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The Croods: A New Age (also known as The Croods 2) is a 2020 American computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures. A sequel to The Croods, the film was directed by Joel Crawford (in his feature directorial debut) with a screenplay by Dan Hageman, Kevin Hageman, Paul Fisher, and Bob Logan from a story by the original directors Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco. It features the returning voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke, and Cloris Leachman, with new cast members Peter Dinklage, Leslie Mann and Kelly Marie Tran. The film was theatrically released in the United States on November 25, 2020 after facing several delays from an original November 2017 release date.

Plot
Searching for a safer habitat, the prehistoric Crood family discovers an idyllic, walled-in paradise that meets all of its needs. Unfortunately, they must also learn to live with the Bettermans -- a family that's a couple of steps above the Croods on the evolutionary ladder. As tensions between the new neighbors start to rise, a new threat soon propels both clans on an epic adventure that forces them to embrace their differences, draw strength from one another, and survive together.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It had decent-enough follow-up for the first film.
 * Eep, Guy, Grug, Ugga, Thunk, Sandy, and Gran are still likeable characters.
 * 1) Belt and Chunky are still pretty funny animal comic releifs.
 * 2) Dawn and Sash are likeable new characters.
 * 3) There are thankfully still some very funny moments.
 * 4) * When Guy, Grug and Phil are captured by Punch Monkeys, hijinks happens.
 * 5) ** After a tense moment of the wall getting banged open due to Grug eating all the bananas, he ends up laughing after finding out it was (seemingly) a lone little Punch Monkey and that Phil was scared of it to the point of offering him bananas. Cue the Monkey punching his fists along with hundreds of others behind him in the jungle.
 * 6) ** The Punch Monkies all carry the three in a log, much like Guy in the first movie, only this time Guy's in the middle of Grug and Phil. He tries to complain about his earlier breakup with Eep but then a Punch Monkey, annoyed by his talking tries to turn him to the other side and then poke him in the eye when he continues.
 * 7) ** Guy communicating with the Punch Monkey elder involves punching and slapping each other, due to it being the way all the monkeys communicate.
 * 8) ** As Phil brags about how he diverted a mountain's river to his side into a desert after hearing how the Monkeys' paradise became a wasteland, he then realizes that aforementioned river was also how it was initially a paradise and tries to stop Guy from finishing translating. Unfortunately for them, Guy already finished the sentence, much to his chagrin.
 * 9) ** Phil tries to get the fend off the monkeys by trying to scare them, only for them to learn just as quickly and outnumber him and Grug and Guy. First with making a spear, then by making fire, and lastly by teaching them how to tie a knot because apparently they were really bad at it according to him.
 * 10) Very well crafted and imaginative new creature designs.
 * 11) The voice acting is still very well performed, with the returning voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke, and Cloris Leachman, with new cast members Peter Dinklage, Leslie Mann and Kelly Marie Tran.
 * 12) Mark Mothersbaugh delivers a pretty decent score. The music opens to "I Think I Love You" by The Partridge Family, a song used as a theme for Guy and Eep's relationship.
 * 13) *The closing credits feature a cover of the song is sung... by Tenacious D.
 * 14) *The Thunder Sisters anthem, heard here is an anthem of power and badass action.
 * 15) The animation is still amazingly well done, and has received a good upgrade. While the significantly lower budget means the film doesn't appear quite as spectacular as its predecessor (and is presumably why some of the family's pets don't return), it still looks gorgeous, with similarly brightly colored and innovative designs. The Bettermans' oasis looks just as inviting and marvelous as the Croods perceive it to be.
 * 16) Several clichés are easily avoided, like how the movie narrowly avoided the cliche "jealous girlfriend" routine from Eep.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Phil and Hope are unlikeable throughout most of the movie, though their attitude does get better near the end.
 * 2) There are some lackluster jokes.
 * 3) The story is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, it does a decent job at advancing the Crood's journey and having them meet other humans. But on the other hand, it is very cliched, lacks some of the heart and charm of the original, and does follow typical rom-com tropes.

Reception
The Croods: A New Age received mixed-to-positive reviews, with many called the film "a decent-enough follow-up" and praised the cast, although the story was lamented. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 72% based on 78 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Another agreeable outing for the titular prehistoric clan, The Croods: A New Age may be the missing link for parents between more elevated family-friendly fare.". On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 83% of audience members gave the film a positive score, with 59% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Comments
2020s films]] Adventure films]] Decent films]]