Remember “The Croods”? It’s understandable if
the answer is a “sure, kinda?” The 2013 animated
film about a cave family in a fictional prehistoric
era featuring the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma
Stone, Ryan Reynolds and Cloris Leachman
was pretty enjoyable, made a decent amount
of money and even got an Oscar nomination.
Nothing earth shattering, but it wasn’t surprising
that DreamWorks Animation decided to
greenlight a sequel.
That it took seven years to do so is, but “
The Croods: A New Age ” got caught up in a
crazy cycle of corporate acquisitions, director
changes and shifting priorities. It was even
flat out canceled at one point. And this all
happened pre-pandemic. That it still eventually
got made with all of the original cast is a
downright miracle.
But it’s certainly a lot of drama for a silly
animated sequel that’s neither terribly special
nor all bad. Directing duties transferred from
Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco to first-time
director Joel Crawford.This time around we
meet up with the Crood clan Grug (Cage),
Ugga (Catherine Keener), Gran (Leachman), Eep
(Stone) and her boyfriend Guy (Reynolds) on the
search for a new place to live, somewhere they
dreamily refer to as “Tomorrow.”