Back from the caves, and beyond

"As a kid, I was very wild and very hyper. So, it's funny that I connect to Eep even more," Crawford says, laughing.

The director also explains that he took inspiration from hippie culture to devise the new family's man-bun hairstyle.

The film also features odd-yet-adorable creatures that are mixes of real animals and imagination.

For instance, the new family raises domesticated "chicken seals" and "cow mammoths", and drink "milk "from fictional "land sharks" that look like the actual sea creatures but live on land.

"Punch monkeys", the animal tribe obsessed with bananas, will also return in the sequel with their violent "language" of pummeling each other to communicate.

Crawford says most creatures the Croods came across in the first film served one of two purposes-to eat or be eaten by.

But the sequel's critters are cuter, goofier and more fun, since much of the story takes place in the new family's paradise, behind a safe wall that enables humans to domesticate wildlife, he explains.

Swift, the producer, recalls in another interview that around 300 animators worked on the sequel, with each staying on the project for a year on average.

"We said to the artists: 'Go crazy. Draw as many characters as you want.' Probably for every 15 characters that they design, we pick one. There are so many more that we just don't have space in the movie to do," he says.

Although COVID-19 affected production, Swift says they were lucky to finish most of the job before the outbreak, with stars Cage, Emma Stone and Ryan Reynolds voicing the major characters in the original English version. Voiceovers proved the biggest challenge during quarantine.

"As we still had some to pick up, we were sending them microphones and computer equipment," Swift says.

"Some people even recorded in a closet because that was the quietest room in their house."

For Swift, who's also known for producing DreamWorks' Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, the new film continues the enduring charm of animated works that make us see ourselves in a fairy tale-style story.

"Look. It's a fantastic world. But we're really making a story that could be told today, which is about a family and all the things all families go through," he says.

With Chinese cinemas performing somewhat lackluster in the wake of the post-National Day box-office bonanza due to a shortage of attractive blockbusters, the film is likely to uplift the sluggish market.

It has been listed as the second most anticipated film, following Zhang Yimou's One Second, on the popular-review aggregator Douban.