Worse still, these competing canines are brought face to face with Snowball (voiced by Kevin Hart), a fiery bunny rabbit with a big chip on his shoulder. But Duke’s scheme backfires, and ultimately he and Max find themselves lost in the big city. Not to be intimated by a much smaller dog, Duke tries his paws at a little payback while out on a stroll with a hired dog walker. Everything is sunshine and rainbows until Max’s master returns one evening with a new dog, Duke (voiced by Eric Stonestreet), by her side.įor fear that he’ll have to fight for his owner’s affection, Max attempts to sabotage Duke by making a mess of the apartment. This affectionate pooch spends his days fraternizing with the other domesticated animals who reside in his apartment building while waiting for his best friend to return home from work. Max tells the story of his upbringing and how he came to be the proud pet of a loving human. The magical moment that was the look on McKenzie’s face when she received this special gift was certainly on my mind as I watched Illumination’s lively, “The Secret Life of Pets.” Translation: If you’re a pet owner, you’re likely to find a lot of this picture instantly relatable.Īs “The Secret Life of Pets” opens, we’re introduced to Max (voiced by Louis C.K.), a cute little domesticated terrier whose life in a New York apartment couldn’t be anymore joyous. My wife and I just bought our daughter a puppy for her 18th birthday. Rated: PG for some action and rude humor.Movie Review: “The Secret Life of Pets” (PG) Starring: Patton Oswalt, Kevin Hart, Harrison Ford ‘The Secret Life of Pets 2’ĭirected by: Chris Renaud, Jonathan del Val Typically, story matters, but given the box-office performance of the first “Secret Life of Pets,” it probably won’t matter that much here. And, unfortunately, it packs fewer laughs than its predecessor. Other than that, though, there’s just nothing too impressive about the film, co-directed by Jonathan Del Val, save perhaps for the voice work of Oswalt, Bell, Hart, Haddish and, especially, Ford. Zone in on what these digital artists have done with the fur alone and you’re bound to be impressed. The character designs are fantastic, looking both cartoonish but incredibly detailed at the same time. Speaking of visuals, that is where “Pets 2” shines brightest. When many of these characters come together late in the movie, it seems to be leading to a situation where Max will have to prove his bravery by protecting Liam from extreme dangers, but the story takes a hard turn away from the boy and gives us something with lower emotional stakes but that probably allows for more visual hijinks. This proves to be no easy task, however, and to rescue Busy Bee from an old woman’s cat-filled apartment, Gidget needs to recruit the aid of feline pal Chloe (Lake Bell), who’s busy tripping on some catnip and listening to Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit.” Still crushing on Max, she happily agrees to watch his favorite toy, the (amazingly, to them) squeaky Busy Bee. Before he leaves for his trip, Max visits plucky Pomeranian Gidget (Jenny Slate), who greets him after completing a spa treatment of sorts inside the dishwasher. Lastly, we follow a couple of old pals from the first movie back in the Big Apple. Max decides it’s his duty to protect Liam at all costs - he wonders if the city was always as dangerous as it now seems to him - and is frightened by the idea bunny buddy Snowball (Kevin Hart) puts in his head: that one day soon Liam will start leaving the home (gulp) to go to preschool. Max soon will tell us through narration that while he’s still no fan of kids, “he’s my kid, and he’s perfect.”
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While initially not a fan of this development, Max falls completely in love with Liam (a “love you, Max” from the tyke doesn’t hurt), and he and Duke work at being role models for the lad, showing how to stand and, soon after, helping him walk. Their apartment gets even more crowded, though, after Katie meets Chuck (Pete Holmes) and the two have a baby boy, Liam. The main storyline, or so you would have thought, involves Max (voiced by Patton Oswalt, taking over the role from Louis CK), a terrier who now shares the life he loves with his owner, Katie (Ellie Kemper), with his adopted brother, mutt Duke (Eric Stonestreet).