Joe Varner

So how do I put this... The original movie had a ton of heart. It took itself seriously and is one of my favorite animated features. A lot of care went into it. I had hoped the second movie would follow in the first footsteps but it didn't. It had a valiant effort in some spots, but in the first half of the film relied on the cave people "cave peopling out" as a visual gag way too much instead of bringing the heart of the family dynamic. Overall though it was still going pretty good. Then the second half came.... you know how sometimes you can tell when people just mail it in? Yeah that was not this in the traditional sense. Instead it's like every creative person dropped acid and took it way off the rails. And while that doesn't make for a worthy sequel.... I can't say it wasn't extremely entertaining in its own right! Crossing feminism with 80s hair band and monster truck rallies.... Like I said total acid trip. It didn't just jump the shark. It did donuts on the shark's head in mid-air while on fire. Which in and of itself was quite the spectacle to behold. Looking back I do find it sad that they had something that was really solid in the core story, but forgot who these characters were in the first film choosing cheap gags over actual emotional dynamic like the first film had. but it's almost like halfway through the film they got self-aware and said "whelp, no way in hell are we going to be able to pull this off and be better than the first one. So let's just drop some LSD and go crazy over the top!" As a croods sequel it definitely failed 100% But as an over-the-top spectacle filled with tons of laughs and an interesting social commentary on the mindset of modern liberalism (as portrayed by the bettermans) usually not found in Hollywood films, this movie will not have you leaving the theater feeling like you wasted your money. You definitely will feel like you got your money's worth. But you may ask yourself what the hell you just watched leaving the theater! 🤣