The Croods: A New Age (2020)

The Croods: A New Age (2020)

 

7/10

Starring the voices of

Ryan Reynolds

Emma Stone

Nicholas Cage

Catherine Keener

 

Directed by Joel Crawford

During this pandemic and the curious case of mishaps of 2020, the last thing you will think is that The Croods needed a sequel, Well one was done and I have to say this is a decent work.

I did not fancy the first The Croods. The roughness of the characters and the whole idea of Guy being more of an upgrade in comparison to The Croods, made me dislike the first movie. This on the other hand is more like it. Maybe it is because of the focus of the plot, or the added comedy what ever it is this sequel is far better than the original.

The voice acting is not the most perfect thing about this animation, but the story is. The writers tweaked it enough to make the movie more appealing to adults as it would to children. Putting the adults in the shoes of the characters and making it easy for them to see some of their actions in the characters of Grug and The Bettermans helped make watching this animation a joy ride.

Another thing I enjoyed about this movie is the beginning. After a short minute of where Guy is from the animation picks up from where the last one stopped. What made me like this brief Guy origin story, is that unlike many movies or animations they take away too much time creating a depth which was missing in the first film. Then when that past incident and the present meet, they take too much time trying to iron out the kinks and build continuity. The view into Guy’s past just showed us why Guy is on his own when he met the Croods and where he was heading.

We start with the Croods looking for a new home and the romance between Guy and Eep has taken a new turn and they are planning to be together away from the others. Grug is freaking out trying to convince his wife that Guy and Eep (his daughter) is not a good thing. On their journey’s they wonder into the homes of the Bettermans. There they meet the family of three who happen to be neighbors to Guy and his family when he was much younger.

The Bettermans as was with Guy are inventive and forward thinking. Their home/oasis which they built for themselves and their daughter Dawn, is as modern as can be. Reminding me of The Flintsones.

There seem to be something Mr. Betterman is hiding from the rest, by stopping them from ever eating any banana in their large farm like home. Mrs. Betterman also has her own plan. Seeing Guy makes her want him for their daughter, Dawn and the couple start planning how to get rid of the The Croods, with Guy staying behind.

Dawn and Guy grew up together, but now here is where the animation took another fun turn. Instead of a jealous relationship between Eep and Dawn, they actually became good friends from the start. None saw the other as a rival and they formed a close bond.

Here is an animation done well enough for you and your family to love.