This seems to be a great year for animal oriented animated films. While I haven’t seen Zootopia, I hear it was phenomenal, Finding Dory was terrific, and the trailer for The Secret Life of Pets was downright hilarious thanks to that poodle bit. Suffice to say I was pretty excited to check out Yarrow Cheney and Chris Renaud’s (Despicable Me) new film to see if would live up to the joy that trailer brought me.
Max (Louis C.K.) loves his owner and loves being the center of attention. One day, his owner brings home a large dog named Duke (Eric Stonestreet) who threatens his way of life. Determined to rid the apartment of Duke’s invasion, Max takes things too far resulting in a war that gets both the dogs captured by animal control and mistaken as strays. The film chronicles their adventure of trying to get home, the adventure of Max’s friends who are out looking for him, and the flushed pets who want Max and Duke dead.
While the film’s plot was a little different than what I was expecting, I still found myself enjoying the film because of the mindless adventure and beautifully animated film that flashed in front of my eyes. Don’t get me wrong, unlike the aforementioned Zootopia or a film like Finding Dory, this is very much a kids film. There is little cross-over into adult content territory or serious messages that you would normally find in a Pixar film. This is just a great movie for kids that adults will end enjoying as well.
But why will you enjoy it? Because not only does the film have heart, it’s consistently funny throughout the entire film. The supporting cast of animals steal the show, from the rambunctious little Gidget (Jenny Slate), a pampered apartment only dog who is in love with Max, to Pops (Dana Carvey), a wise, partially paralyzed dog who kind of reminds you of your pervy old uncle who knows everyone and loves to party. The real scene stealer though is Snowball, perfectly voiced by Kevin Hart. This maniacal and crazed little rabbit hell bent on destroying the human race was the perfect creature villain for the owned pets. Everything he did and said was laugh out loud funny, you couldn’t have cast a better voice for this role, Hart was born for it.
As you might have hoped, they basically nail down all the personality traits of the various animals. The only animal I think they could have done more with was Chloe the cat. I’m not sure if Lake Bell was the right choice to voice her or if it was just the approach that was off. Cats can be very funny and while Chloe had her moments, there was more that could have been done with her, at least from the vocal perspective.
What’s great about this film is that it is ripe for sequels that can go in any direction. What adventures can the animals get into this time when their owners aren’t home? SPOILER Will Snowball be considered a traitor among his kind? Will he be a target in the next film prompting all out animal war between the owned and flushed animals? END SPOILER. Because animals do crazy things to begin with it feels like the opportunities are endless and that this is the beginning of another successful animated franchise.
Yarrow Cheney and Chris Renaud look to have a wonderful hit on their hands with The Secret Life of Pets. I wouldn’t have released it so close to Finding Dory but this fun animated adventure is a great addition to a summer full of strong animated titles. With plenty of laugh out loud moments that pet owners and going to eat up, this a movie that’s absolutely worth watching this weekend.
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