The Nut Job 2

You don’t hear many fond reminiscences of the 2014 animated film The Nut Job – before sitting down to this sequel, I couldn’t even remember if I’d seen it – but then the forbidding snout of Surly Squirrel loomed up on screen, and the memories came seeping back up.

The original was sawdust-grade summer holiday-filler: a Canadian-Korean co-production about hungry vermin tunnelling into a nut shop to replenish their stash. DreamWorks’ Over the Hedge, Pixar’s Ratatouille and Blue Sky Studios’ Rio did everything in it earlier and better – while its furry protagonists, who split their time three ways between yelling, breaking wind and rattling off nut puns, seemed laser-engineered to irritate.

The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature is worse, and knows it. The computer graphics are ugly and dated, the plot a clump of clichés, and with one notable exception, you can almost hear the voice cast scrolling through their phones in the recording booth. On balance it’s preferable to The Emoji Movie, though only in the same way you’d probably plump for stepping barefoot on an upturned plug over chronic scurvy.

The villain of the piece is the city’s evil mayor, who plans to build a money-spinning fairground on top of the idyllic park that’s home to squirrels Surly (Will Arnett) and Andie (Katherine Heigl), stray pug Precious (Maya Rudolph) and the others. The animals strike back by repeatedly sabotaging the building efforts in the most destructive way possible, often accompanied by classic rock cranked to deafening volumes. Piercing doesn’t begin to cover it: when the film hits its stride, it’s like watching a tantrum in a supermarket.

Substance-wise, there might be enough going on here to sustain a five-minute short, but asking you to follow these raspingly unlovely critters for any longer than that is a big mistake: the film is basically all-aggro, and incapable of striking a tone besides nails-down-a-blackboard. Take the mayor’s bratty daughter Heather (Isabela Moner), who plays a weirdly pivotal role in driving the animals out. ‘Love to hate her’ was probably the design brief, a la Rugrats’ Angelica Pickles, but she’s so irredeemably obnoxious your heart just sinks at the sight of her.

Elsewhere there’s the same love-at-first-sight needle drop you’ve seen a hundred times before, plus some threadbare national stereotypes, from a one-inch-punching kung fu mouse with the voice of Jackie Chan, to pest controller Gunther, a by-rote tittering Euro-sadist played by Peter Stormare.

At least it doesn’t end by threatening a sequel – but then neither did the first, so perhaps for as long as ToonBox Entertainment can keep coming up with play-on-nuts titles, the series will keep spluttering onwards. If so, brace for The Nut Manager, Nuts on a Scandal and A Zed and Two Nuts in Augusts 2018, ’19 and ’20 – or if you find yourself in the cinema for this, for some ungodly reason, seek solace in the ten-second behind the scenes clip of Chan recording his dialogue that pops up during the end credits. It’s endlessly more charming than the finished product: warm, engaging, fizzier and funnier than life. Isn’t that what animation’s meant to be?

 

The Nut Job 2

You dont hear many fond reminiscences of the 2014 animated film The Nut Job before sitting down to this sequel, I couldnt even remember if Id seen it but then the forbidding snout of Surly Squirrel loomed up on screen, and the memories came seeping back up. The original was sawdust-grade summer holiday-filler: a Canadian-Korean co-production about hungry vermin tunnelling into a nut shop to replenish their stash. DreamWorks Over the Hedge, Pixars Ratatouille and Blue Sky Studios Rio did everything in it earlier and better while its furry protagonists, who split their time three ways between yelling, breaking wind and rattling off nut puns, seemed laser-engineered to irritate. The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature is worse, and knows it. The computer graphics are ugly and dated, the plot a clump of clichs, and with one notable exception, you can almost hear the voice cast scrolling through their phones in the recording booth. On balance its preferable to The Emoji Movie, though only in the same way youd probably plump for stepping barefoot on an upturned plug over chronic scurvy. The villain of the piece is the citys evil mayor, who plans to build a money-spinning fairground on top of the idyllic park thats home to squirrels Surly (Will Arnett) and Andie (Katherine Heigl), stray pug Precious (Maya Rudolph) and the others. The animals strike back by repeatedly sabotaging the building efforts in the most destructive way possible, often accompanied by classic rock cranked to deafening volumes. Piercing doesnt begin to cover it: when the film hits its stride, its like watching a tantrum in a supermarket. Substance-wise, there might be enough going on here to sustain a five-minute short, but asking you to follow these raspingly unlovely critters for any longer than that is a big mistake: the film is basically all-aggro, and incapable of striking a tone besides nails-down-a-blackboard. Take the mayors bratty daughter Heather (Isabela Moner), who plays a weirdly pivotal role in driving the animals out. Love to hate her was probably the design brief, a la Rugrats Angelica Pickles, but shes so irredeemably obnoxious your heart just sinks at the sight of her. Elsewhere theres the same love-at-first-sight needle drop youve seen a hundred times before, plus some threadbare national stereotypes, from a one-inch-punching kung fu mouse with the voice of Jackie Chan, to pest controller Gunther, a by-rote tittering Euro-sadist played by Peter Stormare. At least it doesnt end by threatening a sequel but then neither did the first, so perhaps for as long as ToonBox Entertainment can keep coming up with play-on-nuts titles, the series will keep spluttering onwards. If so, brace for The Nut Manager, Nuts on a Scandal and A Zed and Two Nuts in Augusts 2018, 19 and 20 or if you find yourself in the cinema for this, for some ungodly reason, seek solace in the ten-second behind the scenes clip of Chan recording his dialogue that pops up during the end credits. Its endlessly more charming than the finished product: warm, engaging, fizzier and funnier than life. Isnt that what animations meant to be?