THE CROODS: A New Age

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

The film starts with a flashback of a young Guy (Gabriel Jack) watching as his parents are doomed to the tar pits. They encourage him to keep moving forward and look to “tomorrow”. Guy charts his own path and documents his journey before meeting his pet sloth Belt, all while searching for a land that he thinks is “Tomorrow.” Then he ends up meeting Eep (Emma Stone).

Eep gives a brief recap of how all of her family, except her dad Grug (Nicolas Cage), ended up loving Guy, but soon, even Grug warmed up to him. In the present, the Croods – Grug, Eep, Guy (now played by Ryan Reynolds), Ugga (Catherine Keener), Thunk (Clark Duke), Gran (Cloris Leachman), Sandy (Kailey Crawford), and pets Chunky and Douglas – are running through a canyon as they evade kangadillos chasing them. Using their wits and strength, the family outruns the creatures before making it to safety.

As the family settles for the night, Eep and Guy are so in love that they ignore their duties in the family since they are so focused on each other. Guy is tired of sleeping in a pile with the family, and he talks to Eep about potentially leaving the family to start their own pack in Guy’s imagined “Tomorrow”. Unbeknownst to them, Grug is awake and listening to the whole thing, and not happy about Guy trying to take Eep away from him since he feels the pack should stick together.

In the morning, Grug wakes up the family to bring them to a spot that he discovered. It is concealed by a wall, but Grug breaks it down to show the family a beautiful paradise full of food and fresh land. The Croods feast upon all the food in the land until they get too full. Grug then spots a banana, which he is most eager to get ahold of, but when he does, the family gets caught in a trap. They are found by two modern (Cro-Magnon) humans, Phil and Hope Betterman (Peter Dinklage and Leslie Mann). After seeing that the Croods can understand them and speak English, they invite them to join them. They are then surprised to see Guy, as they were friends with his parents and are happy to know that he is alive.

The Bettermans show the Croods their home, which they have adapted to with better resources like more food, water, a shower, and plumbing. They bring out their daughter Dawn (Kelly Marie Tran), whom Eep is excited to meet since she has found another teenage girl to be friends with. Dawn is also happy to see Guy, and he sees that she also has a pet sloth named Sash, with whom Belt falls in love. Thunk becomes fascinated with the Bettermans’ window where he watches the scenery outside, while Ugga and Gran are happy to sleep somewhere comfortably. Grug is not too happy with the new setting and expresses his annoyance since he thinks Guy is still trying to take Eep away. Meanwhile, Phil and Hope think the Croods are nothing more than filthy cave people and are conspiring to set Guy up with Dawn.

Phil and Hope give Guy a makeover while Eep hangs out with Dawn. She is curious about Eep’s scars, including a prosthetic toe she has that is just a peanut shell. The two then take Chunky out to ride outside of the wall into unexplored territory. They find giant bees, and Dawn gets stung through the hand, but even though it hurts her, she is just excited to have her first scar.

When Ugga suggests that she and her family might stay long-term, Hope makes transparent and condescending remarks about her family and suggesting that they should be headed on their way soon. Meanwhile, Phil takes Grug to his “man cave” where he brings him into the sauna. Using the heat, Phil manipulates Grug into coming up with an idea to leave Guy with them so that he can be paired with Dawn, and Grug won’t lose Eep from the pack.

After the girls return from their trip, Guy finds them and scolds Eep for getting Dawn hurt, telling her not to act like a “cave girl”, which Eep takes offense to. Grug and Ugga also conspire against the Bettermans after seeing what kind of people they are. The families gather for dinner, where Eep acts immaturely to get back at Guy. Eventually, Phil spills the beans that Grug agreed to dump Guy on them so he won’t take Eep, leading to Ugga and Eep turning against him.

Grug reveals to Phil that he has eaten his beloved bananas, which he had been forbidding him from eating for an unspecified reason despite the abundance of them. Grug and Guy go with Phil to the wall where they hear a pounding sound coming from the other side. Phil says he kept the bananas there to placate whatever fearsome creatures are on the other side. The wall breaks down, and a small punch monkey is sitting there. Grug laughs until he sees that there is a whole pack of them, and the monkeys take the men as prisoners. The women (and Thunk) find out about this and head off to save them.

At the punch monkey lair, Guy speaks to the eldest monkey, who tells him (through the language of punching) that they kept the bananas there because they have to serve a giant monster that will eat them if it is not fed bananas. Since the guys made the mess, the monkeys are having them set up as sacrifices to the monster.

The rest of the family ride Chunky into dangerous territory. Sandy tries to pick up their scent while Ugga tries to steer them across the land, which is crawling with land sharks. Hope tries to steer them in a safer path, but she ends up causing everyone to fall in the river. Gran sends her hair, which is a living creature she calls Wigasus, to fly out and find the men. Hope blames the Croods for getting them in trouble, insulting them coldly and dismissing them as just savage cave people. She plans to run off with Dawn to find Phil themselves, but Hope ends up running through a geyser that freezes instantly and traps her. She finds herself in the lair of wolf spiders. The others come in to help until Dawn sees that the bigger wolf spiders are protecting a little pup from harm. Dawn acknowledges that her mom was trying to do the same, even though she was rude to them.

Just before the men are prepped for sacrifice, Grug and Phil fight in front of the monkeys, where they air out their grievances about each other before hitting each other with low emotional blows in which they call each other bad fathers, but they sting each other since they recognize their faults.

Later at night, Hope apologizes to Ugga and Eep about how she spoke to them. Wigasus then returns and points out to Gran that the men are at the punch monkey lair. Gran leads them all as the Thunder Sisters, just like the epic stories she used to tell the kids.

The monkeys dress the guys as bananas as the large, quilled punch monkey monster emerges to try and feast on them. Grug and Phil take the time to apologize to each other and tell Guy that they are both okay with him being with Eep. The ladies (and Thunk) ride in on the wolf spiders and fight the punch monkeys before they manage to free the men. The monster goes after them, but Eep and Guy climb above a large skull hanging by vines, where Guy apologizes to Eep for offending her and saying that “Tomorrow” isn’t a place, but it is wherever he is with her. They create a spark with their rocks and burn the vines to bring the skull down on the monster, but not before sharing their first big kiss. The monster falls down a hole but grabs Eep. The families and even the other punch monkeys grab Eep to pull her to safety, until she reveals that the monster is holding her peanut toe. It falls into the abyss, and the punch monkeys thank the human for freeing them from the monster as they escape the lair.

The Croods and the Bettermans are now all living together in harmony, along with the punch monkeys. Guy and Eep head off to start their own family, but still regularly visit the family whenever they can. The families then gather to share a meal in their new paradise.

The Croods - Grug, Ugga, Eep, Thunk, Gran, Sandy, Eep's boyfriend Guy, and pets Chunky and Douglas - are constantly on the search for a permanent home. Guy wants to take Eep away to start their own home and family with more privacy, but Grug is afraid of losing Eep. He finds a paradise to call home for them, but it is already inhabited by the Betterman family - parents Phil and Hope plus daughter Dawn.

The Bettermans are a more modern family, but they are snooty and see The Croods as beneath them for their primitive ways. They also remember Guy as a child since they were friends with his parents, and they want him to be with Dawn. Eep befriends Dawn and takes her beyond the wall that her parents built around the land to keep her safe. When Guy starts adjusting to the more modern setting, Eep gets offended when he says she is behaving like a cave girl. Phil also tricks Grug into having Guy leave Eep to be with Dawn.

After an argument, Grug shows Phil that he ate his beloved bananas, which he was keeping as a means to keep out creatures that live behind the wall. They are a pack of punch monkeys, who use the bananas to keep away a gigantic monster that will eat them if it doesn't have bananas. The women (and Thunk) head out to find the men, where Hope learns that the cave people are better at staying safe than she realized. They rescue the men, and Eep and Guy bring the monster down together after he apologizes to her.

The Croods and Bettermans stay in the same land while Eep and Guy decide to start their own family together.