Summary
4 tech score
Andie and Surly in “The Nut Job”; photo courtesy of Open Road Films
“The Nut Job” (Open Road Films)
“The Nut Job” is an animated film that is not from the big animation movie makers such as DreamWorks, Pixar or Fox Animation and it shows. The animation here is run of the mill and the storyline is one that could have been done in less than an hour but it is stretched to an hour and a half. None of the voice actors is outstanding and though kids may find some fun in it all, adults will be checking their watches closely.
The focus of the film is on a squirrel named Surly (voiced by Will Arnett). He is an outcast among the creatures who live in the city park. This is because he is an all for me, not the good of the group, type of squirrel. His only friend is another squirrel named Buddy (Robert Tinkler).
A female squirrel named Andie (Katherine Heigl) tries to redeem him but to no avail. Finally he is banned from the park and must make his way in the city. But there he finds a “Nut Shop” with a treasure trove of nuts inside. Unfortunately this shop has been taken over by a gang of thieves who plan to tunnel from the floor of the “Nut Shop” to the floor of the vault in the bank across the street.
In addition to Forte and Heigl the voice talent in this film includes Brendan Fraser, Maya Rudolph, Liam Neeson and Stephen Lang. Neeson does add some menace as the voice of the raccoon that is head of the park creatures, but all the others just blend into one huge mass. Maybe that is how it should be, but a distinctive voice helping create a distinctive character in the film would be a plus.
When you go to see a film such as “Frozen” or “The Croods” you are amazed at how detailed animation can be. That is not the case with the animation in this film. It is adequate but not exceptional. There is not one scene in the entire movie where the audience is awed by the intensity of the animation.
The movie is rated PG for comic violence.
There is always a market for movies for children and this movie did cause some laughter in the audience of mainly kids who watched the film with me. I am sure they appreciated it more than I did. Still for a kids’ movie to have a lot of success it has to include something for the adults in the audience too. This movie has very little for the adults to enjoy.
I scored “The Nut Job” a crazy 4 out of 10.
