Story
The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature is an animated movie in which Surly (voice of Will Arnett), a squirrel, leads a group of forest animals who have been living a life of luxury in a derelict nut shop. The animals have become lazy and fat, so Andie (Katherine Heigl) tries to make a difference by teaching the young squirrels to forage for their food. They’re reluctant to learn, however, because it’s so easy to get food in the nut shop. This all changes one day when the nut shop explodes and the animals have to learn how find food in the park.
Unfortunately for the animals, the Mayor of Oakton (Bobby Moynihan) decides to turn the park into an amusement park, mainly to please his spoiled daughter Heather (Isabella Moner). The animals are trapped by animal controllers and forced out of the park. The animals decide to fight for their park. Mayhem ensues when they attack the amusement park to win back their territory.
Themes
Conservation versus development
Violence
The Nut Job 2 has a lot of violence and accidental harm, mostly done for laughs. For example:
Sexual references
The Nut Job 2 has some sexual references. For example, Frankie is attracted to Precious. His tongue hangs out and he starts to drool.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
The Nut Job 2 shows some use of substances. For example:
- The Mayor drinks champagne.
- Heather looks as if she’s ‘high’ after being hit with a dart.
Nudity and sexual activity
Nothing of concern
Product placement
Nothing of concern
Coarse language
The Nut Job 2 has some coarse language, including name-calling.
Ideas to discuss with your children
The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature is an animated comedy with some quite dark humour. It’s also action packed but quite intense and scary for younger viewers. It isn’t recommended for children under seven years, but older children will probably enjoy it.
The main messages from this movie are that ‘individually we might be tiny but together we are giants’ and that nothing in life is free – we have to work to live.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include:
- teamwork and collaboration
- loyalty
- friendship
- protection of the environment and animals.
You could also talk about Heather as an example of how not to behave.