The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature

This is one of the rare cases where the squeal turned out better than the original. The story picks up some time after the end of the original film when Surly's survival has become common knowledge and the residents of the park have become accustomed to living off the bounty of the nut shop rather than working for their living, a fact that does not sit well with Andie who knows that such a lifestyle is not sustainable. And of course, in true theatrical fashion, after having expressed this disagreement the nut shop is destroyed in a disaster of negligence while external forces design to transform their nature park into an amusement park in the pursuit of capital (money). The park creatures, of course, are then compelled to defend their homes and even their very lives from those persons with designs upon them which consumes the main body of this film and predictably results in their total success as is custom with modern Fairy Tales. There are two key points in the narrative that cause me to give it a positive rating (3 stars being neutral), each with their own drawbacks: First, I do appreciate the theme, as proposed by Andie, that living off the fat of life without having to earn that right to live by our daily efforts to that end have a negative impact on our physical, mental, and social beings, the like of which ultimately caused the end to that way of life. However, I was slightly disappointed that the thought of farming nuts as opposed to foraging them did not cross our characters' minds as doing so would have secured their food supply not only by continuing it's increase but also by ensuring bountiful harvests by their efforts as cannot be provided by foraging or looting. In this, the idea is simply incomplete, simply putting our characters back in the position they where before as opposed to improving upon either condition. The other was near the end when Surly appears to give up on the battle saying that they could not win their war for their home with just the two of them, everyone else having been captured. The result is that Surly goes to get help from the mice to free his friends, and although I think that the decision was correct and that it was done for the right reasons, my issue is that I don't think those reasons where very clear: even if they had won with just the two of them, even if Surly and Andie alone had forced out the invaders and took back the park, there would have been no value in having the park because their fiends, for which they where truly fighting, would not have been there to possess it anymore. In other words, the point I wish they had made more clear is that they weren't fighting for the park but for their friends who relied upon that park for their survival. With that in mind, it is definitely a film worthy of adding to my physical collection and also recommending to others for their enjoyment.

Horribly violent, angry themes throughout. It's an adult action movie disguised and wrapped up into an animated film for children. The MPAA either is getting immuned to violent angry imagery or the missed this one completely. The problem with this movie is that it was too childish to be rated PG-13 and too scary, violent, and angry for 6-10 year olds.

This was $5 I will never get back. I have no idea how anyone thought this movie would be a good idea. Gone is the wit of the original Nut Job. It seems as though this movie is a loose collection of random scenes only connected by the fact that there is some form of trama in every one of them. This movie is a horrible attempt at a sequel.