'The Croods: A New Age' Review
PG: Peril, action, and rude humor.
Runtime: 1 Hr and 36 Minutes
Production Company: Dreamworks Animation
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: Joel Crawford
Writers: Kevin Hageman, Dan Hageman, Paul Fisher, Bob Logan
Voice Cast: Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Peter Dinklage, Leslie Mann, Kelly Marie Tran, Catherine Keener, Clarke Duke, Cloris Leachman
Release Date: November 25, 2020
The Croods have survived their fair share of dangers and disasters, from fanged prehistoric beasts to surviving the end of the world, but now they will face their biggest challenge of all: another family.
After seven years, a cancellation, and a resurrection — seriously, look up this project’s history — The Croods are back and they look better than ever! Dreamworks’ stone-age family has received a major glo-up since their first outing. Their textures are more polished, they’re lighter, and they’re as colorful as their environments. A New Age offers top-notch animation and more breathtaking visuals than its predecessor. It retains its luscious art direction, presenting a variety of environments with its own distinctive flair.
I love how the artists and creative teams behind the Croods projects just throw a bunch of animals in a randomizer, pick two that don’t match at all and do their best to design a Pokemon-like creature as a result. There’s not as much variety this time around, but the new prehistoric hybrid animals make a solid impression, one of my favorites being these bizarre spider-wolf creatures. They have eight eyes and a wolf-like upper body while walking on eight legs like a spider. Even their movements mimic those of a spider and it’s awesome. Needless to say, the animators did a fantastic job applying detail and effort into expanding the world the characters are set in. Man, I wish I could’ve seen this in 3D because those visuals would’ve slapped.
All of the original voice actors return in A New Age, but naturally, there are a few new cast members this time around. One of the best vocal performances comes courtesy of Peter Dinklage as the Betterman’s patriarch, Phil, who reminds me of a hippie, pot-friendly dad that exudes chill vibes. Also, for you Nic Cage fans, there’s a hilarious scene where his character Grug does a poetic monologue about the experience of eating a banana. This seems funny enough on the surface, but it’s made even funnier because it’s NICOLAS CAGE doing a monologue about eating a banana. It’s so bizarre that it works.
“Animator movies” is a term I use to describe animated movies that have a thinly veiled/not fully realized screenplay. What they lack in story and depth is made up for with inconsistent scenes of slapstick comedy as a means for the animators to have a grand ole’ time. Hell, it’s the model for every Illumination movie ever made.
I, for one, am not a fan of “animator movies”. They work for families, which are the target demographic, but when they’re sequels to movies with a different tone and a really touching story, it feels more like a lazy cop-out. The Ice Age franchise is a prime example of this. From a visual standpoint, The Croods: A New Age has the markings of what made the first movie work. That being said, at its core, this is nothing but an animator’s movie full of constant, in-your-face gags and irreverent absurdist humor. It doesn’t have the heart, charm, or coherence to function as a serviceable sequel.
It’s worth mentioning that writing/directing duo Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders failed to return for this project. Instead, we received the directorial debut of Joel Crawford, who worked as a story artist on several Dreamworks movies. A New Age was also written by four writers that worked on The LEGO Ninjago Movie… you know, the weakest of the LEGO movies, so take that as you will. What I find interesting about Crawford’s background is that he worked as a storyboard artist on The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, which had the nature of an “animator movie”.
From the moment the plot kicks in and the Croods clash with The Betterman’s, you can hear all the clunky gears of the narrative as its ideas combust. The Betterman’s are depicted as this modern, new age hipster family… you know, like gentrifiers. Its theme of gentrification and classism, which serves as the primary basis of the conflict between the two families, is completely muddled. The Bettermans’ home is similar to an apartment complex where they have their own elevator system and multiple bedrooms, but their personalities are more aligned with the nature of a suburban family. The wife gives out passive-aggressive gift baskets, the husband has a literal man cave, and they both are completely condescending to their guests. It’s as if the writers were unable to pick a lane for which kind of modern society they wanted the Betterman’s to represent.
There are so many characters in this film that some of them — especially members of the Crood family — are given absolutely nothing to do. Dawn Betterman gets the worst of it, for she hardly plays much of a role throughout the whole film. There’s a ton of forced conflict surrounding her and she becomes immediate friends with Eep, who is supposed to be her contrast in a sense, but they don’t explore that relationship. Meanwhile, her parents try to set her up with Eep’s bae, Guy. I’m glad they didn’t try to force a love triangle between Guy, Eep, and Dawn, but everything centered around the latter is completely dropped.
None of the story concepts surrounding the clash of family dynamics in A New Age are fully realized, so the film throws a barrage of jokes at you to keep you occupied. I was going to compliment the climax, which is a really cool action set piece that plays with scale and looks like it came straight out of a Crash Bandicoot game, but when all is said and done, it’s a major retread of How to Train Your Dragon’s climax. It’s made even worse as they shoehorn a “girl power” moment that comes completely out of nowhere. If you thought we were done with the faux feminism that was present in Avengers: Endgame, Aladdin (2019), Men in Black: International, and Dark Phoenix, The Croods: A New Age is here to prove you wrong. The only thing I approve of is that the band HAIM made an original track for the sequence. It’s still egregious pandering, but where the HAIM sisters go, I follow.
The Croods: A New Age has state of the art animation to enchant viewers and a variety of gags and jokes to entertain kids, but at the end of the day, it’s not enough to compensate for its lack of charm and incoherent story.
