Film #162 – Gone Nutty (2002)

Viewed June 11, 2006

In the ever-increasing field of CGI animated films, only Ice Age (2001) from 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios comes close to achieving the quality of the Disney / Pixar pairing. Gone Nutty is Blue Sky’s original DVD short about the crazy little “sabre-tooth squirrel” Scrat from Ice Age and it, too, approaches Pixar’s level of quality, but just misses.

The premise is a simple one: it’s just more of the wacky antics of Scrat. If you saw Ice Age, you should know what to expect. There’s plenty more of his frantic running around chasing nuts and lots of opportunities to see him dropped, squashed and crushed.

The animation is executed to a level equal (if not slightly better) than Ice Age itself. The movement of the nuts as they spiral out of control is particularly impressive. And I have to admit that the final visual gag is extremely well thought out and original. I must say that one thing that disappointed me was the failure to adhere to the laws of physics. I know that one has to suspend disbelief in a cartoon, but one of the things that sets Pixar apart is how they usually try to make sure things would work before putting them into their virtual world. I don’t think that any major jokes or visual clues would be lost to Gone Nutty if they had striven to adhere to this philosophy. I just think they didn’t take the time to work out how to do it more realistically (and therefore more impressively).

Still, it’s a fun little short that certainly captures the feel of the character and will help to whet the appetites of Scrat fans until they can see Ice Age: The Meltdown. As a little thing meant as an extra on the DVD it certainly succeeds. But if Blue Sky wants to be taken as seriously as Pixar, they are going to need to step up in the future.

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