The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature

The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature is a 2017 3D computer-animated comedy film directed by Escape from Planet Earth director Cal Brunker and written by Brunker, Bob Barlen and Scott Bindley. A sequel to The Nut Job (2014), it stars the voices of Will Arnett, Maya Rudolph, Jackie Chan, Katherine Heigl, Bobby Moynihan, Bobby Cannavale, Isabela Moner, Jeff Dunham, and Gabriel Iglesias. The film is an American-Canadian-South Korean co-production, produced by Gulfstream Pictures, Redrover International and ToonBox Entertainment, the film was released theatrically on August 11, 2017, by Open Road Films. Reviews were extremely negative, and the film grossed $68 million against a budget of $40 million, nearly half of the first film's gross and holding the worst domestic opening for a film playing in over 4,000 theaters.[7]

The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature
Theatrical release poster
Directed byCal Brunker
Produced by
  • Harry Linden
  • Bob Barlen
  • Youngki Lee
  • Jongsoo Kim
  • Sunghwan Kim
  • Jonghan Kim
  • Lili Ma
Written by
  • Scott Bindley
  • Cal Brunker
  • Bob Barlen
Based onCharacters
by Peter Lepeniotis
Starring
Music byHeitor Pereira
Edited byPaul Hunter
Production
company
Distributed byOpen Road Films[3]
Release date
  • August 11, 2017 (2017-08-11)
Running time
91 minutes[4]
Country
  • United States
  • Canada
  • South Korea[5]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$40 million[2]
Box office$68.7 million[6]

Plot

Surly Squirrel is loved by Liberty Park's Urban wildlife community and oversees an all-you-can-eat buffet at Maury's Nut Shop. This worries Andie, as she has a more hard-working outlook on life than Surly. Mole accidentally blows up the nut shop after he forgets to reduce pressure from the boiler. Andie suggests returning to their roots by foraging for food in Liberty Park as Surly and Buddy fail to find other food-packed places. Defeated, he and Buddy return to the park.

Concerned that Liberty Park never makes money, Percival J. Muldoon, the unscrupulous Mayor of Oakton City, decides to turn it into an amusement park named Libertyland. Surly and Andie discover Muldoon's plot, and Surly convinces the animals to sabotage the construction workers' efforts to tear down the park.

Surly's enjoyment is short-lived; Andie attempts to convince the animals to work hard for food, which Surly believes can result in disappointment. When the construction workers' foreman tells Muldoon about the animal attacks, he calls an animal extermination squad led by Gunther. Surly becomes caught in one of Gunther's traps, and the animals are pursued by Muldoon's dog, Frankie, who later falls in love with Precious. Surly and Buddy leave to rescue her while the others find a new park.

While searching for Muldoon's car, Surly and Buddy run afoul of a colony of territorial white mice led by Mr. Feng. They evade the mice and find Muldoon's mansion, where they find Precious in the bedroom of Muldoon's bratty daughter, Heather. Precious tells Frankie she is uninterested in him, breaking his heart. Surly's recklessness causes Muldoon to shoot Buddy, who falls off a balcony and falls unconscious. Andie, Jimmy, Johnny, and Jamie find what seems to be a suitable park, but it turns out to be a golf course that almost gets them killed.

Surly, Precious, and Buddy reunite with the others in the nut shop's remains. While mourning Buddy, Surly recounts how they saved each other as kids; Buddy wakes up after Precious licks him. Surly leads the animals in retaking the park from Muldoon during Libertyland's grand opening. Muldoon calls Gunther and his team over to capture them. Surly, the only one left standing, goes to Mr. Feng and his army. While attacking Surly, the latter convinces Feng the animals must work together regardless of whether they are from the city or a park.

Surly and the mice free the other animals and round them up to take back Liberty Park. They overwhelm the humans, destroy all of the rides, and attract the attention of the police. Precious finds Frankie, apologizes, and confesses she does care for him, causing Frankie to fall in love with her again. After the pair make up, Heather tries to convince Gunther to tranquilize them. But due to the interference of Surly, Andie and Buddy, Gunther shoots Heather, knocking her out while he runs away. Muldoon tries to escape the chaos using a hot air balloon, but Surly and Buddy commandeer a roller coaster to catch up to him. Surly makes it on top of the balloon, and he and Muldoon engage in a long battle. Muldoon falls on top of a bouncy house and is attacked by Feng and his colony. Muldoon, Heather, and Gunther are arrested for their crimes, and Libertyland is shut down for good.

Several months later, the people help rebuild Liberty Park to its former glory. After the park is rebuilt, Feng and his colony stay and focus on Tai Chi; Precious and Frankie have puppies; and Surly takes Andie on a ride with Precious to rob a nut cart.

In a post-credit scene, Raccoon is revealed to still be alive and swims to shore with a plan to gain vengeance on Surly while sharks pursue him.

Cast
  • Will Arnett as Surly, a purple squirrel who was at first loathed by the park's animals, but is now considered a hero for defeating Raccoon in the first film and becomes Andie's boyfriend for helping to save them from a dire food shortage that he had unintentionally caused.[8]
    • Justin Felbinger voices a younger Surly.
  • Maya Rudolph as Precious, a pug who was formerly owned by bank robbers but is now currently the park animals' loyal friend and protector and Frankie's wife.[8]
  • Jackie Chan as Mr. Feng, the Chinese-accented territorial leader of a gang of white street mice, who hates being called cute due to his small size and big blue eyes.[9][10]
  • Katherine Heigl as Andie, a female compassionate and beautiful red squirrel and Surly's girlfriend.[8]
  • Bobby Moynihan as Mayor Percival J. Muldoon, the unscrupulous mayor of Oakton City a sadistic hunter and the father of Heather who plans to replace Liberty Park with a faulty amusement park named Libertyland. Muldoon is also known for his cruelty to animals.[11][10]
  • Bobby Cannavale as Frankie, Heather's former pet French bulldog, who falls in love with Precious. In the end, he becomes her husband.[12]
  • Isabela Moner[13][14] as Heather Muldoon, Mayor Muldoon's spoiled and vociferous daughter.[15]
  • Jeff Dunham as Mole, a mole who formerly worked for Raccoon and now works with Andie.[8]
  • Gabriel Iglesias as Jimmy, a groundhog who is Johnny and Jamie's brother and the leader of the Bruisers (consisting of him and his siblings).[8]
  • Sebastian Maniscalco as Johnny, a groundhog who is Jimmy and Jamie's brother. He was previously voiced by Joe Pingue in the first film.
  • Peter Stormare as Gunther, a Swedish-accented deranged animal control officer.[16]
  • Kari Wahlgren as Jamie, a groundhog, who is Jimmy and Johnny's sister and additional voices.[17][18] She was previously voiced by Annick Obonsawin in the first film.
  • Robert Tinkler as Redline, a blue mouse whose catchphrase is "We're all gonna die!"
  • Julie Lemieux as Li'l Chip, a chipmunk that lives in Liberty Park and additional voices.
  • Buddy, Surly's mute rat partner and best friend.
  • Josh Robert Thompson as a Construction Foreman that oversees the construction of Libertyland and additional voices.
  • Dwayne Hill as Police Officer, an unnamed police officer who inspects Liberty Park on opening day and additional voices. He was previously voiced by Scott McCord in the first film.
  • Laraine Newman as Daredevil Chipmunk, a chipmunk with a daredevil personality that lives in Liberty Park.
  • Cal Brunker as Charming Chipmunk, a chipmunk with a charming personality that lives in Liberty Park.
  • Bob Barlen as Handsome Mouse
  • Jess Harnell, Fred Tatasciore and Andrew Ortenberg as Animal Control Guys, fellow workers of Gunther who help to round up Surly and the Park Animals.
    • Jess Harnell also provides additional voices.
  • Greg Chun and Dave Fennoy as Mr. Feng's Mouse Henchmen, white street mice who have brown eyes and fight like Kung fu masters.
    • Dave Fennoy also provides additional voices.

Production

On January 23, 2014, The Nut Job 2 was announced with a theatrical release date of January 15, 2016.[1] On April 11, 2016, the release date was pushed back to May 19, 2017.[8] Will Arnett, Gabriel Iglesias, Jeff Dunham, Katherine Heigl and Maya Rudolph reprised their roles.[19] On May 25, 2016, Heitor Pereira was hired to score the film.[20] Jackie Chan joined the cast as Mr. Feng in July 2016,[9] and Bobby Moynihan, Bobby Cannavale and Peter Stormare also came on board.[10] In December 2016, the film was pushed back again, to August 18, 2017,[21] and in May 2017, it was moved a week forward to August 11, 2017.[22]

Release

The film was released on August 11, 2017, by Open Road Films.[22] The first trailer for the film was released on January 18, 2017.[23] As with the first film, The Weinstein Company handles international distribution, [11] while Warner Bros. Pictures provides British distribution.

Home media

The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature was released on Digital on October 31, 2017, and on DVD and Blu-ray on November 14, 2017.

Reception

Box office

The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature grossed $28.4 million in the United States and Canada and $40.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $68.7 million against a production budget of $40 million.[6]

In North America, The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature was released alongside Annabelle: Creation and The Glass Castle, and was initially projected to gross $12–14 million from 4,003 theaters in its opening weekend.[2] However, after making just $3 million on its first day (including $330,000 from Thursday previews), expectations were lowered to $8–9 million. It went on to open to $8.3 million, finishing 3rd at the box office and down 68% from the first film's $25.7 million 4-day opening.[24] It currently has the record of the worst opening for a film that opened in over 4,000 theaters (the previous record holder was another animated film, The Emoji Movie, which had an opening of $24.5 million from 4,075 theaters).[7]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 14% based on 63 reviews and an average rating of 3.95/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature may be a slight improvement over its predecessor, but its frantic animated antics still offer minimal entertainment to all but the least discriminating viewers."[25] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100 based 19 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[26] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, an improvement over the first film's "B".[24]

Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote: "As an animated entertainment, The Nut Job 2 lacks several key factors: memorable characters, a fun story, jokes that will appeal to adults as well as little kids. But one thing it does not lack is visual momentum."[27]

Maya Rudolph was nominated for Outstanding Voice Performance at the 2018 Black Reel Awards.

References
  1. Dave McNary (2014-01-23). "'Nut Job 2' Set for Jan. 15, 2016". Variety. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  2. "'Annabelle: Creation' Will Be This Summer's Last Scream At The B.O. With Estimated $30M+ Opening – Preview". Deadline Hollywood. August 9, 2017.
  3. "Film releases". Variety Insight. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
  4. "The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  5. "The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature (2017)". AllMovie. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
  6. "The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature (2017)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  7. Amidi, Amid (August 13, 2017). "'The Nut Job 2' Records Worst All-Time Opening For A Film In 4,000+ Theaters". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
  8. Hipes, Patrick (2016-04-11). "'The Nut Job 2' Gets May 2017 Release Date". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  9. Dave McNary (2016-07-05). "Jackie Chan in 'The Nut Job 2': Actor Joins Animated Sequel". Variety. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  10. "Jackie Chan voicing a mouse in The Nut Job 2". Empireonline.com. 2016-07-06. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  11. Pedersen, Erik (2016-05-03). "The Weinstein Company Squirrels Away Overseas Rights To 'The Nut Job 2'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  12. Brunker, Cal (8 July 2016). "@bobbycannavale is Frankie the French bulldog in #TheNutJob2 ! #animation @BobBarlen @ToonBoxEntpic.twitter.com/nMkVKmqR2F".
  13. Conner Schwerdtfeger (May 17, 2016). "Mark Wahlberg Will Have At Least One Other Human Co-Star For Transformers: The Last Knight". CinemaBlend. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  14. "Open Road Films Acquires Animated Feature Film PLAYMOBIL Based on Iconic Toy Brand". Broadway World. Widsom Digital Media. May 25, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  15. Cal Brunker [@calbrunker] (July 8, 2016). "@isabelamoner plays the hilariously bratty Heather in #TheNutJob2 #animation @BobBarlen @ToonBoxEnt" (Tweet). Retrieved August 11, 2016 – via Twitter.
  16. Brunker, Cal (8 July 2016). "Peter Stormare plays Gunther the evil animal control nut in #TheNutJob2 #animation @BobBarlen @ToonBoxEntpic.twitter.com/RUs1djIKGV".
  17. Kari Wahlgren [@KariWahlgren] (June 24, 2016). "So excited to be part of this!!!! #TheNutJob2" (Tweet). Retrieved August 6, 2016 – via Twitter.
  18. Cal Brunker [@calbrunker] (June 24, 2016). "Excited to share our first teaser poster for #TheNutJob2 @bobbarlen @arnettwill @KatieHeigl @KariWahlgren @fluffyguy" (Tweet). Retrieved August 6, 2016 – via Twitter.
  19. "Open Road Sets Release Date for Will Arnett's 'The Nut Job 2'". Hollywood Reporter. 2016-04-11. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  20. "Heitor Pereira to Score 'The Nut Job 2'". Film Music Reporter. 2016-05-25. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  21. "Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  22. "The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature". Box Office Mojo. August 11, 2017. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  23. "The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature Trailer #1 (2017) - Movieclips Trailers". YouTube. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  24. D'Alessandro, Anthony. "New Line's Dollhouse Of Dough: 'Annabelle: Creation' Opening To $36M+". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
  25. "The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
  26. "The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 19, 2017.
  27. Gleiberman, Owen (10 August 2017). "Film Review: 'The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature'". Variety.
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