THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2:
ANIMATED FOLLOW-UP IS CUTE ENOUGH BUT DISJOINTED!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
The “Pets” are back for seconds in The Secret Life of Pets 2, the latest film from Illumination Entertainment and follow-up to the 2016 animated hit The Secret Life of Pets. I remembered seeing the first film when it came out and reviewed it a few years ago and thought it was a very funny animated film but nothing spectacular.
Sure, the plot is arguably a rehash of Toy Story with pets, but where the first film shines are with its exaggerated animal characters and humor. How many other movies have you seen with a poodle rocking out to death metal?
It isn’t a great film but it’s fun and smart enough for both kids and adults, and it was a huge success at the box-office, so a sequel was inevitable. That’s where The Secret Life of Pets 2 comes in though I’ll admit I wasn’t really looking forward to this one.
Not that it looked bad or anything, but we already know what the pets’ secret lives are why do we need a continuation of this story outside of capitalizing on its predecessor’s success. At best I was expecting a colorful, harmless kids movie with a few chuckles in there for adults…that’s basically what I got.
The Secret Life of Pets 2 is a perfectly decent movie to take the kids to with some humorous jokes and a moral about bravery, not to mention the plot thankfully doesn’t rehash its predecessor like a lot of sequels do. But the film’s narrative I found to be a bit disjointed and plays more like a compilation of episodes of a Secret Life of Pets TV series rather than a movie.
Sometime after the events of the first film, Katie (voiced by Ellie Kemper-The Office, Bridesmaids, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) the owner of Max (voiced by Patton Oswalt-The King of Queens, Ratatouille, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. replacing Louis C.K.) and Duke (voiced by Eric Stonestreet-CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Almost Famous, Modern Family) falls for a man named Chuck (voiced by Pete Holmes-Outsourced, I Hate My Teenage Daughter, The Pete Holmes Show) and eventually they get married and have a child named Liam. At first Max feels uneasy about his presence but eventually grows an affection for Liam and becomes his best friend just in time for his entire family to go on a road trip to visit Chuck’s relatives on a farm.
There, Max and Duke meet the farm’s sheepdog humorously named Rooster (voiced by Harrison Ford-Star Wars franchise, Indiana Jones franchise, Air Force One) who notices Max is overprotective of Liam and teaches him how not to be afraid. Meanwhile, Max’s possible love-interest, Gidget (voiced by Jenny Slate-Parks and Recreation, Zootopia, Venom) loses a Busy Bee squeak toy that Max entrusted to her before he left for the farm, to a cat-infested apartment inhabited by a cat lady and learns from Chloe (voiced by Lake Bell-Boston Legal, Children’s Hospital, In a World…) how to look and act like a cat so she can sneak into the apartment and retrieve the toy.
While that’s going on the white rabbit, Snowball (voiced by Kevin Hart-Think Like A Man 1 and 2, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle) has now taken a double life as a superhero known as Captain Snowball and is called to help a dog named Daisy (voiced by Tiffany Haddish-Girls Trip, Night School, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part) rescue a white tiger named Hu from an abusive circus owner known as Sergei (voiced by Nick Kroll-The Nick Kroll Show, Sausage Party, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie). Eventually all three stories come together with hilarity and shenanigans to follow.
The film also features the voices of Dana Carvey (Saturday Night Live, This Is Spinal Tap, Wayne’s World 1 and 2) as Pops, the film’s director Chris Renaud (Despicable Me trilogy, The Lorax, Minions) as Norman, Hannibal Buress (The Eric Andre Show, Neighbors 1 and 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming) as Buddy, Bobby Moynihan (Saturday Night Live, Monsters University,Sisters) as Mel, Tara Strong (The Powerpuff Girls, Teen Titans/Teen Titans Go!, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic) as Sweetpea, Michael Beattie (Swept Away, As Told by Ginger, Minions) as Lead Wolf, and Chris Renaud’s daughter, Kiely Renaud as Molly.
Overall, The Secret Life of Pets 2 is a perfectly fine animated movie to take the kids to just don’t expect much for adults this time around. The animation is still very colorful and there are some legitimately funny pet jokes and pop-culture references that got a laugh out of me once in a while, but most of the humor is geared towards kids with a very cluttered narrative.
It isn’t complex or hard to follow but there are multiple stories happening all at once in this movie and it feels like it doesn’t know which story to focus on. It’s almost like watching a compilation of Secret Life of Pets shorts from the Blu-Ray stitched together as a movie.
One minute you’ll have Max on the farm learning to overcome his fears and gain bravery, the next is Gidget pretending to be a cat, and finally Snowball as a superhero with the only thing connecting them is a climax on a train that’s a huge improvement over the Dark Phoenix train battle. It reminds me a lot of films like The New York Stories or Twilight Zone: The Movie where it’s a compilation of different stories all happening at the exact same time, however those movies did it a lot better.
The Secret Life of Pets 2 is what it is, an entertaining animated movie for kids that’s colorful, inoffensive, and at times imaginative. The kids will certainly enjoy it and there may be a few times where the adults will laugh as well, but if you’re looking for a perfect animated family movie Toy Story 4 is right around the corner.
From the blog www.moviewatchinpsychopath.blogspot.com
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