Its plot is convoluted, but The Secret Life of Pets is still an entertaining family movie with great work from Jenny Slate and Louie CK.
2016 has proven to be one hell of a year for animated features. Zootopia and Finding Dory have dominated box offices around the world. More than that, they have been applauded for superb stories and larger than life characters that you can still relate to. And with Kubo and the Two Strings, Moana, Trolls, and Sing still on the way, it has the potential to even better.
Well, it’s going to be hard to put out a better movie than Zootopia but there could still be some really great animated features this year. But those movies are still coming. Right now, The Secret Life of Pets is in theatres. How does it stack up?
Illumination Entertainment, the studio behind the loveable Minions and the Despicable Me franchise, has carved out a solid reputation amongst animation giants like Disney, Pixar, and Dreamworks. In addition to the world of Gru, they have several other properties including adaptations of the work of Dr. Seuss, some in the bag and others upcoming. Primarily thanks to the Despicable Me/Minions franchise, they have achieved both box office and critical success. The Secret Life of Pets has continued that trend in spades.
Reviews have been decent. Box office has been amazing. And that’s just after one weekend. It’s easy to see why.
The crux of the story is what your pets do while you’re away. The secret lives that they lead, having parties and going on adventures. It’s exactly what you’d expect; cute, funny, and highly enjoyable. Any other year and that would have been enough to stand out as a stellas animated film but after seeing brilliant animated features like Zootopia and Finding Dory, The Secret Life of Pets falls a little flat.
The story is, at best, muddy. It’s less of a fully conceived arc and more of a series of scenes loosely linked together. While the end of the film is quite predictable, as are many of the plot points, the road to get there is unclear and somewhat convoluted. It kind of bounces between characters, locations, and subplots as it winds its way to the conclusion of the story. In comparison to the big screen animation juggernauts of the past few months, the story just comes up lacking. But it’s still highly enjoyable.
Where this movie succeeds is in its impressively engaging cast of characters. The animals in the film vary from dogs, cats, and birds to alligators, snakes, and hawks. They all have vastly different personalities, and create some amazingly funny moments in their interactions.
Jenny Slate, the voice behind a key character in Zootopia, is back again in this movie as yet another key character and delivers yet another important performance. Slate is a fantastic comedian so it’s great to see her getting fun roles like this. She also a prime example of great voice casting that goes beyond simply bringing in big stars. You may not know Jenny Slate’s work on Kroll Show or Parks and Rec but hopefully you’re getting the chance to get to know her in these huge animated features.
Overall, The Secret Life of Pets is solid film that’s funny an engaging on its own. But Illumination also gives us a little something extra with this one.
The Secret Life of Pets opens with an incredibly funny short featuring the Minions, the characters that made Illumination what it is. The want to buy a blender they saw on TV and decide to try to do yard work to make the money they need. As you can imagine, it goes terribly for them and hilarity ensues. All kidding aside, this short is only a few minutes long but they are an impressively funny few minutes. It uses the Minions perfectly and provides some standout moments.
More movies need to start with an animated short. A new Wile E. Coyote short would have livened up Batman v Superman.
In a year that has delivered some of the best animated features we have ever seen, The Secret Life of Pets stands as a funny and engaging movie that’s well worth the price of admission. Illumination Entertainment has cemented themselves as one of the premiere animation studios out there, and a valuable alternative to the typical options.
Now, we just need to look forward to Despicable Me 3 in 2017. More Gru and friends is rarely a bad thing.