Joel Crawford

Joel Crawford is an American animation filmmaker whose directing career at DreamWorks Animation has been defined by sequels that revisit established franchises while changing their visual and emotional emphasis. He made his feature-directing debut with The Croods: A New Age, the 2020 continuation of the 2013 film The Croods. In that story, the prehistoric Crood family encounters the Bettermans, a more technologically advanced family living behind walls in a cultivated oasis. The film also continues the relationship between Eep Crood and Guy, while Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, Clark Duke, and Kailey Crawford return from the first film; Peter Dinklage, Leslie Mann, and Kelly Marie Tran join the cast. Crawford then directed Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, released in 2022 as a DreamWorks Animation feature distributed by Universal Pictures. The film brings back the swashbuckling cat introduced in Shrek 2, with Antonio Banderas again voicing Puss. Its central premise is unusually concrete: after learning that he has used eight of his nine lives, Puss sets out to find a wishing star that might restore them. His fear of death is embodied by a wolf, Death, voiced by Wagner Moura. Puss travels with Kitty Softpaws, again voiced by Salma Hayek Pinault, and Perrito, a Chihuahua voiced by Harvey Guillén. Their rivals include Goldilocks and the Three Bears Crime Family and “Big” Jack Horner, with Florence Pugh and John Mulaney among the performers. The Last Wish became especially notable for its design. Rather than retaining only the polished computer-animation look associated with earlier Shrek films, it uses painterly textures, visible brushwork, and stylized action that changes the apparent frame rate during heightened moments. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature at the 95th Academy Awards, where Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio won. It also received nominations in the animated feature category from the Golden Globe Awards and the BAFTA Film Awards. Before becoming a feature director, Crawford worked in DreamWorks Animation story departments. His credited storyboard work includes Shrek Forever After, Kung Fu Panda, Puss in Boots, and Trolls. He was also a story artist on Bee Movie. These credits place his later directing work inside franchises he had already helped shape through visual storytelling rather than presenting him as an outsider brought in solely for a sequel. Both films pair family comedy with journeys toward change.