THE CROODS: A NEW AGE
***
Director: Joel Crawford
Screenplay: Kevin Hageman, Dan Hageman, Paul Fisher and Bob Logan, based on a story by Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders.
Principal cast:
Nicolas Cage
Emma Stone
Ryan Reynolds
Catherine Keener
Cloris Leachman
Clark Duke
Country: USA
Classification: PG
Runtime: 95 mins.
Australian release date: 26 December 2020.
It’s been seven years since The Croods, so The Croods: A New Age has been a long time in the planning. There were a few contributing factors to this delay, a big one being the acquisition of DreamWorks Animation by Universal Pictures in 2016. Later, another spanner in the works was the arrival of COVID-19, which meant that a lot of the final work on the movie had to be done remotely, rather than at the studio. Despite this expanse of time, most of the original A-list voice cast (Nicolas Cage, Catherine Keener, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Clark Duke and Cloris Leachman) were able to come back for this second instalment in the adventures of Grug, Ugga, Eep, Guy, Thunk, Sandy and Gran. More or less picking up where the first film left off, A New Age develops into a face-off (or culture clash) between the ‘old’ cave dwellers and the ‘new’ modern man - kind of like Neanderthals versus Cro-Magnons.
In a flashback, we see how Guy (Reynolds) met up with the Croods while searching for “tomorrow”. He’s now a member of the family group, more or less, although his budding romance with Eep (Stone) is getting on Grug’s (Cage) nerves. One day, misadventure sees them meet a more evolved family, the Bettermans (geddit?) - Phil (Peter Dinklage), his wife Hope (Leslie Mann) and their daughter Dawn (Kelly Marie Tran) - and it transpires that they knew Guy’s family in the past. They live in a tree-house with all mod-cons, surrounded by a high wall and a garden full of bananas, which everyone is forbidden from eating (for reasons that are unexplained by the Bettermans). Phil is what you might call ‘cave-ist’, so he tries to persuade Grug that it would be better for all if the Croods leave Guy with them because he’s more intelligent than the cave-dwellers and would be a perfect match for Dawn. When an argument between Guy and Eep convinces Grug that Phil is right, he decides to take the family away, leaving Guy behind. Before they leave, however, the Croods eat the Betterman’s supply of bananas, which sends Phil into a panic and forces him to reveal the reason why they have hoarded the precious fruit. The ensuing mayhem obliges the two families to put aside their differences and realise that they are “stronger together”.
There are some very funny sight and verbal gags in The Croods: A New Age, many of which pass comment on the foibles of our 21st century world; for example, when Thunk (Duke) encounters a window for the first time, he treats it like a modern kid would a TV screen. The pace rarely lets up, bordering on frenetic at times, and the animation is bright, breezy and thoroughly colourful, especially when the action changes from the Croods’ environment to the Betterman’s walled-off luxury world. Of course, what DreamWorks animation wouldn’t carry a message, and there is more than one in this film; there’s the aforementioned theme of the importance of working together but, perhaps more significantly in this time of climate change, there is also a strong lesson on the dangers of messing with the natural order of things for short-term gain. The Croods: A New Age has something for everyone so it can truly claim to be a ‘film for all the family’. While it may not hit the heights of past DreamWorks’ animated movies like the Shrek and Madagascar franchises, it’s a fun addition to the slate.
Screenplay: Kevin Hageman, Dan Hageman, Paul Fisher and Bob Logan, based on a story by Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders.
Principal cast:
Nicolas Cage
Emma Stone
Ryan Reynolds
Catherine Keener
Cloris Leachman
Clark Duke
Country: USA
Classification: PG
Runtime: 95 mins.
Australian release date: 26 December 2020.
It’s been seven years since The Croods, so The Croods: A New Age has been a long time in the planning. There were a few contributing factors to this delay, a big one being the acquisition of DreamWorks Animation by Universal Pictures in 2016. Later, another spanner in the works was the arrival of COVID-19, which meant that a lot of the final work on the movie had to be done remotely, rather than at the studio. Despite this expanse of time, most of the original A-list voice cast (Nicolas Cage, Catherine Keener, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Clark Duke and Cloris Leachman) were able to come back for this second instalment in the adventures of Grug, Ugga, Eep, Guy, Thunk, Sandy and Gran. More or less picking up where the first film left off, A New Age develops into a face-off (or culture clash) between the ‘old’ cave dwellers and the ‘new’ modern man - kind of like Neanderthals versus Cro-Magnons.
In a flashback, we see how Guy (Reynolds) met up with the Croods while searching for “tomorrow”. He’s now a member of the family group, more or less, although his budding romance with Eep (Stone) is getting on Grug’s (Cage) nerves. One day, misadventure sees them meet a more evolved family, the Bettermans (geddit?) - Phil (Peter Dinklage), his wife Hope (Leslie Mann) and their daughter Dawn (Kelly Marie Tran) - and it transpires that they knew Guy’s family in the past. They live in a tree-house with all mod-cons, surrounded by a high wall and a garden full of bananas, which everyone is forbidden from eating (for reasons that are unexplained by the Bettermans). Phil is what you might call ‘cave-ist’, so he tries to persuade Grug that it would be better for all if the Croods leave Guy with them because he’s more intelligent than the cave-dwellers and would be a perfect match for Dawn. When an argument between Guy and Eep convinces Grug that Phil is right, he decides to take the family away, leaving Guy behind. Before they leave, however, the Croods eat the Betterman’s supply of bananas, which sends Phil into a panic and forces him to reveal the reason why they have hoarded the precious fruit. The ensuing mayhem obliges the two families to put aside their differences and realise that they are “stronger together”.
There are some very funny sight and verbal gags in The Croods: A New Age, many of which pass comment on the foibles of our 21st century world; for example, when Thunk (Duke) encounters a window for the first time, he treats it like a modern kid would a TV screen. The pace rarely lets up, bordering on frenetic at times, and the animation is bright, breezy and thoroughly colourful, especially when the action changes from the Croods’ environment to the Betterman’s walled-off luxury world. Of course, what DreamWorks animation wouldn’t carry a message, and there is more than one in this film; there’s the aforementioned theme of the importance of working together but, perhaps more significantly in this time of climate change, there is also a strong lesson on the dangers of messing with the natural order of things for short-term gain. The Croods: A New Age has something for everyone so it can truly claim to be a ‘film for all the family’. While it may not hit the heights of past DreamWorks’ animated movies like the Shrek and Madagascar franchises, it’s a fun addition to the slate.
