Keine Zeit für Nüsse

I love time-travel stories and this was wildest I've ever seen. The only problem was that it was only a seven-minute cartoon. Man, this was so good and so much fun, I'd love to see a feature-length film done by the guys who make this fabulous "Scrat" cartoons. These additions to the "Ice Age" feature movies are just terrific.

Here, Scrat the squirrel discovers a time machine buried in the ice near where he lives. He discovers that by hitting the machine in one spot, he instantly (and his favorite acorn) travels to a new time and era.

The story accelerates as it goes on, with Scrat getting into one disastrous situation after another quickly hitting the machine to get away. It's amazing how many places he travels in such a short cartoon but all of them are not only funny but beautifully drawn. As with Ice Age, the animation is absolutely spectacular.

I think there are just two "Scrat" cartoons, one accompanying the DVD of each Ice Age film, but I could watch hundreds of these. They are so well done, it's hard to describe. I agree with those who say this should have won an Oscar. I saw the winning one and this is superior, entertainment-wise.

This short is about Scrat desperately clinging onto his nut through time travel.

I am not a fan of "Ice Age", but I find "No Time for Nuts" very likable. Scrat is cute and adorable. The way he clings onto his nut just like a piece of priceless jewel is hilarious. His reactions are over the top and fun, making the short very entertaining. The pace is quick, packed with humour and action. The creative scenarios created by the time machine provide different backgrounds to his adventures; everyone of them is fun. The filmmakers must have spent a long time thinking what scenarios they could have incorporated into the short!

This Oscar-nominated short film stars Scrat once again, the speechless creature we originally met in 'Ice Age'. Since then he appeared in the brilliant animated short 'Gone Nutty' and was responsible for a lot of laughs in 'Ice Age: The Meltdown'. Here he finds a time machine which puts him in another setting, a lot actually, which is refreshing and a problem at the same time.

After having seen him in three different things basically repeating the same joke the new settings give the creators a lot of possibilities. With the time machine Scrat goes back to ancient times, but also to the far future, all good for at least a smile. But we used to laugh about Scrat and his pursuit of happiness, in his case a nut to eat. Now we laugh less about him and more about the gags created with both the time travel and the new times Scart finds himself in.

Still, 'No Time for Nuts' makes us laugh enough about Scrat himself and with a slightly different approach this is another entertaining thing with his presence.

Our saber toothed squirrel finds a device that drives him through time. He is present for several major historical events. He has one interest. He wants his paws on that elusive acorn. Unfortunately, for him, he doesn't think before acting. There are so many cute bits going a mile a minute.

In 2004, Fox Studio's little film GONE NUTTY was released in the theaters with the film ICE AGE. GONE NUTTY was a cute little film starring that little mouse-like creature as he tries to fetch an acorn and it was highly original--hence an Oscar Nomination for Best Animated Short. Now, two years later, another installment of the short film was released in conjunction with ICE AGE II and once again, the short film is quite cute and funny---however, it's not exactly original--being in many ways just a continuation of GONE NUTTY. In light of this, I am very surprised that it also received an Oscar nomination--especially when Pixar's nominated film for the 2007 Oscars was so much more original (it, too, did not win--this honor went to a rather flat Norwegian film THE DANISH POET).

So if you watch it, be prepared for more of the same--more laughs, more action, more excellent CG animation and more of the same plot. Very good but also not exactly new.