Wild and wacky The Nut Job features a very good cast of voices, excellent digital animation and a story that delivers a lot of laughs. Although the arrow hits the pre-teen market on the bull’s-eye, this little adventure entertains on an adult level as well. Now on Blu-ray in a combo pack accompanied by a DVD and Digital HD with UltraViolet, the film will be available to you in the home and on-the-go.
The story centers on Surly (Will Arnett), a squirrel who’s not in good graces with Raccoon (Liam Neeson), leader of the animals that live in the central park. He mostly thinks of himself, but does make sure his friend Buddy, a mouse, is taken care of when it comes to the food they find. Mostly living on scraps, the two friends are looking for a big score of nuts to tide them over for the winter. In the meantime, Raccoon has been pushing his group, which includes feisty Andie (Katherine Heigl) and handsome Grayson (Brendan Fraser), to find a source for food to survive the cold weather ahead.
Because of a fracas on the edge of the city involving a nut cart, Surly gets blamed and banished from the park. He’s sent to live in the city where rats are tough going for any animal, let alone a squirrel. Surly finds a nut shop filled with his favorite peanuts and cashews and he’s ready to sneak in and take them all. One night he finds out that the owners are thieves using the shop to rob the bank next door and may cause the loss of the food. Surly has a plan however, to band together with Andie, Grayson, a pug dog named Precious (Maya Rudolph) and Buddy for a wild and wacky attempt to take down the crooks.
I am a fan of the digital video used to make the animated feature. The colors are bold and the characters are lifelike. The story almost reaches the older crowd with a cute little romance between Surly and Andi, but until the very end it’s the kids adventure that dominates. Don’t let this stop you guys from watching it one late night when the children are asleep, but don’t laugh too loud you may wake them up.
There are some bonus features included on the Blu-ray that the family may like, especially dad.
BONUS FEATURES: Exclusive to the Blu-ray and 3D Blu-ray:
- “The Great Nut Heist” actor Will Arnett introduces the story and other voice actors chime in as they talk about how it came about, etc.
- “Deleted Scenes” I couldn’t think of a reason to cut out the deleted scenes.
- “Storyboards” The sketches used to bring the film to the screen.
- “Dance-Off End Credits” It’s the repeat of the end credits’ very humorous dancing to the main tune “Gangnam Style”.
BONUS FEATURES: On Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray and DVD
- “Animated Shorts” In this feature there are two animated short versions related to the film; “Surly Squirrel” where you can see inferences on how the filmmakers came about and how it inspired the making of the full length film and “Nuts & Robbers” that’s very funny and shows how Nut Job got the idea for some of the adventure. The latter is the funnier of the two. You may want to watch them first before your kids do however, as there are a few bad words, just saying.
The Blu-ray combo pack includes a DIGITAL HD with UltraViolet that lets you download the film to take it along and show on your mobile devices like iPhones, laptops, Androids, etc.
The Blu-ray video quality is extremely good played on your HD Television. It’s friendly to those who have 16×9 widescreens as the Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 fills from top to bottom and side to side. The colors are vibrant and I did not find any distortion.
The sound quality on both the Blu-ray and DVD is very good. The dialogue is crystal clear and the special effects sounds are very noticeable.
Specifications and additional film information:
Cast: Will Arnett, Brendan Fraser, Liam Neeson, Katherine Heigl, Stephen Lang, Maya Rudolph, Jeff Dunham with Gabriel Iglesias & Sarah Gadon
Director and Writer: Peter Lepeniotis
MPAA Rating: PG for some mild action and rude humor
Genre: Comedy, Adventure, Animation
Running Time: 1 Hr 26 Min
Video Release Date: April 15, 2014
Original Film Release Date: January 17, 2014
Language: English
Format: Blu-ray, DVD
Audio: Blu-ray: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, DVD: Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: Widescreen, 16×9 Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Number of Discs: 2 Discs
Distributed by: Universal Studios
ALSO available in 3D in a Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack that includes the Blu-ray, DVD and DIGITAL HD with UltraViolet.
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
