Sometimes animated children’s movies don’t seem to be sure exactly what audience they’re aiming for: adults who would rather be watching Atomic Blonde or kids who would rather be watching Atomic Blonde. It’s traditional these days to fill children’s movies with pop culture jokes kids couldn’t possibly get in the hopes of getting bored parents to crack a smile, and the trailer for The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature shows that the upcoming sequel to The Nut Job is no exception. The parent-targeted humor starts with the very title, a reference to New Jersey hip-hop trio Naughty by Nature; their big hit, “O.P.P.,” reached No. 94 on the Top 100 of 1991 26 years ago. By way of reference, this is the equivalent of putting a joke about Martha and the Vandellas (“Come and Get These Memories,” No. 94, 1963) in the title of The Little Mermaid, if “Come and Get These Memories” had been about the joys of infidelity. In other words, it’s a timeless approach.
But it’s an approach that will likely go over the heads of the youngest audience members, who are shockingly uninformed about hip-hop hits from decades before they were born. And how are your children going to get into good schools if they can’t appreciate the subtleties of an animated movie in which Will Arnett plays a purple squirrel? To that end, this post contains not only the trailer to The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature but everything your college-bound children will need to understand the film before seeing it, a sort of annotated version for budding intellectuals. The first foundational text you’ll want to watch and discuss with your kids before a screening of The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature is the original music video for Naughty by Nature’s “O.P.P.” And here it is:
After your children have thoroughly absorbed Treach, Vin Rock, and DJ Kay Gee’s anthem and you’ve walked through the lyrics line by line with them (“It’s sort of like a, well, another way to call a cat a kitten,” makes for a fun guessing game), they’ll be ready for an informed viewing of The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature, which comes out on Aug. 11. So here’s where you can buy tickets to see Atomic Blonde.
