The Croods 2 trailer was recently released, revealing that one of DreamWorks' most famous families will return to the big screen for another dose of ancient adventures. The initial Croods film was a great success and there's plenty of reasons to be excited for the upcoming sequel.

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However, unlike many other DreamWorks films there's an argument to be made that perhaps the studio could have allowed the movie to be a standalone adventure. Having said that, there's also many reasons for the sequel to potentially even be better than the original installment and perhaps take this misfit group into interesting new narrative directions.

Should Have Been Standalone: A Conclusive End

The Croods Family

The original Croods managed to sufficiently wrap up the many plot points in quite a satisfying way. Some years have passed since the original movie and there hasn't necessarily been a need to carry on this story, so people have assumed there wouldn't be another.

The family were more united than ever, grouped in a brand new home and ready to continue to explore the new world that was forming around them. The character arcs were complete and there didn't feel like much more that could be explored with this crew.

Excited For Sequel: Character Dynamics

Main characters of The Croods

The character dynamics are already quite interesting amongst the family. With a rebellious daughter, a control freak dad, and even the introduction of a boyfriend, there's a lot of areas for conflict in the Croods family.

However, by introducing a brand new family to essentially compare and contrast to, those dynamics are only going to be heightened further. Eep's new friendship for instance is going to be one such area that helps to redefine the character.

Should Have Been Standalone: Changing Time Period

The Croods Family

The time period was made pretty clear during the first film, as the Croods were set to become extinct thanks to the end of the era of dinosaurs. There's of course some area of scientific disbelief there, but a sequel complicates this further.

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It's difficult to tell exactly what era of history the Croods actually live in. There seems to be some kind of new version of humanity forming, one where the Croods seem quite backwards. This is an interesting concept to set up, but again, it just doesn't make much logical sense.

Excited For Sequel: The Cast

The Croods Landscape

The cast is some of the best voice acting talent assembled for a single film. Those same familiar voices are evident in the trailer, reminding fans exactly how these beloved characters were really brought to life by some great actors.

Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Nicolas Cage, and Catherine Keener will be joined by the likes of Peter Dinklage and Kelly Marie Tran amongst others, expanding this already astonishing cast to continue to evolve these well developed characters.

Should Have Been Standalone: Unique For DreamWorks

Shrek grimaces into the camera

It's pretty rare for DreamWorks to actually create a standalone movie. The fact is, unlike other animation studios such as Pixar— which went years without producing a sequel of any kind and still does so somewhat sparingly— DreamWorks routinely makes franchises out of all of its animated properties.

The Shrek franchise is a great example of that, with four main film installments plus multiple TV specials and spin-offs. The Croods was one of the few animation projects that seemed like it would stand by itself and there was something quite refreshing about that.

Excited For Sequel: Establishing This World

Croods 2 Trailer

This fictional world is a truly breath-taking one. From the incredible foliage that has been designed, to the crazy animals that were supposedly from the era. This world is truly astounding with some great attention to detail throughout.

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It looks like the world will continue to expand in the sequel, with the family travelling to new areas of the globe and coming across more exquisite plant life and a variety of other animals that might not be trying to kill them for a change.

Should Have Been Standalone: Cult Hit

The Croods

There's something to be said about the popularity of The Croods. Compared to some of the other franchises that DreamWorks has made, it's almost as if Croods is something of a cult classic compared with the likes of Shrek or Kung-Fu Panda.

Yet, it still did extremely well at the box office, well enough to deserve a sequel to be excited about. Compared to the ogres, pandas, and dragons, though, somehow The Croods has maintained the reputation of being one of the most underrated and enjoyable additions to the studio's library.

Excited For Sequel: The Animation

The Croods Skyline

The animation from the first Croods was incredibly beautiful. It felt as if DreamWorks had stepped up a gear as the animation technology continued to evolve. The sequel looks to only be more stunning in its cinematography.

The bright and vivid colors of this world were on full display in the trailer and the characters seemed even more well defined. Animation is the best it has ever been and it's certainly exciting to see how much further this fantasy land can be pushed.

Should Have Been Standalone: Limited Jokes

The Croods

There were a number of jokes in the first film that were hilarious and based on the time period. From the kill circles, to the cave they were stuck in, and even to the friendly sloth that Guy kept as a belt.

But, there is a fear that many of these jokes will essentially be recycled for a sequel, as is often the case. There's another accessory sloth at play, another slightly different version of a cave, and a few more family jokes that could suggest this is a little bit of a rehash of the first film.

Excited For Sequel: A Stable Unit

The Croods Family

The family seems mostly together now ever since their first adventure, which is great news for audiences who want to see something a little different. Too often the conflict is based around a family falling apart in such films.

However, it seems the parents are still on track and the family unit is still holding strong. It will therefore be quite exciting to see how they deal with these new challenges together, rather than at odds with one another.

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