The Croods: A New Age

The sequel to 2013's The Croods returns the cast of the original for a new adventure. The prehistoric family meet the more evolved Hope (Leslie Mann) an Phil Betterman (Peter Dinklage), friends of Guy's (Ryan Reynolds) parents, who have created a safe zone that all the Croods except for Grug (Nicolas Cage) immediately fall in love with (although their hosts aren't all that keen on their guests staying longterm).

The sequels offers much the same humor of the original with its conflict coming from the deepening relationship between Guy and Eep (Emma Stone) which threatens Grug's pack and the Bettermans' plan to steal Guy away from Eep for their daughter Dawn (Kelly Marie Tran). Eventually, danger will come to safe oasis and the two families will learn to work together.

There's some fun here, I did appreciate the choice to make Eep and Dawn friends instead of rivals, but for all its wackiness there's not much substance. The Croods: A New Age is a so-so sequel to a so-so film. Fans of the original will likely enjoy themselves, but the sequel doesn't do much to evolve past the limited appeal of the original.