By Shane Conto
I remember when the original Secret Life of Pets’s trailers dropped and I fell in love with the film. Those little clips of pets doing what pets do were so charming and really captured the spirit of those animals. A cat doing whatever it takes to get the food in the fridge was so on point. Being
an animal lover (especially cats), I was so excited for the film to release.
Five minutes in, I was so happy because it was everything that is promised with all the animal cuteness to boot. But then it wasn’t anymore.
The rest of the film turned out to be an obnoxious Toy Story rip off that trades in toys for dogs. Losing all of its charm and filling the runtime with crazy, over-the-top sequences of nonsense such as a group of animals driving a truck on a highway. It felt like a betrayal of the promised film. But this time around, my expectations were different. I had learned my lesson.Secret Life of Pets 2 honestly provides very much of the same as the first film. Chris Renaud and his co-director, Jonathan del Val, accomplish exactly what you would expect from an Illumination Entertainment film.
This studio has created an art out of making films that are just appealing enough to get families in seats but nothing more.
Their films make plenty of money and are mediocre in quality at best (besides the early Despicable Me films that capture some real magic). Secret Life of Pets 2 is colorful and quickly paced which is perfect for the younger audience members. There are a few moments of flash as well with some interesting choices made with a few characters (mostly Snowball voiced by the high energy and decently annoying Kevin Hart). Another unfortunate carry over from the first film is the awkward choices of music that feel so erratic and lazy that they feel like we as an audience jump into a different film all together.
Brian Lynch’s script is a bit all over the place as the film tries to balance a laundry list of different pets who are going through multiple stories lines. Some of which feel pretty wasted as not much is left for them to do. New additions like Harrison Ford’s Rooster (Ford gives a solid, gruff performance) work nicely in the main story centered around a family trip to a farm. But then there must be other shenanigans for the other pets to do, right? And they come up with some random stories to keep them busy. The cat lady and her ocean of kitties are the one benefit for this demand for side stories.
The biggest saving grace of the film, as with the first film, are the sequences that show the animals doing what animals do.
The introduction of a toddler into Max & Duke’s family is heartwarming and absolutely adorable. They also spread out these pet moments more regularly in this film which was greatly appreciated. Alexandre Desplat gives the film an inspired and jazzy
score that works perfectly for the urban life that the series centers on. But who is surprised when Desplat scores turn out fantastic? Definitely not me!
Then we get to the vocal cast. I mentioned already that Kevin Hart can be annoying and most of them are actually pretty wasted. But overall, the performers are fun and really capture their characters. Patton Oswalt turns out to be a fine replacement for Louis C.K. (won’t go into the reasons why the change was made, but it is definitely understandable). In conclusion, this film is harmless and silly. Not particularly great nor particularly bad.
Grade: C