Item: The Secret Life of Pets 2
Rating: 7
Author: Matt Rooney

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Plot: Set across three different stories, the lives of pets like Max, Duke, Gidget, Chloe, Snowball and more are further explored in this sequel from Illumination. Across their adventures, they learn how to embrace the things that scare them for the sake of making their futures brighter…but mostly they're getting into shenanigans with all other sorts of animals.

Review: The best animated movies are the ones that grow with children as they age. At first, it’s all colors and laughs, but then as they get older, they’ll appreciate the music and visual mastery of movies like HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, or they’ll get something profound out of the emotional complexity of UP and INSIDE OUT. THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2 is not one of those movies. Rather, it’s a big colorful box of sugary cereal you put in front of your kids to stop them from screaming, but thanks to a game cast, some funny bits and a dash of sweetness, it’s not such a bad experience for parents to join them for.

With the first SECRET LIFE OF PETS movie, a lot was borrowed from Pixar’s flagship series, TOY STORY, in that it focused on the lives of animals behind closed doors, finding its two main characters getting lost in the big city and having to find their way home. This sequel, on the other paw, finds its own groove within a framework benefitting of a movie that works best when it's placing adorable, animated animals in bizarre scenarios.

Throwing out the lost-cute-thing angle, the movie splits its time up between three main stories. There’s Max (Patton Oswalt) and Duke (Eric Stonestreet) going to a farm (not *that* farm) where they meet Rooster (Harrison Ford), who teaches the former how to be a brave dog for once; there’s Gidget (Jenny Slate), who must save a toy she’s watching for Max from a group of eclectic cats, and must seek the help of neighbor cat Chloe (Lake Bell) and learn from her how to be an apathetic feline in order to infiltrate their ranks and; Snowball (Kevin Hart), with the most engaging story, as he sets out to free an abused tiger along with Daisy (Tiffany Haddish). Apart they aren’t strong – but together, together they are, well, they’re basically three episodes of what should have been a Netflix cartoon smashed together and rolled out as a movie.

But what it does represent is a more honest vision from filmmakers who are just embracing what they know will work in the movie. We bounce from story to story as the characters face their own lessons and get into all sorts of whacky, colorful scenarios doing it. You won’t find the emotional depth or creative artistry of a Pixar movie or like the most recent HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, but there’s nothing wrong with kicking back with your young ones and watching Gidget infiltrate a den of cats who behave like wild-eyed, deranged horror creatures.

Certainly, the movie is best when it embraces that absurdity. It’s hard not to giggle watching Snowball have a kung-fu fight with a monkey, and dare I say, there are even a few gags that will have adults laughing harder than the kids. That includes Chloe tripping out after eating too much catnip or Pops the Basset Hound (Dana Carvey) putting puppies through boot camp and dishing out some hilariously blunt, even slightly mean lines directed towards cuddly things.

Bringing these animals to life is a enthusiastic cast that I assume is having a world of fun on the other end of their mics. Oswalt, replacing the first movie’s Louis C.K., turns out to be a better fit for Max, who is paranoid, a bit manic, but the tender heart of the movie. Then you have Hart hopped up on more of whatever magic supplement he takes to stay so energetic, and standouts Slate, Bell and Carvey bringing the most enjoyable personalities out in their characters. Ford makes his animated debut here, and of course, it’s playing himself, were he an actual dog – gruff, curmudgeonly, direct and, even as a dog, taking no shit from anyone.

Look, animation studio Illumination has had a level of financial success over the last decade that challenges Pixar because it has, in that time, mastered a formula that it never steps a toe out of line from. That formula means taking cute, big-eyed characters, colorful scenery and Looney Toons-esque physical gags and throwing them all at a screen so as to become the ultimate beacon for any child’s attention. That is what SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2 is, and it does it well, if not in any remotely affecting or groundbreaking ways. By the end of the sugar-rush climax, a message is mixed in about learning something new (whether it being how to be brave or how to be a cat) and using that to embrace change. But chances are adults will get little out of it, kids may forget the message entirely when the movie ends with Snowball rapping about pandas, but none of you will care because you got some laughs and a few “aww” moments that will make you wanna hug your own pets. Just pray your little ones don’t ask for a dog, cat or a tiger on the way home