'The Secret Life Of Pets' Review

The Secret Life of Pets is the latest animated feature from Illumination Entertainment that promises to show what pets do when their owners are gone ala Toy Story style.

On that note, it's nearly impossible to avoid comparisons between Toy Story and The Secret Life of Pets since they share a similar premise and it's a matter of opinion as to whether The Secret Life of Pets truly is a Toy Story knock-off, but I will say it has some startling similarities to not just Toy Story, but even Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3.

With that out of the way, The Secret Life of Pets stands on its own as a cute animated film and the premise's assurance of showing what pets get around to once their owners leave is charming. Unfortunately, it's almost entirely pulled straight from the trailers, so if you've seen the trailers you've seen most of the humorous bits poking fun at pets.

The Secret Life of Pets' biggest issue is that it's not as original as it'd like to be and fails to break any new ground in regards to daring to try something never done in animation. The film is directed by Chris Renaud and I think he did a fine job fitting the project together but it just feels substandard compared to the marginally better family friendly animated films out there. The animation looks fine but never really impressed me as opposed to two remarkable animated films released just this year: Zootopia and Finding Dory. 

Another issue with The Secret Life of Pets is the overabundance of characters. Many films easily become tangled up with too many storylines and characters to balance that it's impossible to manage and The Secret Life of Pets' problem derives from the insistence to deliver as many gags as possible by cutting to random animals that have practically no connection to the ongoing narrative for a quick joke. While this doesn't happen abundantly, it did happen a little more often that I would have liked and as an end result I didn't feel like enough time was devoted to the main characters to make me really care about these animals. Sure, the animals are cute and fluffy but does that really matter in the grand scheme of things if I've failed to be engaged with a lovable personality to match the silky coat of fur.

The source of a majority of my complaints lies in the film's screenplay penned by Ken Daurio, Cinco Paul, and Brian Lynch including poor characterization as a result of too many characters and the overly abundant obvious similarities to the Toy Story films, but in-ripping off Pixar didn't capture the depth explored in any of the Toy Story films or anything made by Pixar for that matter. In one portion of the film, there's a clear attempt to pluck the heart strings, but it was extremely predictable and did't have the proper groundwork lain for me to care about this emotional moment.

The voice cast bring some charm to the typical household pets with some recognizable name talent. Leading the pack are Louis C.K. as the civilized terrier Max and Eric Stone Street as the colossus shaggy Duke. Neither lead dog, Max or Duke are quite sympathetic in any regard as they hate each other as result of a territorial issue rather than possessing any inherent problems with one another. I will say that they at least made for a funny pair thanks to their clashing personalities, I really would have liked to get to know the characters a little more though.

Elsewhere, Jenny Slate, Albert Brooks, Bobby Moynihan, Lake Bell, Hannibal Buress, and Tara Strong all make for engaging supporting animals including the lovesick Pomeranian Gidget, a compulsive hawk Tiberius, a hyperactive pug Mel, a lax cat Chloe, the laid-back dachshund Buddy, and the tiny parakeet Sweet Pea. Each of those respective actors nailed the distinct personalities and brought some charm to the film in various spots.

One vocal addition that was a little whacko for my taste was Kevin Hart's Snowball, an insane bunny intent on eliminating humanity. Hart essentially screams his way through his dialogue, and it works for the character, but makes him come off a little too crazy.

For those interested in references to other work, there were plenty of easter eggs and references amassing through various Universal properties and there's even a short film before the film starring the Minions.

When it comes down to it though, The Secret Life of Pets is serviceable family entertainment that kids will love and adults will probably tolerate. The film may not be quite as fresh and engaging as it set out to be, but it's cute and charming enough to engage audiences of all ages.

Film Assessment: C+