before the concert, a radio show called “Euroclub” made the last contest to get M&G passes and I decided to enter. I had to send an image announcing his fragrance Girlfriend. They chose the best 20 pictures and THEY CHOSE ME, but I ended up in second place. The day before the concert, as I wasn’t going to meet him, I decided to go to his hotel. I live in an hour from Barcelona so I couldn’t go alone and I had school the same day. One of my best friends, that is not a belieber, told me she was going to go with me because she knew that it was so important to me. We got on the train to Barcelona and arrived at the hotel. During this time I checked my phone and I noticed that I had an e-mail. I opened it and it was from Bieberfever. “OMG THEY CHOSE ME TO MEET JUSTIN!!!” I was in shock, I couldn’t believe it. I called my other friend Mar and I told her that I won the M&G. I told her that she was going with me to meet Justin. She was screaming on the phone. The next day, March 16th 2013 was the big day. I got up early and my parents brought me to the Palau Sant Jordi, where Justin was having his concert. In the M&G line I couldn’t believe what was about to happen. We saw the black curtains, Justin was inside of there! We had to make groups, and our group was of 7 people. Finally, it was our turn. I almost couldn’t walk. I entered last and I saw Justin. OMG HE WAS SO PERFECT! A girl asked him to do a “funny picture” and he said that it was fine. The security men was so rude and we couldn’t have time for anything. They put us for the picture and Justin said, “Alright guys, funny photo, funny!” I could just smile, I couldn’t do a “funny face” at the moment. After the picture I looked at Justin and I held his hand, it was so soft! We told him that we loved him and he said, “Te amo” back. That’s how I met Justin. Remember, if you want something so bad, don’t give up and NEVER SAY NEVER! You can make it happen! -Paula (@BarcelonaBieber ) Excerpt from: I have to say that I never ever thought in a thousand years that…
My name is Lynsey, I’m 15 and from Manchester, England. On the 20th February 2013, the night before my Believe tour concert, my mum managed to get me a ticket to Justin’s book signing in London on the 23rd. Even though I’m from Manchester and it was such a long journey, we didn’t care, as long as I met Justin. I had also entered the BieberFever competition for meet and greets a few weeks before, but ever since I found out I was going to the book signing, I kinda forgot about it. That night I couldn’t sleep as my Believe concert was the next day. I don’t know why, but I just decided to check my emails before I tried to get to sleep again. My heart suddenly stopped when I saw the words ‘Bieberfever contest’ and ‘Congratulations Lynsey.’ I didn’t know what to do and as it was 11:45 p.m. and I couldn’t scream. I ran into my mum’s room crying and she thought something really bad had happened, but when I told her, she started crying too! After that, she had to take me downstairs for a while to calm me down, and I ended up going back to sleep at about two in the morning. We got to the arena the next day and we queued up with the rest of the contest winners. When we got close to the curtain that Justin was behind, the security said that we had to put our gifts for Justin in this pile and he would “give them to him later.” I knew they wouldn’t so I hid my bag full of Oreos for Justin and Alfredo under my coat. Then just before the three people in front of us went in, the security suddenly said, “You need to go in a group of six with these people.” He said it so quickly and I panicked because I really wanted to be next to Justin in the picture. I pushed my way to the front so I got to go through the curtain first. I saw Justin and suddenly froze. I couldn’t believe he was standing there, right in front of me. I felt myself starting to cry and Justin beckoned me over as I still hadn’t moved. I ran up to him and put my arms around him and all I could say was, “Justin Justin I love you so much.” I was crying into his chest and he hugged me back. By this time, the rest of my group were in, ready for the picture to be taken. Justin and I hadn’t let go of each other the whole time. After the picture I quickly gave the Oreos to Justin and he said, “Thank you so much,” and then he said, “FREDO! FREDO! FREDO! We have a lifetime supply of Oreos over here!” I didn’t even realize Fredo was in the room until Justin said that! I found myself running over to Fredo and I was crying. “It was me! I got you the Oreos!” We then got escorted out of the room only to be greeted by Kenny. I ran over to him and started sobbing into his chest and he rubbed my back. All I managed to say was, “Kenny Kennnny!” Then the other security guard said, “Come on girls you need to move along.” Then Kenny saw my other two friends standing at the side crying too and he said, “Come on girls, group hug.” We were then let out into the corridor and we all collapsed on the floor, sobbing and crying our eyes out. Afterwards the concert was amazing! Then came the book signing on the 23rd. I travelled down to London on the train with my mum and we arrived at the secret location. We queued up for quite a while, and they were playing the ‘Believe’ album in the background. Again, when we were supposed to hand in our gifts, I hid my letter for Fredo and birthday card for Justin in my pocket. When I got over to the table and put my book down, Justin signed it and I was like, “I love you so much Justin!” Then my mum said, “Justin I just want to tell you that you put a smile on her face everyday,” and he looked from my mum to me, and looked right into my eyes and said, “Aw but I’m making her cry now!” Then my mum said, “No seriously Justin, you really are a credit” and he put his hand on his heart like a peace sign then shook my mum’s hand. I then gave my letters and card to Fredo and my hand was shaking so much. “Promise me you’ll read it?” I said through my tears. He nodded his head and gave me a really sincere look and said, “I promise.” It was just such an amazing experience and to got to do it twice in the space of three days. When I didn’t think it could get any better, I woke up the next day to find that Fredo had tweeted me! I couldn’t believe that he had actually took the time to read my letter and tweet me. Justin is so perfect and I never even dreamed that I’d be able to write a my Bieber experience like I am right now. I’m NEVER going to forget this! Read the original post: My name is Lynsey, I’m 15 and from Manchester, England. On…
My name is Lynsey, I’m 15 and from Manchester, England. On the 20th February 2013, the night before my Believe tour concert, my mum managed to get me a ticket to Justin’s book signing in London on the 23rd. Even though I’m from Manchester and it was such a long journey, we didn’t care, as long as I met Justin. I had also entered the BieberFever competition for meet and greets a few weeks before, but ever since I found out I was going to the book signing, I kinda forgot about it. That night I couldn’t sleep as my Believe concert was the next day. I don’t know why, but I just decided to check my emails before I tried to get to sleep again. My heart suddenly stopped when I saw the words ‘Bieberfever contest’ and ‘Congratulations Lynsey.’ I didn’t know what to do and as it was 11:45 p.m. and I couldn’t scream. I ran into my mum’s room crying and she thought something really bad had happened, but when I told her, she started crying too! After that, she had to take me downstairs for a while to calm me down, and I ended up going back to sleep at about two in the morning. We got to the arena the next day and we queued up with the rest of the contest winners. When we got close to the curtain that Justin was behind, the security said that we had to put our gifts for Justin in this pile and he would “give them to him later.” I knew they wouldn’t so I hid my bag full of Oreos for Justin and Alfredo under my coat. Then just before the three people in front of us went in, the security suddenly said, “You need to go in a group of six with these people.” He said it so quickly and I panicked because I really wanted to be next to Justin in the picture. I pushed my way to the front so I got to go through the curtain first. I saw Justin and suddenly froze. I couldn’t believe he was standing there, right in front of me. I felt myself starting to cry and Justin beckoned me over as I still hadn’t moved. I ran up to him and put my arms around him and all I could say was, “Justin Justin I love you so much.” I was crying into his chest and he hugged me back. By this time, the rest of my group were in, ready for the picture to be taken. Justin and I hadn’t let go of each other the whole time. After the picture I quickly gave the Oreos to Justin and he said, “Thank you so much,” and then he said, “FREDO! FREDO! FREDO! We have a lifetime supply of Oreos over here!” I didn’t even realize Fredo was in the room until Justin said that! I found myself running over to Fredo and I was crying. “It was me! I got you the Oreos!” We then got escorted out of the room only to be greeted by Kenny. I ran over to him and started sobbing into his chest and he rubbed my back. All I managed to say was, “Kenny Kennnny!” Then the other security guard said, “Come on girls you need to move along.” Then Kenny saw my other two friends standing at the side crying too and he said, “Come on girls, group hug.” We were then let out into the corridor and we all collapsed on the floor, sobbing and crying our eyes out. Afterwards the concert was amazing! Then came the book signing on the 23rd. I travelled down to London on the train with my mum and we arrived at the secret location. We queued up for quite a while, and they were playing the ‘Believe’ album in the background. Again, when we were supposed to hand in our gifts, I hid my letter for Fredo and birthday card for Justin in my pocket. When I got over to the table and put my book down, Justin signed it and I was like, “I love you so much Justin!” Then my mum said, “Justin I just want to tell you that you put a smile on her face everyday,” and he looked from my mum to me, and looked right into my eyes and said, “Aw but I’m making her cry now!” Then my mum said, “No seriously Justin, you really are a credit” and he put his hand on his heart like a peace sign then shook my mum’s hand. I then gave my letters and card to Fredo and my hand was shaking so much. “Promise me you’ll read it?” I said through my tears. He nodded his head and gave me a really sincere look and said, “I promise.” It was just such an amazing experience and to got to do it twice in the space of three days. When I didn’t think it could get any better, I woke up the next day to find that Fredo had tweeted me! I couldn’t believe that he had actually took the time to read my letter and tweet me. Justin is so perfect and I never even dreamed that I’d be able to write a my Bieber experience like I am right now. I’m NEVER going to forget this! Read the original post: My name is Lynsey, I’m 15 and from Manchester, England. On…
My name is Lauren and I’m from North East England. I fell in love with Justin after watching him sing Ne-Yo’s ‘So Sick’ on YouTube. I became obsessed. I started a small collection of posters and merchandise which eventually became a massive one. I went to see ‘Never Say Never,’ and realized I needed tickets for the My World tour ASAP. I came home, went online and booked tickets for the show in Newcastle, 22 days before the show! I was so exited and determined to meet him afterwards, even though I didn’t have meet and greets. The day came and the show was amazing! However, I never managed to meet him. I thought that was it, I couldn’t wait for his next tour. So 1 year later, I heard news of the Believe Tour. I was so exited that I would have another chance of meeting Justin. I booked my tickets for a show that got cancelled. I was gutted, as I managed to even get front row! Despite that, I booked for another show in Manchester. Finally the day came and I was again sure I was going to meet him that night. I was so close to him performing, but I failed to meet him again. I entered the BieberFever contest 3 days before the winners would be announced for another show. I was constantly refreshing my emails on my phone, but nothing. I had butterflies and then I saw, “CONGRATULATIONS LAUREN!” I burst out into tears, hysterical. I ran down the stairs and shouted to my mum that I’d won! She was crying too with happiness for me as she knew how much it meant to me! I told my friend who I was taking on the phone with and she was crying just as bad as me! She came straight to my house and we booked train tickets to Birmingham which was where the show was! February 28, 2013 was the best day of my life. When we got to the arena, we went round the back and saw his tour buses, it became real. I looked to the stage door and Scooter was there! We ran over and he was in a rush, to even see him made my cry! We got photos and he left. The time came when we could go and collect our wristbands. Once we were in like to meet Justin, I was prepared to wait all day, all week, all year for this one moment! We couldn’t stay for the show even though we had paid because we had to catch our train but I’d seen it a week before so it was fine. Dan Kanter was there talking to some fans! I kept seeing flashes behind the tent where Justin was and to think I was in the same room as him made me start crying. Luckily I got to be in a group of only four. I walked through the curtain and there he was, looking perfect. He looked like a doll, he was so flawless! I was hysterical. I walked over to Justin and he hugged me and said, “Aw, don’t cry sweetie!” This made me cry loads more, he called me sweetie! I managed to stand next to him in the photo. After the picture, I began to walk out the room in floods of tears. JUSTIN BIEBER JUST HAD HIS ARM AROUND ME, AND MINE WAS AROUND HIM. Was this real? I shouted, “I love you” and he shouted, “Love you too!” This made my whole life! On the train home, it still felt like a dream to me. I feel so blessed and lucky to have had this experience. Haters told me it would never happen and guess what, it did! Dreams do come true. Never say never and believe that it will happen. This has made my whole life, it’s complete. I cant wait for his next tour, hopefully I’ll meet him again! Thank you Justin and BieberFever for making my dreams a reality! I am so grateful! Read the original: My name is Lauren and I’m from North East England. I fell in…
Although state-of-the-art in its rendering of textures, movement and stereography, DreamWorks’ latest 3D toon, The Croods , adopts a relatively primitive approach to storytelling with its Flintstonian construction of stock, ill-fitting narrative elements. Part family adventure story, part romance and part eye-popping thrill ride, this tale of a prehistoric family seeking a new home in a dangerous and geologically volatile environment won’t have the broad appeal of DreamWorks’ Shrek and Kung Fu Panda pics, or Fox’s own B.C.-era Ice Age franchise. But it should prove a solid earner after its March 22 release in a frame relatively free of rival predators. Conceived in 2005 under the catchier title Crood Awakening , with John Cleese and trade journo-turned-agent-turned-screenwriter Kirk DeMicco ( Racing Stripes ) set to script, The Croods was intended to further DreamWorks’ collaboration with Aardman Animation ( Chicken Run , Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit , Flushed Away ) before the two companies parted ways in 2006. DeMicco and animation vet Chris Sanders ( Lilo & Stitch ) share scripting and directing duties, with Cleese co-credited for the story. The main element from Crood Awakening that seems to have survived the transition to the screen is the premise of brutish cavepeople who meet a more evolved humanoid with clever ideas up his fur sleeve, like how to make fire. But instead of the original project’s quasi-Neanderthal community, the core characters here are a frightened family of six called the Croods, seemingly the last of their species after natural selection has chewed its way through their neighbors. Enjoined by patriarch Grug (voiced by Nicolas Cage ) to “never not be afraid,” the Croods hunt as a pack by day and huddle in a cave by night to hide from a delightfully designed bestiary of made-up monsters, such as the self-explanatory Bear Owl and the Macawnivore, a colorful saber-toothed tiger variant roughly the size of a rhino. Grug’s wife, Ugga ( Catherine Keener ); doltish son, Thunk ( Clark Duke ); tart-tongued mother-in-law, Gran ( Cloris Leachman ); and ferociously belligerent toddler daughter, Sandy (“Release the baby!” is one of the pic’s funnier catchphrases), are all content to stick to the routine. But teenage daughter Eep ( Emma Stone ) longs for broader horizons and a literally brighter view of the world. Enter Guy ( Ryan Reynolds ), the only survivor of a family that, judging by his svelter frame, more erect posture and higher forehead, must have been a bit further up the evolutionary ladder. Although most of the Croods are impressed with Guy’s innovations, like fire and shoes, Grug wants no truck with this young hotshot who’s winning Eep’s heart, or any of his newfangled ideas. However, when it starts to look like Guy may be right about the world breaking up, they have no choice but to seek greener pastures. The main problem with the film is that the script simply isn’t very funny, and its various subplots never quite mesh satisfyingly together; apart from Grug, Eep and Guy, the other characters add little to the proceedings apart from a few feeble jokes. Yet these story deficiencies are fairly well papered over by the pacey, smoothly animated action scenes, delivered at regular intervals. Highlights include an early hunt, with a football-like egg passed from character to character, that gains much from well-timed, Wile E. Coyote-style slapstick; and a nifty escape sequence involving volcanic eruptions, sticky tar and, of all things, makeshift puppets. Younger auds will be hypnotized by the pic’s scorching color palette, particularly in the Avatar -like jungle setting, and throughout the animators have lavished loving attention on how different kinds of light (moon, sun, fire) play on the surfaces of skin, fur and landscape. Presumably, it’s in this area that ace lenser Roger Deakins lent his services as a visual consultant, as he did on DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon . Character design, however, is less adroit, although the Croods’ stocky, simplistic figures will lend themselves well enough to merchandising. Onscreen, they’re not terribly appealing, and Eep’s helmet-like hair and East German weightlifter physique make her a somewhat awkward match with the spindly Guy, even if it’s laudable for the animators to have designed a young heroine who doesn’t fit the usual Barbie-doll proportions. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Breaking Sports Video
