People are being a little hard on this harmless little film about beloved and discarded house pets. Of course it’s derivative but a great deal of non-Pixar movies are. The idea of talking animals—wild or domesticated—isn’t exactly a new one, but this peek into the lives of pets and what they do when owners aren’t around is fairly entertaining, even if the life lessons are a little blurry.
The film is aided greatly by the presence of three of its main actors: Louis C.K. plays Max, a dog belonging to Katie (Ellie Kemper), who spends a great deal of his day missing his owner while she’s at work and waiting patiently by the door for her to return. Jenny Slate (fresh from her turn in ZOOTOPIA) plays Gidget, a neighbor cat who has a crush on Max. Finally we have Kevin Hart, who may have found his calling as a voice actor, playing Snowball, a fluffy rabbit and leader of a band of abandoned pets, living in the sewer and plotting their revenge against humans.
The drama in THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS begins when Katie gets a new dog, the giant, Chewbacca-like Duke (Eric Stonestreet), who threatens the owner-pet balance in the household, and Max is having none of it. The two are always trying to one-up each other in Katie’s eyes, and on more than one occasion, Max even goes so far as to try to arrange for Duke to go missing or simply leave the apartment on his own. In the process, the two end up getting caught by Animal Control and begin a journey to try and get home with the help of a whole lot of other animals.
Borrowing heavily from the TOY STORY films in particular—from the simple idea of owners remembering the value of a good pet to the more complex themes brought up during what is essentially an Island of Misfit Pets sequence in the sewers—Max and Duke are assaulted by a group of alley cats led by Ozone (Steve Coogan), aided by a hobbled older dog named Pops (Dana Carvey). They even get assistance via a critter-craving hawk, Tiberius (Albert Brooks, pulling double duty this month with his voice work in FINDING DORY), who is recruited by Gidget in search of her lost love with the help of a few other animals, voiced by Hannibal Buress, Lake Bell and Bobby Moynihan.
Co-directed by Chris Renaud (the DESPICABLE ME films, THE LORAX) and Yarrow Cheney (helming his first feature after being production designer on the DESPICABLE ME movies), THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS turns a simple but interesting concept into just another crazed action film with a host of insane cast-off pets (including the near-feral Snowball, an alligator, snakes, a pig used by tattoo students, piranhas and dozens more) chasing the dogs across the boroughs of New York City. As mentioned before, one of the true highlights of the film is Hart’s manic and militant fluffy bunny. Animation suits Hart’s rapid-fire delivery and also edits his commentary down to just the funny stuff, rather than letting him ramble for minutes on end.
And there is something so endearing about hearing Louis C.K. as the voice of a classic brand of man’s best friend. Max is a bit odd, as befits C.K.’s on-stage persona, but he’s charming and lovable as an animal, and he’s clearly thought about the slightly dopey mindset of a dog waiting for its owner. But the downside of his characterization is that it’s safe, as is most of THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS. It’s also sometimes quite funny, which is a strong combination for a family-friendly movie, but a bit disappointing in an animation field that is thriving on daring ideas, both in terms of story and visual execution. There’s nothing especially striking about the animation itself, so it’s up to writers Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio and Brian Lynch to come up with big laughs that just aren’t quite there. I certainly thought there were a handful of smart and funny ideas floating around the film, but nothing that quite brought it all together. Even the way the “villain” of the piece is dealt with is a bit of a cop-out.
Most everything in THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS works to varying degrees; the problem is that very little of it excels beyond the expected. It’s clear a great deal of work went into producing what amounts to an above-average movie. I’m guessing devoted pet owners and youngsters will enjoy the film a great deal, and the rest of us, as in life, have to endure them.
