Cage Match: The Croods, A New Age (2020)

“The Croods: A New Age” is a candy-coated treat for kids, but adults may be less dazzled by the rehashed story and shallow depth.

TL;DR: A louder, zanier, and more psychedelic sequel that dazzles the eyes but doesn’t do much new with its story. Nicolas Cage remains a standout as the loveable Grug, even if the film itself feels like a chaotic, uninspired rerun.

IN THIS CORNER: KELLY MINTZER

The Lowdown 

If you had told me a week ago that I would semi-voluntarily watch two The Croods movies in a seven-day span, I would have assumed you were absolutely bananas in the tailpipe and thought no more of it. And yet here we are. (Cue my partner Jonathan saying, “No one is forcing you and Steph to do this except you and Steph!”) I can’t say they’re the worst movies—or honestly, even the worst pairing of movies—we’ve watched for this series, but oh, boy. I certainly felt a depreciation in quality in the second one.

So here we are, watching The Croods: A New Age, and it’s a lot of re-treading. We are once again revisiting the middle-aged white man’s fear of being left behind, which is surely relatable for a children’s movie. I guess that’s fine.

But this time, there is sort of an added element that I truly didn’t care for, which is the suggestion that the old ways are the right ways and the “progressive” family that the titular Croods meet are fundamentally wrong and dumb. As evidenced by a man bun.

The thing that annoys me the most about this is that I feel like I could REALLY get into this, but I also really don’t WANT to get into this.

I find the notion of making fun of millennials tiresome, and I also generally dislike the kind of humor that is based on the idea of “modern reference! But it’s funny because they’re cavemen, get it?” It feels aggressively lazy to me.

The thing about both The Croods movies is that I get the impression that at some point, they brought in genuinely funny comedians, in the way that I have learned, thanks to podcasts, many kids’ movies do, to punch up the script. So, sometimes a joke really lands and is legitimately funny.

Unfortunately, many of the jokes are based solely on recognizing an archetype. I was particularly irked by a running joke of a teenage boy looking out a window as a stand-in for watching TV. I get that they were going for a “kids these days” sort of humor, but the problem is the “kids these days” joke is that they’re not experiencing life outside, and looking out a window is LITERALLY EXPERIENCING LIFE OUTSIDE.

It’s a bad joke. It’s lazy and poorly conceived, and I would argue so is much of the second CROODS movie.

Frankly, in the time and space we’re in, I’m not that interested in a story about how the new ways are bad and the old ways are good. That said, there were bits that were based on absurdity that were genuinely funny. The specificity of Nic Cage and Peter Dinklage’s friendship at the tail end of the movie made me laugh, including the repurposing of “I Think I Love You” to be about a bromance instead of a teenage love affair… that worked for me.

And once again, not one voice actor is phoning it in. Everyone is giving top-notch performances with mostly middle-notch material.

The movie is extremely familiar. It hits every damn beat, you know it’s going to hit. And some of them were, to me, me-incredibly irritating.

I would have preferred if either a) they hadn’t felt the need to go the annoying rom-com angst direction with the romantic leads, or b) they’d have really surprised me and gone the way the narrative seemed to be naturally headed and become a queer story about Eep and Girl-whose-name-I-ca n’t-remember finding love. THAT would have been both unexpected and supported by the context.

The Cage Factor:

I’m cutting myself short because I’m annoyed to find I could talk at length about this dumb movie I didn’t like that much. Whatever, it’s obviously and of course a Cautious Cage. Look, this shit goes down easy, and Steph and I have watched some CHORES. This isn’t that. Cage is doing fucking great! He’s funny, he’s committed, he’s wonderful. The movie just isn’t, so I can’t give it any higher than Cautious Cage.

AND IN THIS CORNER: STEPHANIE MALONE

The Lowdown 

When The Croods lumbered onto screens in 2013, it surprised audiences with dazzling animation and a surprisingly heartfelt arc for its caveman patriarch. Seven years later, The Croods: A New Age arrived in a very different cultural landscape (2020) and promised a bolder, zanier follow-up. The result? A candy-coated, psychedelic romp that doubles down on comedy and spectacle but struggles to find the emotional grounding that made the first film resonate.

Let’s start with the obvious: The Croods: A New Age looks incredible. DreamWorks takes the vibrant world of the original and cranks the saturation dial until it practically glows. The Bettermans’ lush, paradise-like enclave is especially striking, with rainbow gardens, impossibly stylized animals, and an aesthetic that borders on trippy.

The energy is manic from the start. Director Joel Crawford keeps the pace at breakneck speed, unleashing slapstick gag after slapstick gag, piling sight jokes on top of pratfalls until the film resembles a sugar rush in motion. For kids, that’s an undeniable treat. Adults, however, may find themselves exhausted by the sheer volume of jokes, especially since only some of them land.

Narratively, though, the film struggles.

Where the original leaned on a familiar but resonant “overprotective dad vs. rebellious daughter” arc, The New Age rehashes those same beats with less payoff. The Croods meet the Bettermans—a more “evolved” family living in a walled-in paradise—and a predictable clash of cultures ensues. The themes of family unity, embracing differences, and finding common ground are worthy, but their treatment is shallow. The “city vs. country” metaphor unfolds in broad strokes, falling somewhere between allegory and cliché.

It’s sitcom-simple, and worse, it lacks the emotional undercurrent that gave the first film a bit of heft.

While the film does champion inclusivity and cooperation, the message is so clearly spelled out that it borders on an after-school special. For adults, that bluntness makes it feel like background noise compared to the layered nuance of, say, Pixar’s Soul (released the same year).

For kids, though, The New Age is a playground of slapstick chaos and colorful absurdity. It knows its audience, and it plays directly to them. Adults won’t be miserable, thanks largely to the capable voice cast (including new additions Peter Dinklage and Leslie Mann), but there isn’t much beneath the surface for them to chew on once the credits roll.

The freshness of the first film’s premise is gone, and what’s left is a fun but forgettable diversion.

The Cage Factor:

Returning as Grug, Cage delivers the same gonzo mix of grunts, growls, and heart that made his performance in the original so memorable. He leans into Grug’s bafflement at the Bettermans’ civilized lifestyle, wringing laughs out of exasperated outbursts while also giving weight to Grug’s insecurity as a father who suddenly feels obsolete.

If the first film gave Cage more emotional meat—Grug’s transformation from fearful patriarch to open-minded dad—the sequel doesn’t offer quite as much. But Cage still elevates the material. Even when the story stalls, his voice work injects personality and texture into Grug, grounding the character in genuine love for his family amid the chaos.

It’s another reminder that Cage isn’t just coasting through animation; he’s acting, and he’s doing it with the same gusto he brings to live-action roles.