THE NUT JOB
US, 2014, 85 minutes, Colour.
Voices of: Will Arnett, Brendan Fraser, Liam Neeson, Katherine Heigl, Stephen Lang, Maya Rudolph, Jeff Dunham, Gabriel Iglesias, Sarah Gadon.
Directed by Peter Lepeniotis.
With the play on words in the title, with “nut� denoting something silly, the emphasis is on real nuts for animals in the park, trying to collect food for the winter. In fact, the word “job� in the title is also important because the animals come across human criminals who are trying to rob a bank and substitute nuts for the money.
The film is rather bright and breezy. Will Arnett voices the squirrel, Surly, something of a rogue, a loner, clashing with Raccoon, the big man who oversees life in Liberty Park. Surly is on the outer although he has a friend, Buddy, a rat who does not talk, who is supportive of Surly but is sometimes betrayed by him. Also at the centre of the action is another squirrel, Andi, voiced by Katherine Heigl.
As we are introduced to life in the park, there is also an indication with two men at a nut stall casing the bank in preparation for a robbery. A most aggressive little girl wants and service and denounces them to the police and they have to move on. This aggressive little girl was so successful that she appeared in the sequel, Nut Job 2, Nutty by Nature, but this time as the daughter of the corrupt local mayor, bullying everyone while trying to get attention where she is sweetness and light.
The plan for the animals is to get as many nuts from the nut shop which is closing down and has a quite a variety in its basement. The main trouble is that this is also the way that the robbers are to get into the bank. This leads to all kinds of adventures, crossing paths with the robbers, the chief robber out of jail doing his last job but ready to betray his rather dumb henchman.
Raccoon, voiced by Liam Neeson, becomes something of a bully, apprehensive about the rivalry from Surly, relying on a rather dumb mole with limited eyesight to do a lot of his dirty work, sabotaging othe work of Surly and a group of groundhogs who squabble amongst themselves who do a lot of the work. Then there is also the vain squirrel, Grayson, voiced by Brendan Fraser, who sees himself as something of a hero but is actually quite a coward at times. Ultimately, he does get into the action with Surly – with Andi being disillusioned by Raccoon, and a whole lot of action with explosives and fire hydrants and flooding.
There is enough action in a variety of characters to entertain younger audiences. For adults, there are quite a number of jokes in the screenplay as well as the amusing voices of the stars.
The film so successful that there was a sequel incorporating most of the characters again (not Raccoon) plus the crooks’ dog, Precious (Maya Rudolph) and some explanations of the back stories, especially the relationship between Surly and Buddy. Jackie Chan was introduced as a kind of mighty mouse in the sequel – which, in many ways, was more enjoyable for its audiences both young and older.
