THE NUT JOB 2: NUTTY BY NATURE

Voices of:  Will Arnett     Katherine Heigl     Maya Rudolph     Jackie Chan     Bobby Canavale     Bobby Moynihan

     In this version of the Nut Job stories, the animals have found that the nut store from the first story is abandoned and filled to the brim with nuts and nut products.  They are gorging to their hearts’ content, getting lazy and spoiled, according to Andie (Heigl); she realizes that the store has a real downside, whereas her friend Surly (Arnett) discounts her concerns and fails to get her point.  She tries valiantly to get the animals to forage for nuts, work hard, and save but they’re not really interested.  Their indolence actually results in the store burning to the ground after an explosion occurred when someone who was supposed to be minding the boiler forgot about it.  But it doesn’t really matter because what neither Surly nor Andie realizes is that the corrupt mayor of Oakton City (Moynihan) has plans to destroy Liberty Park and put in a dangerous (because he doesn’t want to bother with safety issues) amusement park with rides and all the junk foods that Andie abhors—cotton candy, peanuts, ice cream, popcorn, pizza. 

      Andie plays a kind of stereotypical female role in trying to convince the male Surly to step up, get the animals to pull together, exercise their instincts, and resist the humans.  His response is the male-like war cry. “You’re going to fight the humans?” says Andie incredulously.  He does get the animals to rally around, but they will go through many struggles, even trying to move to another park in the city, in fighting the humans.  Along the way, they run into hordes of mice with a cheeky leader, Mr. Don’t-call-me-cute! Feng (Chan), which constitute an additional threat as “a weapon of mouse destruction.”

    The film has good messages for children about working hard, being responsible, cooperating with one another, doing what is right rather than what is easy, and valuing the natural world and their own instinctual nature.  The mayor and his spoiled, mean daughter are shown to be truly evil forces that must be deterred somehow.  In the end, everybody seems to have learned something, or have suffered the consequences.

     The animation and visual effects are very good, but I noticed the picture was not bright, sharp, and colorful like most of these productions are.  It could have been the projector or other equipment at fault, and the version I was shown is not in 3D, which could also account for the problem; but this was a surprise for an animation and detracted from the film’s quality.

A film with some good points, but not a great improvement over the previous Nut Job.

Grade:  C-                                    By Donna R. Copeland

SISTERS

Amy Poehler   Tina Fey   Maya Rudolph   Ike Barinholtz   James Brolin   Dianne Wiest   

John Leguizamo   John Cena   Bobby Moynihan

          Sisters is a waste of good talent, the stars’ Poehler and Fey as well as a large supporting cast (Rudolph, Barinholtz, Brolin, Wiest, Leguizamo, Cena) are really fine actors who always hit the mark if they’re given good material.  Moynihan’s role was so lame I couldn’t appreciate his skill in acting.  It seems that Fey and Poehler are always much better when they write their own material.  The “comedy” in this film mainly has mainly to do with human weakness, failing, sniping at one another, hiding the truth, and drunkenness.  That is, we’re supposed to laugh, but I don’t find much of it very funny.  I regret especially when filmmakers send the message that unless there is overindulgence in alcohol and/or drugs a party is a dud.

The work of director Jason Moore and writer Paula Pell has mostly been in television, and the film plays much like a sitcom:  brief sketches chained together without much depth of meaning.  There were a few good points made.  In the beginning Maura (Poehler) sees a man sitting on the sidewalk and immediately assumes he is homeless and begins to “give” him items that will “help” him.  He ends up thinking she is nuts and walks to a pick-up that will take him back to work.  So, first impressions are not always accurate—especially purely visual ones—and people should be given a chance to accept or reject help being offered.  There is another point made about family members keeping important information under wraps for various reasons—none of which are very good.  And finally, rigid family roles of “giver” and “taker” put undue pressure on both parties.

The music of Christopher Beck and cinematography by Barry Peterson lend high notes to the production.  Beck includes soft, sentimental tunes when a scene calls for it, and loud party dance tunes when it is going strong.  Peterson is especially skilled in showing the gradual destruction of a house and the interactions among various people that give a sharp picture of the character.  The action can be slapstick at times, though, which detracts from what could have been a uplifting family drama.

A family drama that goes too far over the top and lasts too long.

Grade:  C-                                    By Donna R. Copeland