Even nuttier than the last time.
The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature is the sequel to the computer-animated film The Nut Job. It was released in North America on August 11th, 2017 by Open Road Films.
After the Nut Shop explodes under mysterious circumstances, Surly and the rest of the animals are left facing a shortage as they struggle to find another supply of food. As they desperately look for more food to eat, the city's mayor intends on destroying Liberty Park so he can build an amusement park over it. With no other option, Surly and the other animals team up with a gang of mice led by Mr. Feng so they can fight the mayor's forces and save the park.
The Nut Job 2 provides examples of:
- Advertised Extra: Despite being in nearly every movie poster, along with a majority of the trailers, Mr. Feng only appears in about three scenes, and isn't even one of the central characters.
- Anti-Hero: Mr. Feng is this, in a way. He starts off as an minor antagonist who holds some kind of grudge against Surly and Buddy. He also detests humans because he and his mice gang were mistreated by them. However, during the third act, he decides to help the park animals and inevitably turn towards a life of peace.
- Art Evolution: Compared to the first movie, the sequel features improved rendering and more fluid animation, which especially lends well to the physical comedy and action scenes.
- Babies Ever After: The film ends with Precious and Frankie having puppies.
- Berserk Button: Don't call Mr. Feng "cute".
- Big Bad: Percival J. Muldoon, the greedy mayor who wants to destroy the park.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Gunther, the head exterminator, is introduced assuring Muldoon that he can humanely capture and transport the animals somewhere else. When he finds out that Muldoon wants to kill the animals rather than humanely trap them, he looks shocked for a second, then lets out an Evil Laugh and takes to the task with Ax-Crazy enthusiasm.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Heather, Muldoon's spoiled and vociferous daughter.
- Briefcase Full of Money: The Mayor has received several "campaign contributions" that way.
- Brick Joke: Sully and Buddy clash with some cops while trying to steal donuts during a donut shop sale, with the cops calling this a code seven. Another code seven shows up at the end when the cops confiscate the amusement park's donut cart.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: A few characters from the first film are gone without explanation in this one.
- Despite a prominent role in the previous film, Grayson does not appear and isn't even mentioned by any of the characters.
- The first film implied that King's girlfriend Lana was going to take over the nut shop and adopt Precious as her pet. She’s not seen at all in this film, not even after the nut shop is destroyed.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Muldoon is one for Raccoon. Both are leaders, but abuse their leadership in alternate ways. Raccoon relies on manipulation and deceit to get his way and his ultimate goal is to always be in control while Muldoon uses his position as Mayor to do whatever he wants and is driven by greed.
- Cute Bruiser: Mr. Feng and the rest of the mice gang. Just don't call them that.
- Darkest Hour: By the end of the second act, Muldoon has completely destroyed the park, the animals don't know where else to go, and Buddy's in a coma.
- Diabolical Dog Catcher: The pest control agents Muldoon hires go about their jobs with sadistic glee, greatly enjoying hunting down and capturing the park animals. Gunther is by far the worst, showing great joy when Muldoon orders him to utilize the most inhumane animal traps he can get.
- Didn't Think This Through: Muldoon knowingly has his amusement park built with unsafe, secondhand attractions. When warned that people could get hurt, he simply states that he will institute a "no refunds" policy (which wouldn't really protect him from potential lawsuits). During the animals' attack on the park, most of the attractions fall apart after suffering little damage, making the animals' job much easier.
- Disney Villain Death: Subverted. Muldoon seemingly falls to his death, only to land safely on a giant inflatable castle.
- Donut Mess with a Cop: When Surly and Buddy try to get food from a donut shop, several cops go there because they're informed that the place is charging half the usual price for the donuts. Once the Mayor is arrested and Liberty Land is closed, one of the cops seizes a donut cart.
- Establishing Character Moment: Muldoon is first introduced sitting in his comfy, luxurious office shamelessly bragging about how much money he has and how everything in the city is his to own, even if he has to bend the law to his gain.
- Expy: Mr. Feng is almost exactly the same as Snowball. They're both cute, fluffy, white-furred Killer Rabbits. They're both Large Hams. They both hold some kind of grudge against the lead protagonist(s). They both hate humans because they were mistreated by them. They both run their own gang of animals deep in the city. And during the third act, they both decide to aid the protagonists and inevitably turn towards a life of peace.
- Fat Bastard: Mayor Muldoon. His daughter, Heather, easily counts as a Fat Bitch herself.
- Good Is Not Nice: Mr. Feng, fitting his Anti-Hero persona.
- Hand-or-Object Underwear: One of the exterminators does this with balloons.
- Hates Being Called Cute: Mr. Feng might be tiny with big blue eyes, but he gets violent when Surly calls him cute.Surly: How can someone so cute be so violent?
Mr. Feng: I said, don't call me cute! - Humans Are Bastards: Gunther, Heather, and Mayor Muldoon not only want to destroy the park, but outright want to kill all the animals. Most of the humans within the film are no better than they are. Subverted after the Time Skip, which reveals that many of the humans in the city helped restore the park after Liberty Land was destroyed.
- Hypocritical Humor: Mole is offended over two humans whacking several moles in a Whack-a-Mole game, which he openly states. Then a mole pops out and startles him, and he immediately whacks it.
- Insistent Terminology: The briefcases full of money the Mayor receives aren't bribes. They're "campaign contributions".
- Killer Rabbit: Mr. Feng is an adorable little mouse with big, round eyes. He's also the leader of a street gang, and is capable of subduing most animals larger than him with one punch.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: While Andie's talking about how glorious the park is, she suddenly starts singing. Surly immediately cuts her off and asks why she's singing, moments before someone else admits that her song came out of nowhere.
- Love at First Sight: Between Precious and Frankie, the mayor's bulldog.
- Moment Killer: When Precious encounters Frankie during one of the trailers, they gaze at each other while romantic music plays. Then she farts.Precious: "Sorry."
- Police Code for Everything: Code 7 means a donut shop selling donuts for half their usual price. When Liberty Land is closed, a cop seizes a donut cart and says it's a code 7. The other cops there approve it.
- Refuge in Audacity: Frankie eats his vomit after Precious refuses to, prompting her to vomit. So he decides to eat her vomit too.
- Relationship Upgrade: Surly and Andie. After the amusement park is destroyed, Andie gives Surly a kiss on the cheek. Following the Time Skip, they are shown to have become an Official Couple.
- Running Gag: The mouse named Redline who screams "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" throughout the film. He also screams this in the first movie, but only two times.
- Sequel Hook: The Stinger reveals that Raccoon, the antagonist of the previous film, has spent the events of this movie swimming his way to land, setting up his return in a possible third film. Though he’s followed by two sharks' fins.
- Signs of Disrepair: Some lights at the "Liberty Land" sign go off, making it read "Lie Land". The Mayor decides to keep it that way to save electricity money.
- Spoiled Brat: Heather is this in spades.
- Tempting Fate: While outside, Surly tells Andie that there's no way the Nut Job will explode. So naturally, it does seconds later.
- Time Skip: Happens during the resolution, which shows that after several months, the park was eventually restored and reconstructed by the humans.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Everyone. One of the biggest problems with the first film was that everyone (excluding Grayson, Precious, Buddy, and Andie) was a Jerkass or outright villainous. Here, everyone in the park works together and hardly anyone acts mean-spirited, even when all hope seems lost.
- Trailers Always Lie: The nut shop is made to seem like either Muldoon blew it up, or it exploded out of nowhere. It was actually Mole's fault for playing with the boiler.
- Vanity License Plate: The Mayor has a license plate that reads MBZLN.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Mayor Muldoon. In one scene, he drives his (very recognisable) car on the sidewalk, nearly hurting several people, yet he's never seen suffering retribution for this, and receives much applause when he announces the creation of Liberty Land.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Frankie regurgitates his food in front of Precious after Heather neglects to feed her. When she refuses to eat his vomit, he eats it instead, which results in Precious vomiting too.
- The Worm That Walks: The mice at one point take over one of the exterminators' hazmat suits and walk around in it.
- Zerg Rush: Dozens of Mr. Feng's mice swarm together and ram themselves against a construction vehicle. They manage to flip it over.
