THE CROODS 2: A NEW AGE
★★★ OUT 26 MARCH CERT TBC / 95 MINS
DIRECTOR Joel Crawford CAST (VOICES) Nicolas Cage. Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds
PLOT Grug (Cage) is still looking for a safe home for his family of cave people. When they accidentally stumble into the jungle home of the Bettermans, old friends of Guy (Reynolds), the Croods think they’ve got it made. But the Bettermans’ paradise has some secrets.
EIGHT YEARS AFTER the original film — aeons in child years — the Croods return for a second adventure. Originally intended for release in 2017, this sequel was scrapped, then resurrected amid some studio hokey-pokey too dry to detail. In that time, much of its 2013 audience has reached adulthood and memory of the first movie has faded. Fortunately, it doesn’t particularly matter if you don’t remember, or haven’t even seen, the first film. You’ll catch up quickly, and this cheerfully insane follow-up is actually significantly more evolved than its predecessor. It’s prettier, more confident and much funnier.
Last time we saw them, the Croods, a family of cave people living in evolutionarily turbulent times, learned that progress is not always to be feared. In this romp, they teach more civilised humans that sometimes it’s good to embrace your savage side. The Croods are led by Grug (Nicolas Cage), a Neanderthal both genetically and emotionally. His daughter, Eep (Emma Stone), has fallen for a moderately more advanced human, Guy (Ryan Reynolds), much to her father’s displeasure. This time, Guy introduces his new in-laws to the closest thing he has to a family.
The unsubtly named Bettermans, Hope (Leslie Mann) and Phil (Peter Dinklage), live in an eyepoppingly lush paradise, surrounded by a huge wall. They have endless amounts of food and zippy modern inventions, such as stairs, windows and bathing. They are the exact opposite of the Croods and think Guy might be far better suited to their daughter (Kelly Marie Tran). The Bettermans, with their hippy vibe and luxe living, provide some sly, winking digs at new-age, Goop-y types who like to preach earthiness but are rampant consumerists.
The film’s central plot is a simple ‘clashing inlaw’ comedy, which takes a lot of the routes you’d expect. It’s a shame that it crowds out some more interesting sub-plots. The two ‘rivals’ for Guy’s affection refuse to be pushed into becoming enemies without agency and instead choose to get to know each other as more than just would-be girlfriends. All the potential in that, sadly, is largely restricted to a single sequence. However, much of the fun of this movie occurs outside the plot.
All around that so-so story are lots of weird flourishes that make this movie very odd and very enjoyable. As in the original, the land is inhabited by senseless mash-up animals: spider-wolves, quadrupedal sharks, chicken-seals. The sequel really builds on that base nuttiness. There are monkeys who have a language based on punching. Guy’s closest friend is a sloth who wears as a belt. There is a sentient wig. First-time director Joel Crawford has a very silly instinct, and that’s a compliment. There’s not a huge amount of ambition in the storytelling, but there’s a steadfast commitment to making the audience laugh, even if sometimes the jokes make very little sense. As the movie’s lesson goes: there’s a lot to be said for keeping things simple.