Early Man (2018)

Set at the dawn of time, when prehistoric creatures and woolly mammoths roamed the earth, Early Man tells the story of Dug, along with sidekick Hognob as they unite his tribe against a mighty enemy Lord Nooth and his Bronze Age City to save their home.

Director:

Nick Park

Writers:

Mark Burton (screenplay by), James Higginson (screenplay by)

Stars:

Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams

1 win & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Eddie Redmayne	...	Dug (voice)
Tom Hiddleston	...	Lord Nooth (voice)
Maisie Williams	...	Goona (voice)
Timothy Spall	...	Chief Bobnar (voice)
Miriam Margolyes	...	Queen Oofeefa (voice)
Rob Brydon	...	Message Bird / Brian / Bryan / Gonad the Gaul (voice)
Kayvan Novak	...	Dino / Jurgend (voice)
Richard Ayoade	...	Treebor (voice)
Selina Griffiths	...	Magma / Additional Voices (voice)
Johnny Vegas	...	Asbo (voice)
Mark Williams	...	Barry (voice)
Gina Yashere	...	Gravelle (voice)
Richard Webber	...	Grubup (voice)
Simon Greenall	...	Eemak / Thongo / Additional Voices (voice)
Nick Park	...	Hognob (voice)

Storyline

An asteroid collides with the prehistoric Earth, causing the extinction of the planet's dinosaurs, but sparing a tribe of cavemen living near the impact site. Finding a roughly spherical chunk of the asteroid that is too hot to touch, the cavemen begin to kick it around and invent the game of football. Many years later during the Stone Age, a young caveman named Dug (Eddie Redmayne) lives in the village with the chief Bobnar (Timothy Spall) and many other cavemen such as Asbo, (Johnny Vegas), Gravelle (Gina Yashere), Treebor (Richard Ayoade), Magma (Selina Griffiths), Barry (Mark Williams), Grubup (Richard Webber), Thongo (Simon Greenall) and Eemak (Simon Greenall). One day, Dug suggests to Bobnar that they should try hunting woolly mammoths instead of rabbits, but Bobnar brushes him off..

---

Plot Keywords:

claymation | caveman | stone age | bronze age | prehistory | 

---

Taglines:

Stone vs. Bronze. A Battle for the Ages.

---

Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Sport

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for rude humor and some action

Details

Official Sites:

Aardman [UK] Official Facebook

Country:

USA UK France

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 February 2018 (USA)

Also Known As:

El cavernícola

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$8,267,544, 29 March 2018

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aardman Animations, Amazon Prime Video, BFI's Film Found

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Atmos DTS (DTS: X)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Nick Park cast Eddie Redmayne due to his performance in Black Death (2010), where Redmayne took the role of Osmund four years before his Oscar for The Theory of Everything (2014).

---

Goofs

As Dug falls down the stadium seating, Hognob looks at his wrist to tell time even though he isn't wearing a wrist watch. That may seem like a goof, especially considering that wrist watches weren't invented yet at the time the movie takes place, but that's the point of the joke. It's to imply that Hognob is realizing that Dug is taking an awfully long time to fall to the bottom of the stadium.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Dug: Nearly there, Hognob. Nearly there, just a bit further. Try a little bit harder. We can do it.

---

Crazy Credits

Characters from Wallace & Gromit - Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Feathers McGraw - make cameo appearances during the end credits. You can see them among the cave painting-style figures at the sides of the screen as the credits roll.

---

Connections

Referenced in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: Onward to Weird Hedgehogs (2018)

---

Soundtracks

I Predict a Riot
Written by Simon Rix (as James Simon Rix), Nick Baines (as Nicholas Matthew Baines), Andrew White (as Andrew Robert White), Nick Hodgson (as Nicholas James David Hodgson), Ricky Wilson (as Charles Richard Wilson)
Performed by Kaiser Chiefs (as The Kaiser Chiefs)
Published by Concord Music Publishing
Courtesy of Polydor UK Ltd./B-Unique Records
Under license from Universal Music Operations Ltd.

User Reviews

Aardman always put a smile on my face; it's no 'Wallace & Gromit', but few things are.

Nick Park's claymation creations always manage to put a smile on my face. While it doesn't quite reach the heights of their 'Wallace & Gromit' franchise, 'Early Man (2018)' is a consistently clever and chuckle-worthy affair with plenty of laughs to be had at its typically home-spun humour that just gets better the longer you think about it. The beautifully tangible animation is compounded by awesomely ostentatious vocal work and a wonderfully written script, crafting a fully formed world just one-step removed from our own. It is also far and away the best football film I've seen. Though I'm not a huge fan of the sport and always find the formula of its features rather dull, the piece had me both riveted and grinning ear-to-ear during its ball-to-boots sequences with its wisecracking yet respectful, satirical wit which remains good-natured and suitably subtle even when taking the easiest, or sometimes most obscure, of hits. 7/10