Review of The Nut Job (2014) by Thomas W — 04 Jun 2014

The Nut Job is a lot like Over the Hedge in that cute animals resort to eating our human food when the animal's food sources are compromised and human beings move into their territory. The animals in The Nut Job live in a city park and their winter food source is ruined by an outcast squirrel named Surly (Will Arnett).

Surly finds himself exiled from the park but he strikes it rich when he happens upon a Nut Store a block or so away and he believes he'll coast through the winter until the hierarchy of animals from the park -- led by Raccoon (Liam Neeson) -- claim the store as their own.

Two understanding squirrels from the park -- Andie (Katherine Heigl) and Grayson (Brendan Fraser) -- decide to work "with" Surly to ensure everyone gets food; but greedy Raccoon doesn't agree and he wants Surly GONE!.

While the politics of the park are playing out below, the human owners of the Nut Shop -- who all sound Italian, have names like Fingers and abuse their puppy named Precious (Maya Rudolph) -- are planning on robbing a neighboring bank! The Nut Job has all kinds of stories going on at once and I believe the filmmakers forgot they were making a movie for children.

There is also an abundance of "nut" jokes (surprise!) and plenty of references to gas. The Nut Job starts out fine and looks cute and then it just decides to veer right out of the peaceful park and make for a dangerous alley where crime pays and friends kill; but as long as the children look at the cute animals and don't ask questions .

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