Did you know a nut is actually a fruit? Well, Surly doesn’t care. See Surly is a plotting squirrel with a belly to fill, and he’s after the biggest score a squirrel could possibly hope for: nuts.

Will Arnett's Surly in The Nut JobArnett voices the rarest of things: a purple squirrel...that can talk

Will Arnett plays the confident, gruff-throated rodent, who, alongside his archetypally slack-jawed sidekick, Buddy – a rat - plans to unlock the mother load of nuts when hunger just gets to be too much.

The Nut store represents a Mecca for nut lovers, of which Surly is certainly one. He assembled a motly crew of nut enthusiasts who are willing to risk everything for the biggest payday of their lives. We’re talking walnuts, brazil, cashew, pistachio and, wait for it…peanut brittle – something the gang simply can’t comprehend.

Check out the teaser trailer for The Nut Job:

This is director Peter Lepeniotis’s first feature film for the cinema, but he’s certainly got pedigree behind him. He worked on Toy Story 2 (one of the films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes) in the animation department. He also lent his expertise to Casper in 1995 as part of the visual effects team.

The Nut JobSurly's buddy, Buddy, is a silly little rat.

The premise of the movie befits an animation classic. The lovable characters, who look not too dissimilar from the animated wonders in Ratatouille, look set to undertake a grand adventure, and you can be sure there’ll be enough adult jokes to keep all the family entertained on mandatory film night.

The Nut Job StillThe target is clear

Will Arnett, star of Arrested Development, plays Surly, and by the looks of the trailer, he manages to mix that menacing voice with his obvious talent for comedy in perfect quantities. Elsewhere, Katherine Heigl, Brendan Fraser, Liam Neeson, Stephen Lang, Sarah Gadon, Maya Rudolph, Jeff Dunham, Joe Pingue, Christian Potenza, Stacey DePass, Scott Yaphe, Lyon Smith and Amanda Pasierbowicz all star.

The Nut Job is set to hit US movie theatres next year on January 17th 2014.

The Nut Job movie stillBut will he be able to keep his little paws on these nuts?

The Nut Job Moles
And how are these two going to help?