The Croods: A New Age review

 THE CROODS: A NEW AGE: 

DREAMWORKS SEQUEL IRONICALLY ISN’T ALL THAT “NEW”, BUT IT’S A PERFECTLY SERVICEABLE ANIMATED FAMILY FILM! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND DREAMWORKS ANIMATION

Sandy, Gran, Thunk, Ugga, Grug, Eep, and Guy meet an unusual family in The Croods: A New Age

 

            Everyone’s favorite stone-age family (Okay, second favorite!) is back for a second outing in The Croods: A New Age, the latest film from DreamWorks Animation and follow-up to the 2013 film, The Croods. My memories of what I thought of the first Croods movie are pretty fuzzy given that I haven’t seen it since 2013 when I watched it in theaters, but I remembered it being a cute, lighthearted animated film for kids that just came and went, I didn’t really think about it much after I had seen it. 

            Well, either because the first film made money at the box-office or people, I’ve never met in my entire life demanded for the story of the Croods family to continue, we got this follow-up released seven years later. And just like the first film, it came and went. 

It isn’t going to follow in the footsteps of Shrek 1 and 2 or the Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon trilogies as one of the best DreamWorks films, but if you got little kids who want to watch it or have a family movie night, this isn’t a bad film to put on. It isn’t a movie that will challenge you or change your life, it’s just a colorful, silly animated adventure with a cave man family and nothing more. 

The film follows the prehistoric Crood family consisting of Grug (voiced by Nicolas Cage-Face/Off, National Treasure 1 and 2, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), Eep (voiced by Emma Stone-Zombieland 1 and 2, La La Land, The Favourite), Ugga (voiced by Catherine Keener-Being John Malkovich, Capote, Get Out), Thunk (voiced by Clark Duke-The Office, Hot Tub Time Machine, Kick-Ass 1 and 2), Gran (voiced by Cloris Leachman-The Last Picture Show, Young Frankenstein, Spanglish), Sandy (voiced by Kailey Crawford), and Eep’s boyfriend Guy (voiced by Ryan Reynolds-Deadpool 1 and 2, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, Free Guy) searching for a new habitat and stumble across a mysterious, walled-in paradise that meets all of its requirements. There, the Croods befriend another family known as the Betterman, Phil (voiced by Peter Dinklage-Elf, Game of Thrones, Avengers: Infinity War), Hope (voiced by Leslie Mann-George of the Jungle, Funny People, Rio 1 and 2), and their daughter Dawn (voiced by Kelly Marie Tran-Star Wars: The Last Jedi/The Rise of Skywalker, Raya and the Last Dragon, Monsters at Work) who are a couple of steps above the Croods on the evolutionary ladder and were very close to Guy before he met the Croods. 

However, tensions begin to rise between the two families and a new threat emerges that propels both clans on an adventure that forces them to embrace their differences and work together. 

The film also features the voice of Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon trilogy, The Call of the Wild (2020)) as Guy’s pet sloth Belt. 

Overall, The Croods: A New Age pales in comparison to other, better DreamWorks films but it’s still a colorful, lighthearted, and perfectly serviceable animated film. It’s kind of like the Trolls movies or The Boss Baby where it just goes in one ear and out the other, not bad but easily disposable.

Really the best way I can describe this movie is “Just Fine”, how’s the animation? It’s fine. How are the characters? They’re fine. How’s the humor? It’s fine. The Croods: A New Age is pretty much a cave man club of adequacy. 

The plot is very predictable and recycled from other animated movies, not to mention animated movie sequels. Main characters find a mysterious land (In this film’s case a paradise) populated by strange new characters but there’s a secret behind everything, sounds very familiar doesn’t it? I wouldn’t have minded that if they did something new or clever with the plot but instead The Croods: A New Age decides to do some of the exact same things Frozen II, Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 2, and even DreamWorks’ own Trolls World Tour already did. 

Aside from a song performed by Tenacious D of all people during the end credits, there really isn’t anything that memorable about The Croods: A New Age. It’s a decent animated movie for kids and families but you probably won’t be nearly as invested or engaged as other films in the genre. 

If you have kids who want to see it then sure, put it on for them but if you’re looking for a game-changing, emotional powerhouse of an animated film, I’d suggest just waiting for Pixar’s Soul on Disney+.