Box office The Croods grossed $187.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $400 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $587.2 million. It is the eleventh highest grossing
2013 film, and the fourth highest grossing
2013 animated film (behind
Frozen,
Despicable Me 2, and
Monsters University). It became the second highest grossing original DreamWorks Animation film, behind
Kung Fu Panda. As of September 2023, it is the 188th-highest-grossing film, and the 40th-highest-grossing
animated film. On its opening weekend, the film topped the box office with $43.6 million from 4,046 locations, a vast improvement over the DreamWorks Animation's directly preceding release
Rise of the Guardians, yet still below some of the studio's other original films, like
Megamind and
How to Train Your Dragon. Outside North America, the film topped the box office during its first weekend with $62.4 million (including previews from the previous weekend). It opened at number one in 54 countries, with the biggest openings achieved in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta ($8.08 million), Russia and the CIS ($7.82 million), China ($6.34 million), and Mexico ($4.37 million). In total grosses, the film's biggest market was China with $63.3 million, In addition, the film earned $43.1 million in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta, $28.6 million in Russia and the CIS, $27.7 million in Mexico, and $23.8 million in Australia. Earning a total of $400 million, it is the highest grossing 2013 film distributed by 20th Century Fox.
Critical response On review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 71% based on 145 reviews, with an average score of 6.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "While it may not be as (ahem) evolved as the best modern animated fare,
The Croods will prove solidly entertaining for families seeking a fast-paced, funny cartoon adventure." On
Metacritic, which assigns a
normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Lisa Kennedy of
The Denver Post gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying "It captures the wonder (and more gently, the anxiety) of discovery time and time again. And the filmmakers have a hoot playing with the Croods' encounters with, as well as their misunderstandings of, all things new." Paul Asay of
Plugged In gave the film a positive review, stating "The Croods is, first and foremost, Grug's story. And it's one I think an awful lot of fathers might relate to...I should say that there's very little to fear from this movie. The Croods, for all its slapstick violence, is a fun, mostly clean and utterly charming diversion - something made for kids but meant for their parents. It's funny. It's touching. It reminds us that being a parent is tough in any epoch, but always worth the effort." Claudia Puig of
USA Today gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying, "A visually dazzling animated adventure with a well chosen voice cast is hampered by lackluster humor and a meandering story." Tom Russo of
The Boston Globe also gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying, "Had the movie figured out a way to stay the less clichéd course, it might have helped the DreamWorks oeuvre take steps toward
Pixar's emotional resonance." Tirdad Derakhshani of
The Philadelphia Inquirer also gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying, "The movie is well edited and lean, a fast-paced, action filled bit of froth that manages to be diverting and surprisingly fun." David Rooney of
The Hollywood Reporter called the film, "Further back on the evolutionary chain than the
Flintstones, and also lagging in the comedy stakes, this sweet Stone Age clan nonetheless will captivate the youngsters." Leslie Felperin of
Variety found that, "The main problem with the film is that the script simply isn't very funny, and its various subplots never quite mesh satisfyingly together." Laremy Legel of
Film.com gave the film a B, saying "
How to Train Your Dragon and
Lilo & Stitch are completely indicative of the experience you'll have with
The Croods, which is to say a supremely positive one." Keith Staskiewicz of
Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C+, and wrote in his review, "A handful of adrenalizing sequences of animated anarchy can't save this story from feeling overly primitive." In August 2021, Australian Prime Minister
Scott Morrison compared the plot of the film to the process of easing COVID-19 restrictions. His comments were mocked on social media, with Courtney Fry of
Pedestrian.TV noting the film as an odd reference, describing it as a "film that nobody has even thought about for nearly a decade".
Accolades ==Soundtrack==