I love a good animated movie. Of course Pixar delivers most of the best, but there are a plethora of others that are truly great. Gone are the days that I’d cut anything aimed at kids slack. We see a lot of ones that work every year. Some gear towards adults as well, but that doesn’t always have to be the case. I can appreciate a nice amusing warmhearted one that kids can get some joy and laughter out of. The Nut Job looked somewhat promising from the commercials; I ended up taking my little brother to go see it. That was a decision I soon regretted. Lets just say, when you are fifteen minutes into a family film targeted at children, and you get a tap from your younger brother saying he thinks you should leave, that’s a bad sign.

A loner squirrel, Surly (Will Arnett), selfishly ruins the other animals’ mission to secure some more nuts from a local nut cart, also sabotaging their entire food supply in the process. He is then banished from the woods to the city by the park leader, Raccoon (Liam Neeson). Surly and his best friend – a rat named Buddy who wanted to go with him – go through a rough first day and things are looking down. That is until they accidentally locate a nut shop. Unknown to them, the owner of the nut shop is a gangster by the name of King (Stephen Lang), and his crew are planning to pull off a bank robbery by digging a tunnel between the two buildings soon. Meanwhile another heist is being set up by Andie (Katherine Heigl) to get the nuts out and deliver them back to the woods in time for winter. Surly doesn’t know if he should help the people who banished him, or leave them hanging.

At only 86 minutes The Nut Job feels too long. There was not enough material here to warrant even that low of a running time. Lorne Cameron’s wrote Over the Hedge. That was something that I really enjoyed, and the writing was a major strength. The story is so thin, and they attempt to cram in three different story arcs that never pan out partly since barely any time is given to each until it’s moved on from. To have a serviceable plot, the whole bank heist aspect should have been cut – it wasn’t needed. Then put in some fun scenes (doesn’t have to be anything special) to give more time to the animal characters. This brings me to one of the biggest faults.

Our central character Surly is very unlikable. He wasn’t fun to follow, and you never really root for him throughout. When his slight change of heart comes, it’s out of nowhere. I was relieved even though it didn’t make sense. That lasted about five or ten minutes before the movie ended. All the supporting characters looked alike, so couldn’t tell them apart most of the time. Also, the rat Buddy was a skinny version of Remy from Ratatouille. Literally looked exactly alike. Originality wasn’t something The Nut Job was going for.

The comedy was simplistic. None of it made me laugh, but certain jokes could bring chuckles out of a younger audience (those were pretty few and far between). Where I draw the line is when fart jokes are repeated over and over again. A few is fine, but nothing is worse when you get hit over the head with those. It got on my nerves quickly. The only thing that brought a smile to my face was the pug Precious voiced by Maya Rudolph. By far the best part of the entire movie. That provided a couple of humorous moments. Don’t like to accuse people when I don’t know what went on behind the scenes, but Cameron can do much better, and he has. From outside looking in this comes off as lazy.

The Animation was alright, it seemed like straight to DVD type quality to be honest. It was colorful, but considering what the norm has become, it fails to leave any kind of lasting impression. The animation is the same as the movie, forgettable. The pug is the reason it gets a star, plus the two or three visual gags that didn’t have me cringing. Don’t mean to be harsh, but this should have gone straight to DVD. This is your throw away January kid movie that falls flat. Family’s should pass onThe Nut Job and go see Frozen. If you’ve already seen Frozen, go see it again.