Movie Review: The Secret Life of Pets

The Secret Life of Pets/Universal-Illumination/90 min./Dir. by Yarrow Cheney and Chris Renaud/Rated PG for action and some rude humor

I have always loved animals, but I never really understood the passion of pet owners until I became one.  His name is Pippin, he's a terrier/chihuahua mix (far more terrier than chihuahua in look and personality), and he's the cutest, best behaved, move lovable dog ever.  Of course, all pet owners feel that way about our pets and therein is the key to understanding our mindset.....our pets are part of the family.  Calling them our "kids", a tendency that seemed silly to me five years ago, is merely an expression of how profoundly they've cuddled their way into our hearts and changed our lives.  Pippin and Mali (our very own "soft kitty") have comforted through times of pain, romped through times of joy, and shown us how very much we have to learn from them.

Therefore, when the first trailer for The Secret Life of Pets premiered last year in front of Minions, I was thrilled.  Sure, there have been countless animated films inhabited by animals, but this was the first one that looked like it was going to address the idiosyncrasies and personalities of actual pets.   Then further trailers revealed more about the story and my excitement level began to lessen.  It began to look like another by the numbers zany animated film, with a street-talking rabbit and plenty of lowest-common-denominator toilet humor.

Now after having seen it, I'm delighted to say that, while it's not the perfect ode to housepets that I hoped it would be, it's not the mindless, generic laugh generator that last year's Minions was.

If you're familiar with that first teaser trailer, the one that shows what the different pets get up to when their masters leave, then you've pretty much seen the first three minutes of the movie.  Our hero is a terrier named Max (Louis C.K.) who is living the perfect life with his master Katie (Ellie Kemper).  They play, the cuddle, they stare wide-eyed at the New York City skyline...the only hiccup to their life is that, for reasons Max can't fathom, Katie leaves every morning.  In fact, he misses her so much that he just sits by the door waiting for her until she comes home.  However, one day, she doesn't come home alone, having adopted a giant mutt named Duke (Eric Stonestreet).  Duke is big and messy and determined to take over as alpha dog, something that Max can't abide.

This rivalry erupts while the dogs are being walked by a not particularly attentive dog walker and the two end up collar-less and left to fend for themselves on the mean streets of New York, streets ruled by an adorable looking, but psychotic buck-tooth bunny named Snowball (Kevin Hart) who is leading an anti-human movement populated by the "Flushed Pets" (i.e. any pets who were abandoned).

The mid-section of Pets is where things get a little more frantic, but fortunately, it's got some surprisingly bizarre humor to keep things interesting, including an unnecessary, but hilarious, side-trip to a sausage factory.

The Secret Life of Pets absolutely works best when it's interpreting common behaviors of animals, making these widely-known idiosyncrasies character traits and allowing a strong and immediate connection to this ragtag group of animals.  The voice-work is uniformly excellent, including Hart, who, based on the trailers, I had some concerns about.  Louis C.K. especially gives Max a warmth and a heart that is vitally necessary for this character.

The screenplay, by the team responsible for the Despicable Me movies, is zippy, funny, and heart-felt, the latter element being something that was painfully missing from Illumination's last effort, Minions. 

Overall, The Secret Life of Pets is not perfect and not quite as engaging as the adventures of Gru, but it's fast-paced, filled with humor, and ends on a tender note guaranteed to put a little bit of a lump in the throat of any of us who consider ourselves pet lovers.  Bring the kids and have a great time.  It might even teach the kids to love their four-legged friends even more.

Grade: B+