The Nut Job (2014)

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We follow a nice group of animals who found their piece of paradise in the Freedom Park, on the edge of a noisy metropolis. Autumn is on the doorstep and the animals are busy working to secure food supplies before the upcoming winter. The leader of the animal community, the manipulative Raccoon (voiced by Liam Neeson), sends squirrel Andy (Katherine Heigl) to accompany the boastful Grayson (Brendan Fraser) on a mission to find hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, peanuts and other delicacies. When squirrel Sarlie (Will Arnett) is accused of being responsible for the mission fiasco, he will be branded as undesirable. He was punished by persecution from the park, so the self-sufficient Sarley now has to face all the dangers lurking on the city streets, but when he least hopes, he will get a chance to redeem himself and regain his lost dignity…

The insanely dynamic story will simply roar before your eyes. What sets it apart from many similar achievements is that human characters have necessarily acquired a certain significance. A group of hardened criminals are preparing to carry out a spectacular robbery, unaware that it is seriously ruining the plans of a small animal community. The adventure reaches the point of incandescence when there is a conflict of interest between humans and animals. Some would like to get hold of the grandiose stocks of nuts (there is everything that can be said for everyone’s taste) and thus provide for themselves for the whole winter. Others would like to steal a huge amount of money and thus provide for themselves for the rest of their lives. It is this conflict that initiates a series of hilarious adventures that occupy the audience’s attention until the very end.

Humor is receptive mostly to the younger generation. Grounded, largely based on gags and petty mischief of our heroes. All this leaves a favorable impression, because it looks just as casual, and at the same time educational.

The topics related to friendship, altruism, dedication, creativity and resourcefulness, but also greed and egoism fed by unhealthy ambition, are very well processed, within the limits of good taste. Through the intertwined destinies of several members of the animal community, the director manages to pass us through clearly defined messages. The technical aspect is mostly at a satisfactory level. I have to remind you that this is a co-production where filmmakers from South Korea, Canada and the United States have joined their resources. The budget for the production of $ 42,000,000 is not small, but the fact that it is not in the amount that can be afforded by, say, one DreamWorks Animation. Therefore, it remains for me to state that the animation is of high quality, worthy of a passing grade, although not top quality. The synchronization was done quite correctly and there are no objections.

Cheerful musical arrangements additionally heat up the atmosphere, which together results in a solid animated film in which not only children, but also those much older, will find a way to have fun. Overall, this is a correct animation based on a solid scripting platform, which is quite enough to get my recommendation.