Alas, his understanding of Earth’s planetary evolution probably now assumes that Gondwana and Pangaea separated over a period of days, that one was dry and barren and the other a tropical wilderness.
The truth of the matter is that the complicated continental separation took place over millions of years and the climates of the continents changed innumerable times as a result of: fluctuations in the Earth’s magnetism, the relative positions of the continents, solar impacts, changes in the chemical composition of the oceans, the impact of increasing plant coverage and periods of volcanic activity.
Now, you’re probably saying to yourself: “It’s only a kids’ film and what’s a geologist doing reviewing films anyway?” Well, all the best animated kids’ films (Monsters, Robots, Toy Stories, Cars, etc.) operate at two levels: base humour and good vs bad for the kids, and subtle risqué, sarcasm and references that only adults would understand. The adult content enables the adults to ignore the physical impossibilities and plot implausibilities.
Unfortunately, The Croods lacks the adult content, and so the scientific inconsistencies are impossible to ignore. Not only that, but the animation is pretty ordinary by today’s Pixar standards (The Croods is a Dreamworks production).
