The Secret Life of Pets Review

PG: Action and Some Rude Humor

Universal Pictures, Illumination Entertainment

1 hr and 30 minutes (+5 due to a new Minions short)

Voice Cast: Louie C.K, Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Jenny Slate, Albert Brooks, Ellie Kemper, Hannibal Buress, Bobby Moynihan, Steve Coogan, with Lake Bell, and Dana Carvey

 Taking place in a Manhattan apartment building, Max's life as a favorite pet is turned upside down, when his owner brings home a sloppy mongrel named Duke. They have to put their quarrels behind when they find out that an adorable white bunny named Snowball is building an army of lost pets determined to take revenge

REVIEW: It is about time to finally see Illumination Entertainment branch out of their Despicable Me properties and finally do something new. I'm not going to count The Lorax as an original film for them because that's an adaptation, but THIS is original [for Illumination to say the least].

THE GOOD: What is great about Illumination’s newest animated film is that there are constant creative character designs for every character they create and the variation of pets in The Secret of Pets. We know the type of humor the studio is capable of with funny visual gags and quirky dialogue and this film is nothing short of that. The film takes the quirks of pets we love and use it to their advantage to deliver very clever gags. This time around, the humor is surprisingly subtle.  There is a quiet and calm jazz score that fits with the New York setting the film sets us in and it matches most of events going on.

The voice cast is amazing with one voice having something to do and have a enough character to laugh at. This is the second time Albert Brooks is in an animated film this year, but he seems to have more fun as a hawk named Tiberius here than as the clownfish Marlin in Finding Dory. He actually has some extremely funny lines and animation in here to where I get more of a laugh in this than I ever had from his character in both Finding Nemo and Finding Dory combined. When you think were tired of Kevin Hart, his voice performance of Snowball has you dying with laughter nearly every scene he’s in. They even bought in Dana Carvey who I thought was never really that funny as an actor (mainly because I still have Master of Disguise stuck to the head whenever I hear his name), but here his character is one of the funniest canines in the film where you can tell animators had the most fun making visual gags with. The characters themselves may not be the best to get behind to root for because a good majority of them are sort of assholes, but when it comes halfway through the film, Max and Duke start to show more depth than you think they had and its genuinely sad to see their emotional breaking points.

THE BAD: This is a personal pet peeve (no pun intended) of mine where a film is set in NYC and there has to be a numerous amount of product placement from studio related properties. Like a billboard of the Jimmy Fallon show, to a Pet Smart billboard, to even a poster of their upcoming film Sing on the back of a bus. It isn’t as obnoxiously glowing in your face as a Sony product being used in a Sony pictures film, but it is a bit uncomfortable nonetheless. But then again, its pretty brief in this.

Though The Secret Life of Pets is extremely gorgeous to look at, the story is as generic as every 3rd animated film has. Its the carbon copy, 2 unlikely characters who at first start off hating each other must put their differences aside to get back home. This is the type of story that was popular back in the 90s and was perfected by Disney films such as Toy Story in 1995 and Homeward Bound in 1993. It is good that this film only takes place in one whole day and takes a small little concept to a big adventure within that time span, but If it did had deeper character moments it would be high up there, but unfortunately there are unnecessary montages such as Max and Duke having their own sausage party hallucination. Even the third act ends with a big over the top fight scene which seems every Illumination film has to have in the end for they are unable to end a film sometimes. Though the film has a very strong and rather heartfelt ending, it takes a while to get to it.

LAST STATEMENT: Though It doesn’t provide much in the element of storytelling, Illumination’s Secret Life of Pets provides enough bright animation, visual gags, and comedic voice performances to get enough valuable entertainment for the whole family.

UPDATE: Originally my rating for this was a 3/5 | 68%, but then I went to another screening of this not so long ago, and thought about the other animated films I’ve seen this year and the ones that are yet to come. By thinking about films from Ratchet and Clank to Ice Age which is to be released later this month and feels it barely has a story to tell, I appreciated the things The Secret Life of Pets did more than most of the animated films I’ve seen this year. NO THIS IS NOT ZOOTOPIA, but by God, this is far more superior to every animated film I’ve seen this year. And with that in mind and the enjoyment I have watching it the second time around, I feel justified to give this.

Rating: 3.5/5 | 76% (I know 2% away from Finding Dory, and I truly feel like that) 

Super Scene: Lovely Day Conclusion