Working together for a better Tomorrow
Setting aside the fact that this is the weirdest Thanksgiving ever — and hopefully yours is taking place on Zoom — the fun, fastpaced new family animated blockbuster “The Croods: A New Age” is really the perfect Turkey Day weekend movie.
After all, it’s essentially about two philosophically different families, each in their own bubbles, who at first clash but ultimate become stronger together.
On the one hand, there are the Croods — the lovable but primitive Neanderthal family introduced in the original 2013 film. They started out living in caves and sleep piled on top of each other.
On the other, there are the Bettermans (get it?), exuding an enlightened, privileged arrogance and living in a tricked-out, “Swiss Family Robinson”-style house with running water, separate rooms and, of course, a “man cave.”
When the Bettermans’ compound comes under attack by a race of “punch monkeys,” the two families must put aside their differences and band together to survive.
At the end of the first film, the Croods had evolved from cavemen to beachcombers, heading toward a light in the sky they identified as “Tomorrow” — what Guy (voiced by Ryan Reynolds), a teenage orphan who is traveling with the Croods, says will be paradise. In “The Croods: A New Age,” they find paradise is not all it’s cracked up to be, even if it has some cool stuff.
The movie begins with the relationship between Guy and Eep (Emma Stone) getting more serious, to the consternation of Eep’s parents, Grug (Nicolas Cage) and Ugga (Catherine Keener). As the family, which includes Gran (Cloris Leachman), travels, Guy and Eep are thinking about striking their own path together. Before that happens, they reach “Tomorrow,” which turns out to be a beautiful land of colorful foliage and mountains that leads to the Betterman compound.
The Bettermans — including Phil (Peter Dinklage), Hope (Leslie Mann) and their daughter, Dawn (Kelly Marie Tran) — are showered and well coiffed, wear flip-flops and smell like flowers. Turns out, they’re the ones who raised Guy after Guy’s family was killed, and they had hoped he would be Dawn’s mate. Awkward!
It’s not long before the crude Croods clash with the annoyingly know-it-all Bettermans, who try to micromanage their lives and have an irritatingly exhaustive list of house rules, which includes “Don’t eat the bananas!”
Those are used as bribes for the punch monkeys, whose food supply has been cut off. Why? Well, to have this swanky compound, the Bettermans diverted the river that had been the lifeblood of the entire valley. They don’t realize it, but that eroded the quality of life for the punch monkeys and other life forms.
So there’s a lot going on here, and director Joel Crawford and his teams efficiently keep the story moving along. There’s a wonderful “Flintstones” versus “Jetsons” vibe, the characters are, as usual, appealing (the first film spawned a prequel series on Netflix) and the creative resolution to a complicated situation is not only handled deftly, but with a positive message of coexistence.
That’s about as meaningful a Thanksgiving message as any.
Running time: 95 minutes Rating: PG (mild rude humor)