06 November 2024

Film: The Croods: A New Age (2020)

 Thoughts: You'd be hard pressed to find a reason not to love The Croods: A New Age. The film propels forward at an astonishing pace, reminding me of Hotel Transylvania 2 which felt like the team got to let the brakes off and embrace the kooky zaniness. The Croods: A New Age feels much the same, but in its own way, offering crazy visuals, fun edits and winning performances.

The Croods have been travelling as a solid pack for some time, with Guy fully incorporated into the clan, and into the heart of Eep-much to Grug’s dismay. After fighting to survive for every minute of their life, the group stumble into a virtual Eden, maintained and set up by the far advanced Bettermans. Cue much savage versus classy dynamics and some romantic tension with the reintroduction of the long-time childhood friend of Guy, Dawn Betterman.

There's a lot of fun to be had here. The characters are mouldable like clay: squished, crushed, stretched and tossed about like rubber balls. Early scenes such as a shifting pile of sleeping bodies provide tactile visuals with satisfying audio and plenty of room for humour. The actors pivot from emotion to emotion with rich gusto, filling the soundstage with roars, cackles, shrieks and growls all the way down to swoons, purrs and whispers. Jokes repeat but never grow old and the core emotional theme holds strong, reminding us that we do our best work together.

Isaac was sent to bed for his behaviour, so I look forward to watching it again without nodding off and with the whole family.

8/10



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