Real Parents Review: The Nut Job

I attended a preview screening of The Nut Job in 3D this morning along with a 4 year old and two 6 year olds.  We all enjoyed this movie on many different levels.
You can see the trailer for the Nut Job here:

First, the 3D animation, it was pretty awesome.
Many time the kids reached out to grab and catch various items.  Popcorn flew in your face, bricks popped out and almost landed on you, and the 3D aspects made you feel like you were a part of the animal life at Liberty Park.
The premise of the movie is that the animals who lived in Liberty Park were running out of food.  They needed to find a way to get more food for the winter.  The subplots though, were really tackling areas that were not appropriate for the young crowd that was in attendance.  Many scenes and quotes I did not enjoy included:
*Banishing Surley from the park
*More than once an animal said, "We all might die"
*A group of bank robbers were planning a heist at the Oakton Bank
*Fart jokes, butt jokes, "I will kick both of your butts"
*Gun pointed at a hostage and at various animals

Of course when I attend a movie I expect many of the scenes to go over the kids heads.  But, the idea of robbing a bank and planning a bank heist, was a huge focus of the movie, and was discussed for most of our car ride home.  You should know that these ideas are included in the movie, and you can decide if you want to discuss it with your own children.

This movie will be popular, I am sure. Why? It is winter and there are not many other kid friendly options.  The animals are cute and my kids want to know where they can buy a stuffed Surley or Precious.  Kids love adorable animals and most of the animals (except for the disgusting rats with mange) are really cute.

The best part of animated movies, for the adult attendees, is figuring out the voices behind the characters.  My favorites were Liam Neeson, Will Arnett, Brandan Fraser, and Katherine Heigl.

One really interesting discussion that I had with the kids on our drive home,  revolved around how dangerous life was for Surley once he left the safety of Liberty Park.  He had to dodge strollers, and big feet, and flying garbage, and cars!! The kids could really relate to these important issues.  They felt the apprehension that Surley experienced when he left the safety of being in a familiar place.

The kids favorite part of the movie was definitely when Gagnam Style was played in the middle.  If you are living under a rock and you have never seen this video here it is:
When the song started, the whole audience stood up and sang along. It was really cute to see all the kids dancing and enjoying the music.  At the end of the movie, while the credits were rolling, the kids all got up and started to dance again, in the aisles, and in the front of the theater.  Each of the animals from the movie was also dancing on the sides of the screen.  Then PSY, the lead singer of the song appeared in cartoon form, and joined in the singing and dancing.  It was a really fun way to end the movie.  Kids were all laughing, singing, dancing.

I hope this helps you make a decision if this is appropriate for your family to see.  Just remember, there is a hero in all of us and we are all a little nuts.

Our ratings for the Nut Job are:
Mom: 4 stars
4 year old: 5 stars
6 year olds: 5 million stars

Update:
One week later my daughter said, let's play the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel game. It will remind me of the Nut Job Movie.  Such a fun game to play on a snowy day with the under 5 crowd.