Review of The Nut Job (2014) by Travis P — 24 Apr 2014

The curmudgeonly Surly Squirrel (Will Arnett) is a lone wolf of a squirrel who chooses rather to fill his own gullet with nuts instead of sharing it with the Oakton's Liberty Park's residence (I am not kidding you, the town is actually named Oakton) with his silent buddy Buddy (real original names). After banishment from the park for ruining the rodents' food supply, he is cast out unto the city where he stumbles upon "the lost city of Nut-Lantis", a nut shop called Maury's Nut Shop that is owned by criminals who just try to rob a bank rather than conduct business.

Once in a blue moon comes a film so undeniably silly that it has to, just has to, be reviewed. This is one of those movies that I will sit through and watch just so I can write a bad review on purpose. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint. It's not awful, but it still follows the similar cliches and comedy stylings of every other average film, animated or not.

Will Arnett does a decent job voicing a character who more-or-less is a selfish jerk. And, you know what, that's it. Surly is extremely one-dimensional, and how is a talented actor like Arnett supposed to make sense of a character so thin he can be confused for a sheet of paper? The other actors are trying their best, but usually the characters either are annoying, obnoxious, or just plain unnecessary. I praise Liam Neeson's performance as Raccoon the raccoon (again really original) for making what little character he's got menacing. And oh no, Brendan Fraser's performance as a stereotyped stereotype is just a pain, both to watch and to see. No offense to Mr. Fraser, I haven't really seen him in a good feature film (except for Looney Tunes: Back in Action, that movie was da bomb, and I don't care what anyone says) in a while. The other actors are either plain, pointless or annoying.

The world is pretty imaginative, the animation is quite zippy and even the movie itself is pretty entertaining, I just wasn't able to forgive the film's constant stupidity, even going so far as to having the world's most annoying song play over the end credits, or constant trying to be funny, cute or hip. It does this with partial success, as there were two jokes that I laughed at, but I really felt like I should have been laughing more. But I suppose there is an audience for this film as it did gross enough money at the box office to warrant a sequel.

I suppose if you have young kids, they may like this just fine, but I advise you not touch this film with a 29 1/2 foot pole if you are an adult.

*1/2 out of ****.

FINAL VERDICT: 35%.