Good evening everyone! I hope you all have had a wonderful New Year thus far, and that you all continue to have a blessed one. Today, we are going to review a family film that I wasn’t originally planning to watch, and review until maybe a few months from now, when it likely hits home video, or watch On Demand. However, because of the fact that movie theaters that were located near me had reopened, and this film was playing at most of those theaters, I decided to go ahead and see it IN THEATERS. So here we are, seven to eight years after it’s predecessor’s release, with it’s sequel, Croods: A New Age.
Plot: After a long while since the Croods family (Grug (Nicholas Cage), Ugga (Catherine Keener), Gran (Cloris Leachman), Eep (Emma Stone), Thunk (Clark Duke), and Sandy (Kailey Crawford)) left their cave home, and have been traveling with Guy (Ryan Reynolds), they suddenly stumble upon a new home, and a new family, by the last name of Betterman, consisting of Phil (Peter Dinklage), Hope (Leslie Mann), and their daughter, Dawn (Kelly Marie Tran), who was an old friend of Guy’s. Having a strong dislike for the Croods, and determined to see Guy marry Dawn instead of Eep, the Bettermans make every attempt to get rid of the Croods for good. But when unexpected surprises occur for both families that force the two families to work together, can the two families set aside their differences, and navigate through the unexpected obstacles that await them?
Now, after some, if not all of you saw me rank the first film in the high B grade range, you may be wondering, “Did the sequel improve from the The Croods 1?” Well, it did. True, this isn’t quite an A+ film. However, when compared to some of DreamWorks recent works like Trolls: World Tour, this movie is quite a few steps up from that. In fact, if the Academy were to choose between Trolls: World Tour, or Croods: A New Age, as to which of those should be nominated for Best Animated Feature, it is this one that should be nominated, if not win that Oscar. Of course, I’m not going to say whether or not Croods: A New Age should win yet, as I still have yet to watch movies like Disney/Pixar’s Soul, and hearing plenty of great things about that one. So, I’ll reserve my judgment call on that at least for now. So, what makes this film one of DreamWorks better animated films in recent years? Well, for one, the animation seems to be a step up from that of the first film. Oh, and get this! The character animation seems to be well-crafted this time around. A very notable example is how some of the creatures seem to have a design of animation, and the design of Muppet, or Sesame Street characters mixed in together. Oh, is that hard to believe? Well, all the more reason to see this film, and you’ll probably know what I mean. Anyway, not only is all of that the case, but there seems to be more depth with the characters this time around. So much so that you seem to care for them, and sympathize with them more than you might have in the first movie. What’s more is that some, if not all, of them seem to be more relatable in one capacity, or another. Also, Croods: A New Age May have similar themes, and messages to movies like the 2018 Disney film, Wreck-It-Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks The Internet. One of the main differences this time around is that this film DOES NOT seem to either unintentionally, or intentionally teach kids, or adults that it’s okay to be selfish, and have whatever you want in life. Nevertheless, Croods: A New Age does an excellent job of teaching great lessons like how it’s good for parents to love them, but also to let them live their own lives when it’s appropriate to do so. Additionally, the story seems to be better paced, which is likely more than one could have probably said about the first film. Okay, that’s not to say that the first film, The Croods, wasn’t fairly well paced at points. Still, The Croods might have felt a little too fast paced at points. But I digress. The world building seems to have a little more creativity with the worlds, some of the creatures, and other areas this time around. The film also seems to have a little more heart to it than it’s predecessor. And another thing! Croods: A New Age seems to have a very good balance of comedy, action, and of course mostly good character development.
However, there were a couple areas, where this film could have gone through a final draft, or two. To begin, there were times when this sequel seemed to act a little much like Trolls: World Tour. For instance, instead of there being a good musical score in really tense moments, a random rock song would be thrown in. It’s like, “Come on!” Okay, that may not have always been the case in this movie, but it seemed strange whenever something like that did occur, you know? The other thing is that there were times when some of the characters were making decisions without giving an explanation, or reason, for some of their actions. Okay, I get that maybe the writers might have been trying to just throw in certain twists, or something like that. Still, I’m not sure that it always worked, you know?
And that’s my review for Croods: A New Age. Sure, this film might have had a couple flaws. Still, one could maybe call this sequel a beautiful mess, since it was mostly good. Nearly everything is a step up, from better developed characters, better animation, more creativity, and other good qualities too. Truth be told, if theaters are open near your location, and ticket prices are reasonably priced, Croods: A New Age is one of those animated films that you should really try to go to the theater to see first, if at all possible. Considering that Trolls: World Tour didn’t seem to be quite as big screen worthy back in April of last year, that seems to say a lot for Croods: A New Age. But most importantly, you’ll most likely have a fun time watching this film in theaters, and possibly even seeing some fun trailers to go along with it, before the feature begins. See this film for yourselves, and see what you think!
Final Grade: A-
Matthew’s Animated & Live-Action Movie Reviews 