Review of The Secret Life of Pets (2016) by Filipeneto — 09 May 2020

I was attracted to this film for a simple reason: my girlfriend is very fond of animated films. From the same creators of "Despicable Me", its quite interesting and begins with a good premise: what do our pets do when we leave home every day...

The whole story revolves around Max and Duke, two dogs who end up lost in New York. While the remaining animals in the building join forces to find them, led by a cute little dog, Gidget, they end up in trouble when they find - and irritate - the mob led by Snowball, a lovely white rabbit who has a deep hatred for humans. This film was made for younger audiences but not entirely for children, I believe, so I think that children over seven or eight years old will understand the film very well, which is not exactly shocking.

One of the most interesting things here is the long list of adorable and cute characters. The dogs (Max, Duke, Gidget, Pops, Buddy and Mel) are noteworthy but are closely followed by the rabbit, Snowball, which was so successful and became so popular that it was one of the movie's merchandising hits. The obese cat Chloe, the guinea-pig Reginald, the budgerigar Sweet Pea and the hawk Tiberius also deserve a special look. The dialogues and jokes were well done and there are subtle nods here and there to another studio works (particularly the "Despicable Me" franchise) as well as other popular films and series like "Saturday Night Fever". However, jokes and humor are not to laugh out loud and sometimes barely works. The film has excellent voice actors, most of them with some other voice works in their pocket. Among them, I highlight the performance of Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Jenny Slate, Albert Brooks, Lake Bell, Steve Coogan and Kevin Hart.

Technically, it was difficult to demand better. It has one of the best opening sequences I've seen in animated films, with the animals taking care of their owners' houses as soon as they walk out the front door. CGI and the quality of the animations are impeccable, with the animals drawn in their details, magnificent colors and light, movement and action at the right times and inexhaustible doses of cuteness. I read some comments on the Internet in which some people said they had experienced difficulties with the pace, with the second part proving to be more tiring and dragging. Personally, I didn't feel that much, I think it developed well and the final part was really fun. Perhaps yes, one or another scene takes longer than necessary, perhaps a more skillful editing effort has been lacking, but that seem to me a minor problem. Finally, I still have to leave a note of praise for the excellent soundtrack, by Alexandre Desplat, with some jazz tones that are simply pleasant...