First Take: The Croods 2: A New Age - Hot Vue Summer has well and truly begun

SYPNOSIS: The prehistoric family the Croods are challenged by a rival family the Bettermans, who claim to be better and more evolved.

2013. A summer of film, fondly remembered by cinemagoers, cinema staff, and box office analysts the world over – a summer that gave us a film about a cave-dwelling family, devised by a former Python, and animated by the team who brought us Shrek. Now, 8 years, a studio buyout and a global pandemic later, the long-awaited sequel to The Croods is one of the first major releases in England to play to the full capacity we’ve not seen for 16 long months. And I am delighted to report that it’s out at just the right time, as it is a worthy follow up to the original.

Joel Crawford is in charge of this 96 minute family adventure, and it truly is a family adventure – having worked his way through the ranks at DreamWorks, this is his first directorial credit for a feature film, and he manages to pace this one relatively well. Handling the script is Kevin & Dan Fageman along with Paul Fisher and Bob Logan, and the four of them are able to take what was very strong source material and develop it further, introducing new plots and characters who will be enough to warrant a third film should the demand be there. Handling the score is Devo’s very own Mark Mothersbaugh, who has really honed his film music craft over the last few years, and yes, the 6 laugh test was passed quite early on.

The voice cast includes Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener and all of the familiar names from Croods 1 returning to continue what they do best, and joining them is Peter Dinklage and Kelly Marie Tran to make up the Betterman family. While this is a strong cast, it is only a minor piece of the puzzle, as the DreamWorks supremos have once again outdone themselves with the animation, making it a film best enjoyed in a well ventilated cinema.

THE VERDICT

While no prior knowledge of Croods 1 is needed to enjoy this film fully, it is a more than worthy successor to the original, and if DreamWorks want to go further, they have a new, ready made franchise right here, one that isn’t as annoying as Trolls, and one that isn’t anywhere near as restrictive as Shrek.

RATING: 4/5