Early Man

The genius of Early Man is that it cannot possibly be spoiled. The animation is foolproof in its combination of ingenuity and obviousness, and the script obliterates the difference between a laugher and a groaner.

Some of the jokes will need carbon-dating to ascertain their age, but the good-natured humour never loses its fizz.

To use the film's terms: You go expecting a World Cup qualifying round. You leave having just seen a decent enough exhibition match.

It’s content to be what it is — a bit of silliness, really. It’s an excuse for goofy slapstick and wordplay. And it’s the rare light fare that can be light without feeling like chintzy gift shop pandering.

Park smoothly pilots this film around and through certain narrative conventions—training-montage clichés are parodied, familiar sports-movie characters are rejiggered—and there’s a pleasing familiarity to the whole endeavor. But there’s also a ceiling to how funny or touching any of this is.

A primitive concept (cavemen play football) generates unsophisticated laughs in an animated caper that’s fun but rather second division by Aardman standards.

There’s a mild chuckle every so often in Early Man...but overall the movie collapses in a heap of familiarity and lackadaisicalness. Park is an animation legend, but even the greats occasionally whiff it.

A fun & charming movie for both kids and adults, a very enjoyable movie especially for the football fans with heaps of the greatest form of comedic expression; puns.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

If you've seen other Nick Park films then you'll know roughly what to expect - somewhat eccentric characters and a fairly quirky plot line delivered via stop motion animation, wich is very much family friendly viewing. This all applies to this film, so there's no change there. I didn't find it as amusing as the Wallace & Gromit films but then I suppose thats maybe a lot for this to live up to, not least as the characters are brand new (or really old, if you know what I mean - pardon the plot related pun). Its an easy and enjoyable watch, with some pretty good examples of visual, slapstick comedy. I thought the voice acting was quite good but as I say it doesn't really compare to the studios previous works. I liked that the cave men were clearly portrayed as having their own flaws, which, no doubt, on a serious note, they would have had. I tend to enjoy the quirky/zaniness factor and the tongue-in-cheek sense that Nick Park films have and this film is no exception. I wouldn't say, however, that this is more memorable compared to other such films. However, I should point out that its very much football focussed, plot wise, so the football theme/references could get a bit boring if your not a fan of the sport, though it is pretty lighthearted and, suffice to say, not intended to be taken especially seriously (seriously, can you imagine cave people engaging on football matches?). Overall this is a fun and amusing, family friendly watch which is worth a watch if your interested in the story, although it isn't better than the previous Aardman studios films.

It’s too late to be an early man. If you wanna watch this, than just watch another aardman movies that are good

I was really looking forward to this, and yes the animation is good, BUT the story is boring and predictable. Its poor..Poor, poor. Expect so much more from Ardmann...