Overview: The first prehistoric family is ready for another rocking adventure! The Croods have survived fanged beasts, natural disasters, and even young love, but now they must face their biggest challenge yet: another family!

In search of a new home, the Croods discover a walled-in paradise created by the sophisticated Betterman family (emphasis on the “better”).

As they try to coexist, the differences between the two families escalate into a full-blown feud, but when a new threat forces both families to embark on an epic adventure, they must all learn to work together ... or they’ll all go extinct!

Blu-ray Verdict: Universal Pictures is expanding their 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray catalog offerings this month with the release of the brilliantly clever, and gloriously colorful 'The Croods - A New Age’ in the expansive 4K Ultra HD video format this February 23rd, 2021.

For my money, this 'The Croods - A New Age: 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital' combo pack's sharpness takes a fairly large step forward from others in their 4K Ultra HD catalog and even comes with HDR (High Dynamic Range) for the complete 4K Ultra HD experience, of course.

So, what we have is 'The Croods - A New Age' presented to us as a two-disc combo pack with a sheet for a Digital HD Copy. Other stand out points you should know are: Codec: HEVC / H.265; Resolution: 4K (2160p); HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10; Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1; and Original Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1.

Featuring Dolby Vision and HDR10 for brighter, deeper, and way more lifelike colors, as with most all 4K UHD's, everything that we watch features these qualities - but somehow, this film gloriously shines within them all.

Noticeably crisper with the overall clarity receiving an obvious boost here on this release, what's more is that it's enjoyably noticeable.

For as well as some new nuances to the somewhat drab palette courtesy of Dolby Vision we also get to witness sudden bright pops of color; such as the truly adorable Croods Meets Bettermans Scene! Possibly one of the loveliest within the movie, when Dawn and Guy meet up again and hug and both sides of each family look in, well, it's as real as it gets, my friends!

Indeed, the picture enjoys the fruits of the added resolution in terms of bringing out the aforementioned extremely fine facial and some of the yellow graded material - notably the scene of morning awakening and the infamous "Dad always says the pack stays together" where everyone (and everything) is up early and off and running, the colors and sparks that fly around from just those scenes alone are enough to light up a dark night sky!

As for the audio, well we have: English: Dolby Atmos; English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit); Spanish: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1; and French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1.

Overall, this is a very strong 4K HDR Blu-ray presentation, and, for the most part, the audio track remains fairly similar to its DTS-HD counterpart; with much of the action occupying the surrounds with outstanding directionality and placement where effects flawlessly pan between the sides and rears.

OK, well, as for the actual movie, well, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this has got to be one of the most exhilarating and bubbly animated movie ever made!

Thankfully I was just in the mood for something perky, not too childish but not too sober, so overall it was a positive experience.

They really weren't kidding about "a new age". The tale presumably takes place in early prehistoric times, but really it reflects way more on our contemporary society than it does to people living in the stone age.

Expect tons and tons of hilarious references to modern culture and society sprinkled throughout the movie, of course, much like the original had.

I definitely had my laughs. However, some ideas/references/analogies could come off as a bit forced or rushed or just plain cringeworthy, sorry. For example, Thunk's abrupt realization that the "window" is a distorted view of reality was honestly one of those moments, where they attempt to convey the concept of media bias.

There's also the much toned down, but still palpable feminist agenda (ie: WYMEN!) and then there are all these other random instances of modern analogies that just seem to develop out of nowhere (ie: the 'bro love' scene with Grug and Phil!).

These instances may not detract from the movie, especially not for kids, but it still rankled this adult a wee bit (you could tell that this movie was made in 2020, for sure).

Regardless, and moving on from all that, as I honestly really did like this movie (and have since watched it twice now!), the characters were all true to their previous outings, the story was engaging, though admittedly not tremendously original, vocal performances were good, the animation was upped and taken to a new level from the original, and there were most definitely many parts that were simply just laugh out loud funny!

Personally, I liked that they showed the aforementioned bromance between Grug and Phil, that Gran and Ugga were main characters this time around (Ugga especially got screen time which I'm happy about, she was solely in the background in the first movie) and I'm glad there was a true friendship between Eep and Dawn (not the cliché of fighting over a boy). It promoted current social values like female friendships and community while being funny, which was refreshing.

I had hoped for more Nicolas Cage as Grug, him being my favorite of the cast, but he still makes it fun with what he has. And overall, it's obvious that Emma Stone and Ryan Reynolds are the standout stars of this film, as they both do some rather tremendous voiceover work, that's for darn sure.

In closing, 'A New Age' us far more jokey than the first installment and sure, this follow-up does cruise on its unending charm and inventiveness.

But that simply gives people at home a worthy successor to the Flintstones (after a couple of bloated live action takes years ago, it should be noted!) with the voice acting aces and the colors very much resplendent on the eyes. This is a Widescreen Presentation (2.39:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Feature of:

Includes 4K UHD, Blu-ray and a digital copy of The Croods: A New Age
Dear Diary: World's First Pranks
Family Movie Night: Little Red Bronana Bread
Gag Reel
To: Gerard
Deleted Scenes
The Croods' Family Album
The Evolution of...
How to Draw: Caveman Style
Famileaf Album
Stone Age Snack Attack
Feature Commentary with Director Joel Crawford, Producer Mark Swift, Head of Story Januel Mercado and Editor Jim Ryan

Join Grug, Eep, Guy and the rest of the Croods as they face off against the more-evolved Bettermans, releasing on Digital February 9th, 2021 and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-Ray™ and DVD February 23rd, 2021 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

Official Trailer

Official Website