The Secret Life Of Pets Review

Animation fans Illumination have kind of been killing it at least in terms of box office numbers and that trend looks set to continue this weekend with the release of there next movie The Secret Life Of Pets 2. I mention that movie because I was a fan of the first one and will be going to see the second when it comes out and I thought to tie in to the release of that movie i'd give my review of The Secret Life Of Pets.

The plot of the movie is Max a Jack Russell Terrier must adjust to having a new dog in his home called Duke a Newfoundland mix but they both get lost in New York city and have to find there way home. I know that what I just described was a simplified version of the films story but once you get right down to it what I described was the actual story and in terms of what I thought of the story it was cute it's not meant to be deep it's meant to be fun and it is.

Starring in the movie is Louis C.K. as Max , Eric Stonestreet as Duke , Kevin Hart as Snowball , Jenny Slate as Gidget , Ellie Kemper as Katie , Lake Bell as Chloe , Dana Carvey as Pops , Hannibal Buress as Buddy , Bobby Moynihan as Mel and voice acting legend Tara Strong as Sweetpea. Now while doing this review I made the call not to judge the performance of it's main star based on the actions that have since been revealed since that's never my style and I will bring it up when I review the second movie but that'll be it.

As for what I thought about the acting it was alot better then what it had any right to be and I say that because this is a kids movie so you wouldn't blame any of the actors if they didn't do that great of a job. I can't really think of a single actor who did a bad job in this movie since all of them at some pint got a huge laugh out of me and that's not something i've said in a long time so you know that this movie must be good if i'm saying it here.

The animation was done by Illumination who of course are well known for doing the Minions movies among a few others. I have to say that the animation in this film while clearly trying to be great is only good and I think that's due to it's real world setting it's like it wants to go full on Cartoony but it can't because it's set in the real world and that's a shame because the animation can at times be really fun and pretty to see.

Another issue I have with the film is that the pacing is a tad bit off it's not a major issue but some scenes do last longer then what they should and some jokes go on for so long that they become unfunny. That is something that I think might effect some kids enjoyment of the film since this is after all an kids film but I really can't see them being that bothered by it since there's a lot of stuff to keep them distracted.

There was just no way in hell I was going to review this movie and not talk about who I think is the best character in the whole film. I loved Gidget from the first time I saw this movie back in 2016 all the way to now she is easily the best character in the film. I honestly feel that the creator realised they could get alot of funny moments out of her because she gets alot of the best jokes in the whole film and i'm ok with that because she's the type of character that could very easily pull those jokes of and Jenny Slate is perfect in the role.

There's one scene which while played for laughs i'd say doesn't fit in a kids movie and that's the death of the snake. I say that because its death scene so gruesome and you see it die as well for a film that's trying to be a kid friendly film it sure as hell likes to throw in some adult stuff but this is perhaps one scene that should have been changed because I could very easily see alot of kids getting scared by that scene.

When the film first came out I wasn't a big fan of Chloe and while she is starting to grow on me a little bit I feel that she could have been better. I do like what they do with her like having her constantly tease the dogs is funny but that's really the only joke they did with her and they don't really explore her personality that much since all we find out about her is that she likes to eat and that's it so i'm hoping that we get to know more about her in the sequel.

Like i've said several times by now this is a film made for little kids and this is a film that i can see little kids enjoying but that.s not to say that adult won't enjoy it either. Since there is some stuff in here that will keep adults happy like for example one of the posters in Sweetpea's home is that of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds which is something little kids won't get but adults will so if you didn't know it was there you do now.

There's a lot of jokes in this film as you'd expect from a film made for little kids and rather shockingly alot of them work and there's no fart jokes. I honestly laughed out loud alot during this movie and that's not something I get to do while watching a kids movie so it's refreshing to say the least. I'm not going to lie not all of the jokes work like for example the death of the snake the fact that they keep on that scene for a long turns what might have been a slightly funny joke into something that you can't wait to end.

To give the film I do like the fact that the two main characters have to learn to live as brothers and how to get along with each other. That said tho I do feel that more time could have been given to developing the relationships between all of the characters and they could have done a better job of showing Max and Duke's growing bond which only happens in one scene and it just seems rushed in my opinion.

Overall this is a really fun movie and one that I can very easily recommend to any little kids since outside of one scene it's as kid friendly as your going to get and so this film gets a 6.5 out of 10 from me.