This was surprisingly very meh. Something was off with both the story and dialogue. The animation looks good but it's a very forgettable film. In a animated movie you usually find yourself liking a lot of the characters. Here, not so much. Rather than focusing on Max and Duke (zZzZz besides that really bizarre hot dog factory scene) they should've focused on maybe Gidget (the best character in the whole movie) and co. trying to find them. All in all disappointing.

There is a cute short film within The Secret Life of Pets, and most of it would be derived from the feature's first 20 minutes, which depict the behavior of pets while their owners are gone during the day: the French poodle who switches the stereo from opera to System of a Down, the hyperactive pug who repeatedly slams into the window when he sees a squirrel, etc. These gags are obvious, but endearing and play on every pet owner's curiosity as to their dog or cat's thoughts and feelings (feed me, feed me, feed me, pet me, feed me, let me pee, let me sleep, feed me, pet me, feed me). Unfortunately, the film is rather exhausting when considered as a 100-minute whole, particularly once lead pups Max and Duke slip their leashes and begin a predictably whirlwind trip through the city, evading animal-control buffoons and an underground animal gang led by an insane rabbit, very noisily voiced by Kevin Hart. There is, in my estimation at least, a surprising dearth of charm and warmth considering how easy it is win people over with animal antics.

C

Illumination's self-referential moments (self-promotion) are a bit crass. At one point, a poster for Sing is prominently displayed on a bus. I hope they do not believe this is a spiritual equivalent of, say, Pixar hiding Pizza Planet Easter eggs in their movies.

Yes, this would have worked very well as a short film. As it is... eh, it's alright. Perhaps it's been mentioned already, either since the trailers were released or once the movie was released, but the plot was basically Toy Story all over again, wasn't it, just not as good?

And there were a lot of Easter eggs that I noticed, which is saying something because I usually miss them on first viewing. I don't mind them, but they were very obvious in this film.

The first, during the Minions short, one of the minions was wearing a "Let It Grow" hard hat in reference to The Lorax. The second, the garden gnome in the same Minions short is knocked out of the way by Gidget. The third, the various Minions posters seen throughout the film (on the refrigerator, on a business window, etc.). And finally, as David mentioned, was the poster for Sing displayed on the bus during the bridge scene.

Oh, I will say this: the animated New York City here is often quite attractive and colorful. It is an impressive film on an aesthetic level considering its relatively modest cost.

The more I think about this the more I dislike it. The main dog, Max, is really unlikable throughout. Even Duke isn't likable either. There was also an opportunity to have an emotional beat when you find out Duke's former owner died but they totally glossed over it lol.

Idk, this seemed like a good concept but the final product is so blah. All the owners coming home at the end was cute but you never really care about most of those animals.

It's pleasant enough throughout that I enjoyed myself. But there isn't much here that wasn't in the trailers. I think it could have used a bit more padding at the start, to build Max and Duke into dogs you can root for. But all we get is that one is possesive and one is desperate.

Gidget, the white dog, is the best character in the film. The soap opera scene sums up her character and motivation in just a few minutes. So we get that her passion allows her to do things like tame a hawk or beat up a gator. Gidget interrogating cat is also the funniest part of the movie.

Much to my surprise it is Kevin Hart's Snowball that saves the movie. I was expecting to be annoyed by him, like I am by most Kevin Hart characters. Yet he just kinda works here. Ricki! You in a betta place!

This film is okay. Nothing great. Nowhere near as good as Despicable Me 1-2. Better than Minions on a storytelling level, though I did find that film funnier overall. Max and Duke are both jerks, and it is hard to root for either one. My favorite characters were Gidget and Chloe, they were funny. The film has many enjoyable sequences intercut with many long draggy sections without much of interest happening. The sequence at the sausage factory to the end is probably the most enjoyable, along with the beginning, that we had pretty much already seen in the trailer.

B

The Secret Life Of Pets is yet another typical kids' movie. The storyline is simpleminded and all too familiar. Slightly better than Finding Dory, which isn't saying much. *D*

Completely forgettable. Has a nice ending, though I wish I was still caring by that point.

C

The Secret Life of Pets

It is an enjoyable, colourful, and vibrant inner-city adventure, and kids will surely love it. Did I also love it? Well, yes and no. It is a lot of fun, and the cinematography is gorgeously swooping at times and it shows New York in a lovely light. Most of the voice performances are good (though no standouts), and most of the characters are good too. The comedy is light and innocent, and while this is pleasant, it is squarely aimed at kids. I wanted more in the way of adult humour disguised in a kids movie. The type of humour that Shrek 2 has (or, from the trailer, The Angry Birds Movie has). What starts out as a collection of sweet, well-observed owner-dog relationship quirks turns into a pets vs. stray vs. Animal Control narrative (which is still decent), but by the end it is an over-the-top chase sequence whereby the animals have seemingly taken over. Out of nowhere, the Kevin Hart-voiced bunny (interestingly the only voice I could spot, and the only annoying one) is driving a bus, and the bridge is overrun with every pet imaginable. The film nips along at a brisk pace, and the effects are truly out of this world. None of the characters are instant hits. There is no Donkey, or Olaf here (or even Nate Torrence's obese cheetah from Zootopia), and as much as they want Snowball to be this adorable yet feisty family favourite, I suspect this won't happen. Despite not recognising his voice, I really liked the Max character, but they do nothing with him. He starts well, like when Duke comes into his life and he has to employ devious means to keep him in line. But this is short-lived, and the film quickly excels into mayhem, both fun and outrageous, where no character can really shine. At its core, The Secret Life of Pets is a great idea, but it does not take advantage of its idea, instead going down familiar CG-animated film paths.

B-

I don't believe they think it's the same. Illumination is a marketing machine, with decisions like this being made to further their brand. With Pixar it started as creative fun, and is now obligatory.

I had fun with this. It's nothing special, but a well-rounded animation for me. The animation itself looks good, voices are good, it's funny. The characters are pleasing all around, and while it doesn't try to be much more than just a kids film, it's great at it for me. Around the middle it's a bit dragging, that surely it might have been more effective in a shorter form, but it doesn't feel too long either. Simply a decent film for me, which I didn't expect because of average reviews and the poor taste Illuminations' Minions left behind. This soundly washes that away.

B

It is certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with 74%.

Oh well then, it's certified. You can't argue with that.

Well reception on WOKJ seems luke warm, 74% on rotten is definitely good. I understated that, maybe it's was simply my minion experience that easily made this exceed my expectations.

The success of this film is apalling. It is mediocre, just slightly better than Minions.

As said above, Gidget is the best character. I couldn't root for either Duke or Max, both came across as assholes.

Meh it's light fluff at best. I was entertained for the most part, but it did feel a bit too long and the two lead dogs aren't very likeable. The side characters are easily the best thing about this.

*1/2 / ***** (D-)

A pretty desperate attempt at remaking Toy Story with pets. The leads are not likable, the jokes are not funny, the characters are boring.

The only scene that was just on the verge of being funny for me was the one where Gidget is fighting. What didn't work was poor voice acting. Whoever voiced Gidget just didn't have the neurotics and high-pitchedness I would associate with a Pomeranian.

I thought Jenny Slate was good (for what it was) as Gidget, but are you looking for someone like Melissa Rauch?

I didn't have anyone in particular in mind, but actually now that you say it I think she would do great with the kind of neurotic voice she sometimes does on TBBT. That scene really needed all out crazy ass performance that would make it really laugh out loud funny as it is in theory.

Wow this movie is really violent now that I'm watching it again. Not really something I would ever want to show kids.

Pets had gorgeous animation, decent voice cast but outside its one-liner concept it doesn't delve deep thematically or emotionally.

5/10