Dreamworks, as far as their animated properties go, don’t get the appreciation that say a Pixar or Disney Animation typically gets. Aside from How to Train Your Dragon franchise and maybe the Kung Fu Panda trilogy, Dreamworks’ animated flicks are commonly targeting the more younger audiences. Whether you’re talking about the three Madagascar movies, The Boss Baby, Trolls or something like Over the Hedge, the style and sensibilities within in animated movie under Dreamworks is kid will enjoy way more than the adults might. Nevertheless, even the ones that kids will like more or movies that still have quality, pure entertainment and terrific animation. The first Croods is definitely not on the level of say a Toy Story or an Inside Out, however the first one was a solid entry in the world of animation. The Croods: A New Age is by no means the greatest animated flick of the year, nor is it in the top 20, but it still provides a fun adventure for audiences to sink their money in. It’s fun, poppy, fast paced and each actor does great voice work.
Picking up after the events of the first movie, The Croods: A New Age sees the Crood family on an adventure to find a new place that they can call home. Along their journey, the family then stumbles upon another family known as the Bettermans, a family that is miles ahead of the Croods on the evolutionary spectrum. As tension starts to unfold and struggles start to manifest, the families must learn to come together and learn to live in unification.
We can say what we want about Dreamworks not being as pitch perfect as an average Pixar movie, but one thing that can’t be disputed is the animation in The Croods: A New Age. Every single moving frame and attention to detail in this sequel is really state of the art and incredibly sublime. It seems that with almost every animated movie that comes out, the animation is progressively getting more impressive and gorgeous and The Croods: A New Age amplifies that in a creative and exciting way. This a colorful, radiant and very stimulating animated movie that doesn’t disappoint on a visual viewpoint.
The voice work from the entire cast is, once again, pretty damn spot on. Not only do the actors fit and wonderfully personify these animated characters, they share a really charming and sweet set of chemistry with each interaction and any other family moment that’s being displayed. Emma Stone is hilarious, Ryan Reynolds is also solid but Nicolas Cage as Grug, the head of the Crood family, is legit some of the most energetic and perfectly fit roles for Cage to ever dawn on, both live action and animation. Every piece of dialogue that is delivered by Nicolas Cage is incredibly ballsy, crazy and outrageously absorbing. Cage was arguably the best part of the first Croods, and that may be the same situation with The Croods: A New Age. The Croods: A New Age also features the talents of Peter Dinklage and Leslie Mann as Mr. and Mrs. Betterman, who were a nice addition to this venture. Something about the dynamic of the Betterman’s and the Croods that surprisingly worked well was the idea of cavemen and the relationship that they have with a more evolved and developed society (with this society being only a family of three). The rivalry between the two families was amusing and it was really intriguing to see cavemen go back and forth with a “modern” family was very entertaining.
As far as issues or another issues for The Croods: A New Age, as previously stated earlier in this review, this a movie that kids will absolutely adore and going off of that point, this might be a hard sell for the older age groups, specifically with parents or people in their 20’s. There are moments of complete insanity and absurdity to the point where things started to get a little bit out of focus. It’s brief, but there are certain sequences that feel a little bit too crazy for some to handle.
The Croods: A New Age is never gonna be claimed as one of the best animated movie to ever come out. Even with the movie going in 2020 being an absolute disaster, The Croods: A New Age won’t be in the the best of the year list. However, if you liked the first Croods movie, then you’ll definitely have a good time with The Croods: A New Age. Despite having moments of craziness, The Croods: A New Age does offer moments of the powerful themes of family and bonding with a completely group of people. The animation is stunning, the voice work from the cast is delivers in spades, but the sense of amusement and adventure is worth the viewing.
My grade for The Croods: A New Age: B
Zane's take at the Cinema's 