Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
When the evil mayor of Oakton decides to bulldoze Liberty Park and build a dangerous amusement park in its place, Surly Squirrel and his ragtag group of animal friends need to band together to save their home, defeat the mayor, and take back the park.
The Nut Job 2 is a formulaic animated sequel that recycles the basic structure of its predecessor while swapping in a generic villain-destroys-nature plot. The story offers nothing surprising — corrupt mayor, underdog animals, predictable rallying climax. Voice acting is serviceable but unremarkable across the board. The animation and cinematography are competent but lack any distinctive visual style or memorable set pieces. Novelty scores very low as this is a by-the-numbers sequel with a recycled environmental stakes premise common to countless family films. The ending resolves exactly as expected with no emotional resonance or clever twist.