The Nut Job

The Common Room Other Animation
#1


Awww… nuts.

I love heist movies. Great (like Heat and The Town) or lousy (Armored, Takers), convoluted (Inside Man, Ocean’s Eleven to Thirteen) or simple (The Italian Job, Fantastic Mr Fox), I’ve seen a hundred and one ways (okay, more like twenty) to rob a bank/break a vault/hold up an armoured truck.

But this is probably the wackiest and most far-out premise I’ve seen yet. A rat and a squirrel… plot to raid… a nut store.

:smiley:

Pixarian and ILM veteran Peter Lepeniotis teams up with writer Lorne Cameron (Ratatouille, Over the Hedge, and Brother Bear) to tell the tale of Surly the squirrel and his rat buddy, Buddy, whose daring nut store heist gets out of hand when they get caught up in a larger bank stick up.

It is perhaps a remarkable coincidence that the character designs of Remy the rat and Hammy the squirrel from Cameron’s previous films have leaked into that of this film’s dual protagonists. The film, however, is based on Lepeniotis’ short film, The Surly Squirrel.

Will Arnett, Katherine Heigl, Brendan Fraser, Stephen Lang, Sarah Gadon and Jeff Dunham are set to star in the critter crime caper.

Personally, I’ll give this a miss in theatres (I don’t think it’ll show in Singapore cinemas anyway), but I’ll definitely give this a rental on the sheer ludicrous premise alone.

And because I love heist movies.

The Nut Job is scheduled for release early 2013.

Teaser (Incorrectly labeled as TV series?)

The Surly Squirrel

#2

I read about this on animation magazine a few months ago, and I’m actually quite looking forward to this! I definitely looks like it follows in the paths of Ratatouille and OTH (which are both films I love). The Nut Job looks like it could potentially be one of the most out-there, entertaining, and funny small-name animated movies yet! Of course, it might not be, but it’ll be worth checking out anyway!

#3

Thanks for being open-minded, OWP. I tend to give indie animated flicks a shot - just to see how they compare to the ‘Big Boys’ in animation. While they may not necessarily be the prettiest-looking, some of them have compelling stories that make them worth a watch!

As for the ‘bad’ ones, I watch 'em as examples of how not to make a film. I’m masochistic that way, haha.

#4

When I first saw that poster, I definitely thought of Remy! Then the mastermind behind this movie was revealed, and it all connected!

This looks interesting to me actually! I especially like the title, and the fact that Jeff Dunham will be in it! I love how cartoony it looks.

#5

It really doesn’t light my world on fire but I do want to give it a chance, even if on rental. I try to support indie animated flicks so it could be interesting. Plus, the Ratatouille connection is a definite plus!

#6

Not to be confused with The Nut House, the other squirrel-heist feature possibly in development at an independent Canadian studio!

animationmagazine.net/featur … nut-house/

It’s doubtful that The Nut Job will be released in 2013, and maybe ever as a feature. Here’s the site for ToonBox:

toonboxent.com/category/productions/

It’s tough to see how ToonBox can get The Nut Job into theaters when an outfit like Vanguard, which already released several features, is languishing and might even be defunct. It looks like ToonBox is geared more toward television programming. Sadly, the landscape looks pretty bleak for small, independent producers of CG-animated features. Rainmaker’s soon-to-be-released Escape from Planet Earth had quite an uphill battle. Others that are apparently treading water despite having Hollywood names attached: Norm of the North, Dorothy of Oz, Justin and the Knights of Valour, Khumba…it would be great if any of these made it to wide release in the English-speaking world, but it’s probably best not to hold one’s breath in anticipation.

#7

Thanks for the update juststeve.

The rattlesnake bandit in The Nut House reminds me of this guy.

I had a feeling The Nut Job would be a TV show from the title of the Youtube video. Sad, I don’t see how they can stretch this into a series Prison Break-style.

ToonBox’s SPARK looks interesting, probably based on to the Chinese classic Journey To The West.

#8

There’s another one!?!

omg, Rattlesnake Jake is crazy awesome.

#9

This could be good given who’s behind it. Do we have a clear release date yet?

#10

What’s with people and squirrels? I want to see more skunks, badgers, and raccoons! :laughing:

Lol, all silliness aside, this might actually be fun. I have a thing for talking animals in animation as you all might be aware of, so I guess this will be no exception. Pretty excited, we’ll see how it goes!

#11

I saw the short teaser. It looked cute, I’d like to see more!

#12

The Nut Job looks like it could potentially be one of the most out-there, entertaining, and funny small-name animated movies yet! Of course, it might not be, but it’ll be worth checking out anyway!

#13

So for those of you that don’t know, a trailer just came out for this. It definitely has a very nice style of art and animation, great choices for voices, some truly funny jokes, and a promising storyline. As usual, I have no idea yet whether or not it will tug at my heartstrings, but here’s hoping! It’s coming out in May here in the States, I think. Just love the idea of having a buddy comedy with a squirrel and a rat! Not typical, but definitely seems promising!

#14

So I got to see The Nut Job today and I was truly impressed. It really is a fantastic first effort for Toonbox! The characters are colorful, fun, relatable, and easy to love, the story is extremely compelling and entertaining, the voice acting is top-notch, great animation… it’s seriously a great movie! Now, it’s surprisingly not as funny as I would’ve thought; it has some great jokes, but not a whole lot of them, so it’s more of an action film with spots of levity and humor than a laugh-out-loud funny family comedy like most animated movies out these days. But it certainly does not lack heart in any manner! Its overall theme is really great and well-said, and that’s the most important thing about a good movie.
You go, Toonbox. Keep making magic for us :slight_smile:

#15

To be utterly honest I saw the trailer recently and while I rather like the character designs I just… eh. The humor just doesn’t appeal to me. Fart jokes just always make me cringe.

It’s painful, because I really want to like it because I like rodents, but it just seems so generic.

I don’t know, though. For all I know it could be great. I just am not at all that impressed as I hoped I’d be so far.

#16

I have streamed this movie quite a few times already on Netflix–hope to get the Blu-Ray combo pack for Christmas! :smiley: (It really is a good movie…isn’t it? 'Cause I love it!)

#17

Told my family not to watch this because of its horrendously low Rotten Tomatoes score. They didn’t listen to me and ended up hating it. `

#18

Oh, don’t listen to those negative reviews! 'Cause I do believe it’s the colors, characters, settings and story that matter more than others (for animation’s sake).

And what do you mean your family is always judging movies such as this just by their score on some critics’ site? You can’t just rely on that or it’s reviews, 'ya know?

Rant over. Back on topic.

#19

I’m the one who listens to critics. My family didn’t listen to them; they didn’t like the film because they saw it and found it to be bad.

On a side note, this thing’s apparently getting a sequel, somehow.