Caveman Dug (Eddie Redmayne), his loyal boar friend Hognob and his tribe spend most of their time hunting rabbits. That is all about to change when armoured mammoths, led by the wicked Lord Nooth (Tom Hiddleston), take over their valley home. Dug isn't taking this lying down and he challenges the Bronze Age invaders to a game of football. Now, if only he could train is tribe to actually be good at the sport. Maybe the football-made Goona (Maisie Williams) will help them train.

England is playing in the World Cup as I write this review. I wish I could say that I planned to cash-in on the World Cup and play the topical card, but I would have watched this film any way. I always like Aardman films, so I bought the DVD as soon as I saw it in the store. It was on my watch list any way.

You have to marvel at just how much work the people at Aarman put in for our entertainment. I was watching some of the behind the scenes featurettes and one minute-long scene took animators over a month to animate. It would be terrible not to enjoy a film when the people that made it put in so much hard work.

The voice cast are all excellent. I have to admit that this is the first time I have actually seen anything Eddie Redmayne has been in. I have seen bits of The Theory of Everything and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but this is the first time I have seen anything of his all the way through. I should think it would be obvious where I know Tom Hiddleston and Maisie Williams from. I loved Tom Hiddleston's outrageous accent, but I couldn't quite make out what sort of accent Maisie Williams was going for. According to the behind the scenes featurettes it was supposed to be a Swedish accent.

There are many more famous names (for British viewers at least) among the voice cast as well. Harry Potter fans will recognise the voices of Timothy Spall and Mark Williams as Chief Bobnar and Barry respectively. Then there is Miriam Margoyles as Queen Oofeefa, Lord Nooth's wife. Also, there is Richard Ayoade (Moss from The I.T. Crowd) as Treebor. Director Nick Park even provides Hognob's pig noises himself.

Like most Aardman productions this film has a lot of visual jokes and in-jokes. For instance, there is a zebra crossing in the Iron Age city that is a literal zebra. Football fans will definitely get the references from Goona and Queen Oofeefa's name. Goona's name is a play on 'gooner', a slang term for Arsenal fans. Queen Oofeefa's name is a reference to FIFA, the international governing body for football. I'm not a football fan, so there are probably more football references that went over my head. You don't need to be a football fan to get a kick out of this film, but it might help in getting some of the in-jokes.

My rating: 3.5 stars.