The Croods: A New Age

 

RATING: C

In a 2020 hellscape where--among other things--there were very few movies coming out, one thing that was likely unexpected was that one of the few movies that *did* squeeze through and still get released in theaters would be... a sequel to The Croods? For one thing, did that movie even really need a sequel? And why do it seven years later? Dreamworks (or their parent company, Comcast) must have not been expecting much of a return, because they went ahead and pushed it through despite low chances of making much money out of it. Not sure this movie needed to exist, but sure sounds better than Trolls World Tour or Boss Baby 2. Ugh. 

In defense of The Croods, it's not like there was that much inherently wrong with its predecessor, besides the heavy playing out of the "overprotective dad hates/is scared of anything new" trope. But it didn't do much to stand out from the crowd of computer-animated movies beyond its superb visuals--and Nicolas Cage, I guess, even if we could only hear him hamming it up this time. 

By the events of this movie, this prehistoric Flinstones-esque family is still fighting for survival, along with their new pets. The only main change is that now Eep and Guy have become *that* kind of teenage couple. You know the type. Until they run across a giant wall housing a sanctuary where other humans are living--humans that are more advanced, at least by prehistoric standards. And to top it off? They're called the "Bettermans." What kicks off is a saga of these two families' rivalries and how it gets both of them into trouble. 

Considering the time gap between the two movies and the fact that almost entirely different people made this one, this movie's a bit better than it has any right to be. Unfortunately, it does suffer from a couple of the same problems as its predecessor--and adds a new one or two as well. Conflict is still manufactured by characters being needlessly obtuse. The Betterman parents and their superiority complex get annoying fairly quick, as does their attempts to split up a certain new couple and send the rest on their way (though their daughter Dawn fares better--on a few occasions she seems like one of the only sane people in the movie). 

Also, especially down the stretch, this film gets to be a lot more over-the-top than its predecessor, and not necessarily in a good way. You'd think in a world where crazy animal combinations like a tiger cat exist, things would already be that way--but the first film took a lot of its eccentric creations/ideas and played them fairly straight. Here, it's to the point where after the teaming up of some certain characters, we get a crazy caption-filled almost-anime-esque intro sequence for this new "group" that's not as cool as the movie thinks it is. There are a couple of other cringe-worthy scenes. 

On the plus side, this is another visually gorgeous movie to look at. These two movies have had quite a penchant for colorful and detailed backgrounds. And the voice work is good too. The returning voices (namely Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone) are still good; but the newcomers (Peter Dinklage, Kelly Marie Tran) are *clearly* enjoying themselves, which does help the final product out a bit. 

There's still a fair amount of humor too, which includes the "antagonists." One of the latest weird animal cross-ups? "Punch Monkeys." It sounds stupid and it does seem that way at first, but it's actually often quite hilarious. Even the monkeys' *language* consists of punching. 

This movie doesn't quite live up to its predecessor, but it's not a total failure by any means either. And again, the question of whether this movie was even necessary could fairly be raised, but during a time where few movies are coming out, I suppose we take what we can get. There are worse ways to spend 90 minutes of your time (for example, Trolls World Tour).