The Croods: A New Age

There is a specific, eye-searing shade of neon pink that only seems to exist in DreamWorks sequels, and The Croods: A New Age is absolutely doused in it. Coming seven years after the original prehistoric family adventure, this is a film that arrived during the height of the 2020 pandemic lockdowns, acting as a strange, vibrating beacon of theatrical hope when most of us were still wiping down our groceries with bleach. I watched this for the first time while wearing one wool sock because I’d lost the other behind the dryer, and honestly, the lopsided temperature of my feet perfectly matched the chaotic, high-fructose energy of the movie.

Survival of the Fanciest

The sequel picks up with our favorite "Tomorrow"-seeking cave dwellers—led by the ever-anxious Grug (Nicolas Cage)—as they stumble upon a literal walled garden. This isn't just a safer habitat; it’s a prehistoric suburban utopia owned by the Bettermans. Peter Dinklage (lending his dry, condescending wit from Game of Thrones) and Leslie Mann play Phil and Hope Betterman, a couple who have mastered irrigation, privacy, and the concept of "the window."

The friction between the Croods and the Bettermans is where the film finds its pulse. It’s a classic "class warfare" comedy wrapped in animal-hide clothing. The Croods are messy, tactile, and communal; the Bettermans are passive-aggressive, refined, and obsessed with personal space. Watching Nicolas Cage’s Grug discover the concept of a "man cave" (which is just a cave for one man) is a comedic highlight that feels very much in line with Cage’s brand of eccentric intensity. He brings a level of sincerity to a man losing his mind over a banana that few other actors could manage.

A Kaleidoscope of Creature Features

As an adventure film, A New Age leans heavily into the "wonder and spectacle" requirement of the genre. The world-building here is aggressively imaginative. We aren't just looking at mammoths and tigers; we’re looking at "Punch-Monkeys" that communicate via physical battery and "Spider-Wolves" that are exactly as terrifying as they sound. The production design by the team at DreamWorks feels like someone dropped a pack of highlighters into a blender with a National Geographic magazine.

The journey doesn’t just stay within the walls of the Betterman estate. The third act explodes into a rescue mission that introduces the "Thunder Sisters," a warrior-woman trope that allows Catherine Keener (Ugga) and the late, legendary Cloris Leachman (Gran) to shine. Leachman’s Gran remains one of the most underrated comedic creations in modern animation; she’s a chaotic force of nature who seems to be playing a different movie than everyone else, and I love her for it. The action sequences are fluid and inventive, though they occasionally move so fast they risk becoming a blur of primary colors.

The Pandemic’s Unlikely Hero

From a contemporary cinema perspective, The Croods: A New Age is a fascinating case study in "The Little Blockbuster That Could." Released in November 2020, it was one of the few major studio films to stick to a theatrical release when the industry was in a tailspin. While its $215 million global box office might look modest compared to the first film’s $587 million, in the context of 2020, those numbers were heroic. It essentially proved that families were still willing to mask up and head to the cinema for the right IP.

Behind the scenes, the film survived a rocky production history—it was actually cancelled in 2016 after the Universal-DreamWorks merger, only to be resurrected a year later. You can almost feel that "survivor" energy in the final product. It’s a movie that feels happy to exist. It doesn't have the emotional weight of a Pixar classic like Toy Story, but it understands the value of a well-timed slapstick gag. Ryan Reynolds as Guy and Emma Stone as Eep maintain the sweet, slightly dim-witted chemistry that anchored the first film, even if the sequel is more interested in the "culture clash" than their romance. Phil Betterman is essentially every guy you know who owns a Peloton and a man-bun, and the film's gentle ribbing of "civilized" living feels particularly pointed in an era of obsessive tech-reliance.

Stuff You Might Have Missed

While the film is a blast of color, there’s some serious craft under the hood. Director Joel Crawford (who worked on the Kung Fu Panda series) ensures the pacing never flags. One of the coolest details is the score by Mark Mothersbaugh (of DEVO fame and Thor: Ragnarok). He blends tribal percussion with 80s-synth sensibilities that shouldn't work for a prehistoric setting but somehow perfectly complements the neon visuals.

Also, keep an ear out for the "Punch-Monkey" language. The sound designers spent weeks crafting the specific grunts and thuds to ensure the "language" felt like a real, albeit violent, system of communication. It’s that level of "unnecessary" detail that elevates a standard sequel into something memorable.

Ultimately, The Croods: A New Age succeeds because it refuses to take itself seriously while taking its craft very seriously indeed. It’s a loud, proud, and profoundly silly adventure that manages to say something sweet about chosen families and breaking down walls—both literal and metaphorical. It may not be a "prehistoric masterpiece," but as a piece of pure, escapist entertainment, it’s a neon-colored win that I'd happily watch again (preferably with both socks on next time).