Review of The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature (2017) by Patrick L — 20 Oct 2017

"I'm sorry parents of North America but your children really demanded The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature".

Movie Review: The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature.

Date Viewed: August 11 2017.

Directed By Cal Brunker (Escape From Planet Earth).

Written By Scott Bindley, Cal Brunker and Bob Barlen, Based on characters created by Peter Lepeniotis.

Featuring the voices of Will Arnett, Katherine Heigl, Maya Rudolph, Jackie Chan, Bobby Moynihan, Bobby Cannavale, Isabela Moner, Jeff Dunham, Gabriel Iglesias, Peter Stormare, Sebastian Maniscalco, Kari Wahlgren, Robert Tinker, Julie Lemieux, Josh Robert Thompson and Dwayne Hill.

I'm sorry parents of North America but your children really demanded "The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature". Do we really need a sequel to "The Nut Job"? It was a terrible animated feature and it had the voices of Will Arnett, Liam Neeson and the only two celebs who nobody talks about anymore Katherine Heigl and Brendan Fraser. Sure, it might've been a decent box office hit but the first "The Nut Job" from 2014 was the worst animated film that year. Since the first movie was dreadfully unfunny, you would think that the filmmakers would change their ways and retool something new but I'm sad to report that "The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature" is even worse than the original.

Will Arnett is currently the "Raging Bull" of voice acting because of his work in "Bojack Horseman" and "LEGO Batman". Since he acted the bejesus out of these cartoon roles, you think he would do the same for his purple squirrel character but nope, he just delivers couch-potato, lazy voice-over work. Arnett returns as Surly Squrriel who despite being loved and respected by the entire animal community for his "Nut Job" heroics back in the first movie, he still has a bad attitude and only cares about his nuts but his compassionate and overly needy girlfriend, Andie (voiced again by Katherine Heigl) wants him to change his ways.

Surly's sidekick is still the same grey mute rat who looks exactly like Remy the rat from "Ratatouille" (Seriously Disney! You still haven't slammed the makers of "The Nut Job" and it's sequel with copyright violations!) and most of his critter friends live in the Nut store they jacked up in the first movie. However, when the Nut shop gets accidentally blown up, Surly and his animal friends need to find a new place to live. This news makes Andie happy because it gives her and the other animals the opportunity to return to their wild roots and find food for themselves but the animals are unmotivated because they prefer to get food the easy way.

Meanwhile, a corrupt politician invades Liberty Park in the form of Mayor Percival J. Muldoon (voiced by Bobby Moynihan), he's fat, he has orange hair, he owns several golf courses, he loves to talk about real estate, he really hates Mother Nature and he's very rich and powerful. Gee, who might've been the inspiration behind Mayor Muldoon, could it be a certain outsider U.S. President? Mayor Muldoon wants to make more money by turning Liberty Park into Liberty Land, a cheap and very dangerous amusement park. When Surly and Andie find out about the Mayor's plot to bulldoze and destroy Liberty Park, those nutty critters must find a way to stop the Mayor and save their home. So basically this movie is ripping-off "Furry Vengeance". Really "Nut Job 2" you couldn't find a better movie to rip-off? Since this film went with the "Furry Vengeance" rip-off story, I guess it was enough for Brendan Fraser to jump ship or how did he put it "MILEY CYRUS!" and avoid this radically unfunny sequel.

Maya Rudolph also comes back as Precious the cute little pug and she may have a love interest in the Mayor's French bulldog, Frankie (voiced by Bobby Cannavale) but they part in one of the movie's most staggeringly unfunny moments, they share and eat each other's vomit. Very Original! "Nut Job 2" Very Original! Speaking of originality if there is any in this movie, we also meet a cute-looking but tough-as-nails, hard-ass white-furred mouse named Mr. Feng (voiced by Jackie Chan). Mr. Feng is outright ripping-off Puss in Boots from "Shrek", he's the type of second sidekick who first appears with a cute-looking face but to the surprise of the main protagonist, he instantly crushes him and he's more reliable and tough than he really is. With Liberty Park at stake, Surly turns to Mr. Feng and his street mouse gang for help, he refuses at first but (Spoiler Alert!) eventually he does help out in a big way.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention....... her, believe it or not Katherine Heigl doesn't portray the worst character in "The Nut Job 2", that title belongs to the Mayor's bratty, spoiled, obnoxious and horrendous creation from hell daughter (voiced by Isabela Moner, who was the spunky orphan from "Transformers: The Last Knight"). She's by far the most scary and frighteningly horrific character I have ever seen in a movie, I'm not joking she literally raped my eyes. She looks like the horrifying love child of Pippi Longstocking and Angelica from "Rugrats".

Here's another problem with the movie (Go ahead "Nut Job 2" torture us some more), there isn't even a nut job in it, it's just about the animals fighting back against the tyrannical, corporate enterprise known as the 1%. I guess this film is trying to make a statement about the state of corporate greed in America but this film doesn't care about taking on billionaires, major corporations or corrupt politics, it mostly centers around these nutty animals and their crusade to rip-off "Furry Vengeance". With amazingly unfunny gags, manic action, uninteresting characters and a lazy script, how can "The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature" not be one of the worst movies of the year. I watched this film in a theater and I listened to the very few kids who attended the screening for "The Nut Job 2", they might've made a few noises but I didn't hear a single laugh. Not one.

It may not be "The Emoji Movie" but it still doesn't pass as late summer family entertainment.