| The Nut Job | |
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 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Peter Lepeniotis |
| Screenplay by |
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| Story by |
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| Based on | Surly Squirrel by Peter Lepeniotis |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Edited by | Paul Hunter |
| Music by | Paul Intson |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 86 minutes[4][5] |
| Countries | Canada South Korea[6][7] United States[8] |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30 million[9][10] |
| Box office | $120.9 million[2] |
The Nut Job is a 2014 animatedcomedy film directed byPeter Lepeniotis, who also wrote the film with Lorne Cameron. It stars the voices ofWill Arnett,Brendan Fraser,Liam Neeson,Katherine Heigl,Stephen Lang,Jeff Dunham,Gabriel Iglesias andSarah Gadon. The film is loosely based on Lepeniotis' 2005 short animated filmSurly Squirrel.
Produced by Gulfstream Pictures, Redrover International andToonBox Entertainment, it was released in the United States on January 17, 2014, byOpen Road Films. The film received negative reviews but grossed $120.9 million worldwide. A sequel,The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature, was released on August 11, 2017.
In 1959, in a town named Oakton City,[4] asquirrel named Surly and his muterat partner Buddy reside in Liberty Park where their thieving reputation has made them outcasts from a group ofurban animals led byRaccoon and his assistantCardinal, who are currently running low on food for winter. To solve this, compassionate squirrel, Andie, and glory hogging squirrel, Grayson, are assigned to scavenge from a nut cart run by two men named Lucky and Fingers, who are casing a bank. Andie and Grayson run into Surly and Buddy, who are also trying to rob the cart, and their scuffle inadvertently ends with the cart'spropane tank exploding in the park and destroying the animals' food supply, resulting in Surly'sbanishment from the park.
In the city, Surly and Buddy find Maury's Nut Shop. Adjacent to the bank, it is a criminal hideout used by Lucky, Fingers, their boss, Percy "King" Dimpleweed, who was recently released from jail, and his assistant Knuckles. They plan to break through the wall and replace the bank's cash with nuts, though King's girlfriend Lana believes that King has gone straight after his release from prison and the nut store is legitimate. Meanwhile, Surly and Buddy plan to rob the nut shop.
At the park, Andie and Grayson head into the city to find more food, but they get separated when a street rat approaches and attacks them, and Andie is left alone. The next day, Andie comes across the nut shop and confronts Surly, forcing him to share the nuts he plans to take. Surly accepts and unwittingly befriends Fingers' pet pug Precious after threatening her with adog whistle. Andie returns to the park and informs the community of the plan, to which Raccoon accepts, though planning to deny Surly his share, and assignsMole and the Bruisers to go with Andie. Grayson returns to the group, having become paranoid after his encounter with the rat, and Surly catches Mole sabotaging the heist, promptly interrogating and learning from Mole of Raccoon's plan to control the food supply in order to remain as the park community's leader. Surly attempts to tell the others, but when they don't believe him, he angrily storms off, and Buddy stays behind. While collecting the nuts on his own, Surly is captured by King, but he is freed by Lana, who has found out about his plan to rob the bank.
After fending off the street rats who actually work for Raccoon, Surly and Grayson team up and chase the criminal gang's getaway truck, which carries Raccoon and the others. Surly fights off Raccoon's Cardinal, and Mole defects from Raccoon and reveals the truth to the animals, resulting in Raccoon being voted out of the park community. King and Knuckles use the dynamite inside the empty truck to blow up a police barricade at a dam, but the police shoot a tire on the truck that causes it to fall from the dam. It explodes after Surly gets himself and Andie off it, causing the dam to collapse, a flash flood to happen, and everyone falling into the river below. Surly makes it onto a log, but finds out that Raccoon, King, and Knuckles survived the explosion. Raccoon tries to kill Surly, but the weight of nuts and water break the log, sending both of them over a waterfall. The animals arrive to rescue them, but Surly, in a moment of selflessness, lets himself fall into the waterfall with Raccoon. Now seeing the good side of Surly, the group mourns him as they float home in the river.
The nuts flood their way to Liberty Park, where King and his associates are arrested, and Lana breaks up with King, while simultaneously taking ownership of his nut shop. Precious discovers Surly's unconscious body and alerts Buddy, who lays beside him in grief. Surly eventually wakes up and hugs Buddy, with Andie finding him moments later, embracing him and suggesting to tell the other animals of his heroism. However, Surly declines, allowing Grayson and the team to take credit for saving the park, while also agreeing to work with them from now on, and he and Buddy give Andie one last goodbye before going back into the city.
Sometime later, Raccoon and Cardinal are revealed to still be alive and are plotting revenge, while stuck on abuoy in the ocean, surrounded by hungry sharks circling them.
The film's concept originated as a 2005 short film titledSurly Squirrel.[14] A second short film,Nuts & Robbers, was released as a teaser forThe Nut Job.[15]
On January 17, 2011, it was announced that Lorne Cameron would write the screenplay for the film, along withPeter Lepeniotis.[16] On November 15, 2012, it was announced thatKatherine Heigl,Will Arnett andBrendan Fraser had joined the cast of the film,[17] and on March 1, 2013, it was announced thatLiam Neeson had also joined.[18] On December 19, 2013, it was announced that South Korean entertainerPSY makes a cameo appearance as himself during the film's ending credits, which also features his hit song "Gangnam Style".[6][unreliable source?]
The film's production art was featured in aBrampton, Ontario exhibit.[19]
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The film was released in the United States on January 17, 2014, and distributed byOpen Road Films.[20] International distribution was handled byThe Weinstein Company.[3] The first teaser trailer for the film was released on September 27, 2013.[21] The film had its premiere at aRegal Cinemas theater inLos Angeles on January 11, 2014.[citation needed]
The Nut Job was released onDVD andBlu-ray on April 15, 2014, byUniversal Pictures Home Entertainment.[22]
On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 13%, based on 98 reviews, and an average score of 4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Hampered by an unlikable central character and source material stretched too thin to cover its brief running time,The Nut Job will provoke an allergic reaction in all but the least demanding moviegoers."[23] OnMetacritic, which calculates a normalized rating from reviews, the film has an average weighted score of 37 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[24] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film a "B" grade, on an A+ to F scale.[25]
Peter Debruge ofVariety wrote, "The Nut Job comes up short compared with a film likeRatatouille, which, despite its less-than-adorable rodents, won audiences over through appealing voicework and writing."[7] Alonso Duralde ofThe Wrap wrote, "The Nut Job is merely shrill and frantic, chock-full of uninspired characters and tedious wackiness."[26] Michael Rechtshaffen ofThe Hollywood Reporter wrote, "A whimsical period setting helps this 3D animated caper escape some overly familiar trappings."[1] Bill Goodykoontz ofThe Arizona Republic wrote, "Arnett is a great comedic actor, an acidic wit. But here his Surly is just a selfish jerk. If there weren't some redemption involved, this wouldn't be a by-the-numbers animated feature. But it is, and there is, and it is wholly predictable."[27] Linda Barnard of theToronto Star gave the film two out of four stars, saying, "IfThe Nut Job fails to connect through its characters it deserves praise for being a visually inspired effort, with clear homage paid to 1950s animation styles, especially Warner Bros. classics."[28] Chris Cabin ofSlant Magazine gave the film one out of four stars, saying, "There's no personality in the design or the script, which only renders the cynical aftertaste of this convoluted one-squirrel-against the-world story all the more potent."[29] Jordan Hoffman of the New YorkDaily News gave the film two out of five stars, saying, "The cartoon is stuffed with exhausting visual mayhem. Some jokes land, but most kids over 10 will roll their eyes."[30]
Joe Williams of theSt. Louis Post-Dispatch gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying, "The burnished backgrounds are pleasant to look at, but finding something to savor in the story is a tough nut to crack."[31] Michael Phillips of theChicago Tribune gave the film one out of four stars, saying, "The Nut Job fights its protagonist's own charmlessness from the first scene. Turning a dislikable leading character a little less dislikable by the end credits sets an awfully low bar for this sort of thing."[32] Rafer Guzman ofNewsday gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying, "The overall mood resembles a furry, nut-based version of Stanley Kubrick'sThe Killing."[33] Peter Hartlaub of theSan Francisco Chronicle gave the film two out of four stars, saying, "Someone spent a lot of time making the architecture and production design match the era. Grandparents getting dragged toThe Nut Job will be appreciative."[34] Annlee Ellingson of theLos Angeles Times wrote, "The Nut Job features decent CG animation, especially of animals, but the writing isn't particularly clever, relying on obvious puns and slapstick humor."[35] Stephanie Merry ofThe Washington Post gave the film two out of five stars, saying, "That feeling of been-there-done-that is pervasive, with many of the jokes sounding like they were ripped off from other movies."[36] Kevin McFarland ofThe A.V. Club gave the film an F, saying, "The most egregious problem withThe Nut Job is how shamelessly it fills in the gaps left by expanding Lepeniotis' short with generic and tedious rogue-to-hero cliché."[37]
Scott Bowles ofUSA Today gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying, "When the story gets stale, the movie inserts a 'nuts' pun or, worse, resorts to a gas or burp joke. It doesn't work the first time, nor the fifth."[38] Miriam Bale ofThe New York Times wrote, "The Nut Job features muddy-colored and often ugly animation, a plot that feels too stretched out and loaded with details to hold the attention of most children, and more flatulence jokes than anyone deserves."[39] Adam Nayman ofThe Globe and Mail gave the film two out of four stars, saying, "Only a multilevel chase sequence involving Surly and some glowing-eyed street rats has any real kinetic excitement, and the supporting characters lack visual distinction."[40] Bill Zwecker of theChicago Sun-Times gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying, "The bottom line: Kids may be mildly amused byThe Nut Job, but adults accompanying them won't find much to capture their interest."[41] Kimberley Jones ofThe Austin Chronicle gave the film two out of five stars, saying, "The richly hued CG animation is quite nice – a mix of hyperdetailed character work and painterly cityscapes and pastorals – and the script putters along with small but regular amusements."[42] Tom Russo ofThe Boston Globe gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying, "The plot doesn't take clever turns, the visual thrills aren't all that thrilling, and you're ultimately left to get your heist-movie kicks elsewhere."[43] Joel Arnold ofNPR wrote, "Once Surly and Buddy case the joint, develop a plan, and deal with the inevitable surprises,The Nut Job could be any classic caper flick."[44]
The Nut Job grossed $64 million in North America, and over $56 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of over $120 million.[2] In North America, the film opened at number three in its first weekend, with $19,423,000, behindRide Along andLone Survivor.[45] It had the biggest opening weekend ever for an independent animated feature film.[46] In its second weekend, the film stayed at number three, grossing an additional $12 million.[47] In its third weekend, the film dropped to number four, grossing over $7 million,[48] and in its fourth weekend, the film dropped to number eight, grossing over 3 million.[49]
The film was nominated for Best Sound Editing – Feature Film at the 2014Directors Guild of Canada Awards.[50] Paul Hunter won forThe Nut Job in the Best Editing in Animation category at the Canadian Cinema Editors Awards.[51]
The French ATAA awarded the film Best Dubbing Adaptation for an Animated Film for 2015.[52]
The film's score was composed by Paul Intson. The soundtrack was released on January 17, 2014.[53]
On January 23, 2014,The Nut Job 2 was announced, with an initial release date of January 15, 2016.[54] On April 11, 2016, the release date was pushed back to May 19, 2017.[55] Will Arnett, Gabriel Iglesias, Jeff Dunham, Katherine Heigl and Maya Rudolph reprised their roles. The film details the park animals banding together to prevent a crooked mayor from bulldozing Liberty Park and replacing it with a dangerous amusement park.[56][57] On May 25, 2016,Heitor Pereira was hired to score the film.[58] On July 5, 2016,Jackie Chan joined the cast as territorial street mouse gang leader Mr. Feng.[59]
In February 2019, it was announced that a television series based on the film titled "Nut Jobs!" was in the early stages of development.[60]
Open Road and Gulfstream worked with Iglesias on animated film "The Nut Job", with Iglesias voicing Jimmy, a groundhog.
