Underplayed Gems
The whole movie catalogue

Films and series, searchable by what they are

← Back to the shop

Early Man (2018)

Early Man poster
Directed by
Nick Park
Genre
comedy film, adventure film, family film, association football film
Country
United Kingdom, France, United States
Runtime
1h 29m
Rated
PG
Rating
6.1 of 10 from 885 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb

How it feels

A tribe of stone age villagers must win a football match against bronze age invaders to keep their land. The film follows their clumsy but determined efforts to learn the sport and defeat a much more advanced team.

playfulwhimsicallightheartedenergeticunderdogsillycharmingsports-spirited

What happens

Early Man is a 2018 stop motion animated sports comedy film directed by Nick Park, and written by Park, Mark Burton and James Higginson. It was produced by Aardman Animations, and stars the voices of Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams, and Timothy Spall. The film follows a tribe of primitive Stone Age valley dwellers who have to defend their land from bronze-equipped invaders in a football match. Early Man premiered on 20 January 2018 at the BFI Southbank cinema, and was released theatrically on 26 January 2018. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the visuals and humor, although it was considered inferior to previous Aardman works. The film was also less successful financially compared to previous Aardman offerings, grossing just $54 million against a budget of $50 million. The film was also the last Aardman film to be released theatrically in the United States, until Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom on September 18, 2026, as Netflix acquired streaming rights to further Aardman films in late 2019. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? Tell the Catbot what you feel like watching and it picks from the whole catalogue, or browse by genre, country and year.

Lists: Korean thrillers worth the evening · Anime films beyond Studio Ghibli · Slow films for a rainy night · Horror that unsettles instead of startling · Series you can finish in a weekend · Nordic crime worth the subtitles · Good films that end in under 90 minutes · Documentaries that play like thrillers

Loading movies…

What should I watch?