The Croods: A New Age Review: Some Great New Characters, Same Beautiful Animation, and Lots of Silliness

Release date: November 25, 2020
Running time: 95 minutes
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, Clark Duke, Leslie Mann, Peter Dinklage, Kelly Marie Tran
Directed By: Joel Crawford

The prehistoric family the Croods are challenged by a rival family the Bettermans, who claim to be better and more evolved.  In this follow up to the prehistoric family hit, the Croods discover a new member of the pack and try to find a new home.  However, when they find some place that seems like paradise, they learn that maybe this might not be all that it is cracked up to be.

The Croods: A New Age continues the same trend of the first movie with some amazingly beautiful animation.  The film, like the previous one, starts in a desert but eventually moves into a more lush environment that really showcases what this film has to offer.  The New Age also adds some new characters, and they are all good additions.  The original Croods voice cast was surprisingly good with Nic Cage and Emma Stone being the standouts.  This movie adds characters voiced by Ryan Reynolds, Peter Dinklage, Leslie Mann, and Kelly Marie Tran.  I really liked Ryan Reynolds's character, and the other new characters are well voiced, despite me not loving their overall demeaner.  But overall, the voice acting is convincing and entertaining.

And the story of the Croods: A New Age has an interesting dynamic between prehistoric times and more modern times.  It is fun to see the Croods contend with modern technology and interact with it.  Some of the changes are funny to see, like how one of the children becomes obsessed with screens.  But what characterizes this story the most is the utter silliness of it all.  The movie has some very random aspects, such as animals that communicate only in punches, strange mash up creatures, and some odd fruits and vegetables. They are all very colorful and should be very entertaining for kids and adults.  

The story of the film has a modern technology versus old ways push and pull, and a lot more family drama than I thought it would have. But don't worry about these somewhat heavy story points, the movie itself is very silly.  There is a really funny 80s / KISS type call out towards the end that is really entertaining.  And the whole film seems to be characterized by a lot of random and ridiculous scenes.  And this silliness is something that made my kids laugh out loud.  Your kids will love it and there is enough in here for adults to enjoy as well.

The Croods: A New Age adds some great new characters and plenty of silliness in this prehistoric family animated adventure.

Rent it.

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The Croods: A New Age is available in theaters on November 25.  

For showtimes, click here.

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