Review of the latest releases
THE CROODS 2: A NEW AGE (U, 96 mins) Animation/Adventure/Action/Comedy/Romance. Featuring the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Peter Dinklage, Leslie Mann, Clark Duke, Cloris Leachman, Kelly Marie Tran, Kailey Crawford. Director: Joel Crawford.
Cut from the same mammoth-pelt loincloth as its 2013 predecessor, director Joel Crawford’s energetic computer-animated sequel forms a protective kill circle around its central theme of female empowerment and turns its back on emotionally layered storytelling and character development.
Plotlines from the original thaw out in The Croods 2: A New Age, disguised by breathtaking visuals in retina-searing colour, including a thunderous opening set-piece of stampeding kangadillos underscored, amusingly, by The Partridge Family’s I Think I Love You.
A crudely cleaved class divide between the eponymous cave family and refined rivals, who believe privacy promotes individuality, establishes a flimsy narrative framework to explore intergenerational conflict and the reluctance of parents to let offspring fly the nest.
A close encounter with a pack of howling wolfspiders in the film’s frenetic final act loudly enforces the key message of family resolve in the face of adversity.
Anachronistic gags about tablets and man-caves in a ramshackle script credited to Dan Hageman, Kevin Hageman, Paul Fisher and Bob Logan warrant appreciative smiles but belly laughs are few and far between, even with Ryan Reynolds working overtime among a starry voice cast.
His character’s tragic back story gently plucks heartstrings in defiance of the Crood matriarch when she quips: “If no one’s died before breakfast it’s a win.”
Grug (voiced by Nicolas Cage) continues to lead his prehistoric brood comprising wife Ugga (Catherine Keener), son Thunk (Clark Duke), daughters Eep (Emma Stone) and Sandy (Kailey Crawford), and Gran (Cloris Leachman).
The sanctity of the clan is threatened by Eep’s boyfriend Guy (Reynolds), who floats the idea of establishing a separate tribe with his beloved.
“The pack is stronger together. Eve would never leave us,” Grug assures his unconvinced wife.
Before the young lovebirds formalise plans to blaze their own trail, Grug stumbles upon a food-rich haven cultivated by Phil (Peter Dinklage) and his wife Hope (Leslie Mann), who abide by one house rule: Don’t eat the bananas.
“We’re the Bettermans . . . with an emphasis on the better,” chirrups Hope, who condescends to the Croods on their lower rung of the evolutionary food chain.
Phil and Hope are closely connected to Guy’s past and they plot to prise him away from Eep so he can pair up with their daughter Dawn (Kelly Marie Tran).
The Croods 2: A New Age mocks its title by revisiting scenarios from the first film with additional visual lustre.
Vocal performances are solid but franchise newcomers Dinklage and Mann are short-changed as antagonistic rivals.
SPACE JAM: A NEW LEGACY (U, 115 mins)
Twenty-five years after Michael Jordan played basketball with the Looney Tunes gang in the live-action comedy Space Jam, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James prepares to dribble with Bugs Bunny, Lola Bunny, Tweety Bird, Elmer Fudd, Wile E Coyote, Road Runner, Foghorn Leghorn, Marvin The Martian and Porky Pig in a fast-paced sequel directed by Malcolm D Lee.
LeBron James (playing himself) is a proud family man with a beautiful wife, Kamiyah (Sonequa MartinGreen), and three children, Darius (Ceyair J Wright), Xosha (Harper Leigh Alexander) and Dom (Cedric Joe).
Youngest son Dom dreams of working with computers rather than following his father’s example on the basketball court, and LeBron struggles to connect with his gifted boy.
That bond is tested when father and son are sucked into a computer server controlled by rogue artificial intelligence Al-G Rhythm (Don Cheadle).
He poisons Dom against his father and forces LeBron to play alongside the Looney Tunes gang in the digital realm against a band of supersized opponents called the Goon Squad.
THE FOREVER PURGE (15, 103 mins)
In 2013, writer-director James DeMonaco gave birth to a dystopian horror franchise when he conceived a strictly controlled 12-hour period once a year — The Purge — to allow American citizens to kill without legal reprisals.
Two sequels and one prequel later, DeMonaco pens the script for a fifth instalment directed by Everardo Valerio Gout, which breaks the rules and unleashes an unending wave of violence.
A band of blood-thirsty, lawless marauders decides that The Purge shouldn’t stop at daybreak and they continue to slaughter without mercy.
On the morning after the killing is supposed to end, one group attacks the Texas ranch of Caleb Tucker (Will Patton) and his family, including son Dylan (Josh Lucas) and daughter Harper (Leven Rambin).
Overwhelmed and outnumbered, the Tuckers and Dylan’s pregnant wife Cassie (Cassidy Freeman) rely on support and firepower from Mexican ranch hand Juan (Tenoch Huerta) and his wife Adela (Ana de la Reguera), who illegally crossed the border.
ESCAPE ROOM: TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS (15, 88 mins)
One wrong move could prove fatal in director Adam Robitel’s sequel to his 2019 horror thriller, which brought together six strangers to play for their lives in a series of diabolically designed rooms.
The two survivors of the first film, Zoey Davis (Taylor Russell) and Ben Miller (Logan Miller), embark on a crusade to expose the masterminds behind the game and bring them to justice.
They board a Manhattan subway train and find themselves sharing a carriage with four strangers – Brianna (Indya Moore), Nathan (Thomas Cocquerel), Rachel (Holland Roden) and Theo (Carlito Olivero) – who have also played and beaten the escape room challenge.
“What is this, like some tournament of champions?” deadpans Ben as the six survivors face a new nightmare, which requires them to crack codes and solve puzzles within a strict time limit or pay the ultimate price.