The Croods: A New Age

This is a family animated film, so we know that Hope, Phil, Grug and his wife Ugga (Catherine Keener) will eventually put aside their differences and start cooperating against a common enemy, and everything will go according to plan, as in the first film. In 2013, the carefully thought-out, fast-paced action sequences of The Croods Family seemed like typical pyrotechnics of studio animation. Now they have become a little more thoughtful and a little more rapid-fire, but much less impressive. Nevertheless, a few clever references to "Mad Max: Fury Road" can help the film appeal to adult viewers (while reminding us how much "Fury Road" was, in fact, a real-time cartoon). More amusing are the fantastic prehistoric beasts, from land sharks to six-eyed wolf spiders and a tribe of "shock monkeys" who have developed a language consisting exclusively of punches and slaps. This was also one of the strengths of the first picture: it was felt that the filmmakers took great pleasure in inventing new crazy creatures for this primitive fantastic country. Oddly enough, this was also one of the weaknesses of the first film: The more creative the world around the Croods became, the less interesting and formulaic the story of the Croods itself seemed. But our world has changed too, and we shouldn't be too cruel to the Croods Family-I can't believe I just typed this sentence. Once upon a time, to say that the film would help "pass the time" was tantamount to weak praise. Today it looks like a necessary service.