By Quinn Marcus

(2019)

AGE: 5+

40% SOUR

So What’s the Story?

Continuing the story off of the 2016 hit, ‘The Secret Life of Pets’. ‘The Secret Life of Pets 2’ explores the themes of having a child in the house, and what it takes to take care of it. Max will learn how to be brave, Gidget must rescue a squeaky toy from a room full of cats, and Snowball will find his inner superhero working with a dog named Daisy to rescue an abused tiger from a circus.

Is It Worth Your While?

'The Secret Life of Pets 2' is a funny, yet bland and shallow distraction for kids between the ages of 5 and 7, now here are my reasons. First of all, we have the directing by Chris Renaud director of 'Despicable Me' (85% sweet), 'Despicable Me 2' (80% sweet), and 'The Secret Life of Pets' (68% sweet/sour). Co-Directing we have Jonathan del Val whose only directed project just happens to be this. The directing in the film was rushed, confusing and all over the place. When the film is introduced, it all seems like a ride worth going on, but the moment Max and Duke leave for the farm, it turns into chaos. Two animals are doing one thing, the other few another, until the point where you can't take it anymore. The original was balanced, focused, and was able to stay on one storyline instead of expanding on a bunch of different ones and spending very little time on each. It is like they tried to pack too much into the very little time they had. So for the directing, I give a D-. Next, we have the animation. I thought that the animation was cute, colorful, and will entertain and distract kids from the big picture. So for the animation, I give a B+. Third, we have the script and story. The gags of the script were funny, I'll give them that, but besides the laughs, the whole thing just did not work. The message that they tried to show throughout the film, did not show throughout the film. In the end, Max gives a whole emotional speech that indicated what the message was, however, that was not what the story was about. The story was too crazy to even provide the slightest bit of the themes that they were attempting to cover. So for the script and story, I give a D+. Overall, 'The Secret Life of Pets 2' is a colorful distraction for kids and a horrible mess to anyone older.

How Was the Cast?

The cast in 'The Secret Life of Pets 2' was pretty mixed. First, we have Kevin Hart as Snowball. He was probably the most entertaining of the film providing laughs in every scene he did, its to bad that in perhaps all of the scenes that he did, he yelled at least 30 times. Next, we have Jenny Slate as Gidget. Just like her character, she was jumpy, funny and perfect for the part, providing solid chemistry between the cast members. Third, we have Patton Oswalt as Max. As a replacement off of the original's actor for Max, Louis C.K. he was fine, but for some reason, not the main character. If you did not notice, he is the actor who plays Remy in 'Ratatouille' (90% sweet), so he has worked with animation before, and in this, he had a solid animated voice. Fourth, and finally, we had a surprise appearance from Harrison Ford, who was completely wasted in the movie, he had a serious yet funny character, but they gave him a script that ruined it.

Aging 'Pets'

'The Secret Life of Pets 2' has colorful animation, funny characters, a weak but distractible storyline which is sure to entertain children. There is some animal abuse to a tiger, and a gun is pointed to a dogs head, but overall the film should be fine for kids ages 5 and up.