Review of The Secret Life of Pets (2016) by Patrick L — 17 Aug 2016

"An adorably, hilarious animated film".

Movie Review: The Secret Life of Pets.

Date Viewed: July 8 2016.

Directed By Chris Renaud (Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2) and Yarrow Cheney.

Written By Brian Lynch, Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio.

Featuring the voices of Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Ellie Kemper, Jenny Slate, Bobby Moynihan, Hannibal Buress,.

Dana Carvey, Lake Bell, Steve Coogan, Tara Strong and Albert Brooks.

Pets are definitely the cutest things to have in your home. Whether your pet is a dog, a cat, a bird or even a rabbit, humans always treat their pets with respect and kindness. If the pet's owner leaves for work or other occasions, what do the pets do when they are not around. "The Secret Life of Pets" explores that narrative as a fast-paced and funny animated movie from Illumination Entertainment the same animation studio that gave us the two "Despicable Me" movies and "Minions".

With a talented cast of fine comedians leading the voice cast, "The Secret Life of Pets" is an adorably, hilarious movie for the whole family. The movie centers around our main character, a terrier dog named Max (voiced by Louis C.K.), he lives in a fancy Manhattan apartment with his human owner, Katie (voiced by Ellie Kemper). Just as he was living the good New York life, Katie decides to adopt another dog, he's a large and shaggy brown Newfoundland named Duke (voiced by Eric Stonestreet).

Jealous of Katie's larger focus on Duke, Max starts a turf war with the huge brown dog over sleeping space and owner attention.

One day, when Max and Duke are out walking with Max's friends, including the hyperactive pug, Mel (voiced by Bobby Moynihan, from "SNL"), an obese cat named Chloe (voiced by Lake Bell) and the laidback dachshund named Buddy (voiced by Hannibal Buress), they get into an argument which leads to them getting attacked by a gang of feral cats led by the Sphynx cat Ozone (voiced by Steve Coogan).

After losing their collars and getting captured by Animal Control, Max and Duke are later rescued by a small white rabbit named Snowball (voiced by Kevin Hart) who's the leader of "The Flushed Pets", a cult gang of pets who have been abandoned or mistreated by their previous owners. Noticing that they don't have collars, Snowball invite Max and Duke to come and join their gang.

So Max and Duke pretend to be abandoned pets but their secret doesn't last long as Snowball finds out that they are still living with their owner. Max and Duke manage to escape and try to find a way back home but Snowball vows to find them and kill them but I doubt that. Meanwhile, Max's next door dog neighbor, the white Pomeranian dog, Gidget (voiced by Jenny Slate) who happens to have a massive crush on Max starts to get worried about him so she recruits Max's friends and a predatory, red-tailed hawk named Tiberius (voiced by Albert Brooks, fresh from "Finding Dory") to help find him and Duke. Also insisting in Gidget's search is an elderly, paralyzed basset hound named Pops (voiced by Dana Carvey) who knows every route in New York City by heart.

"The Secret Life of Pets" is a fur-ball imitation of "Toy Story" but you can't help resist how cute those dogs are and the movie does deliver the laughs. The screenplay by Brian Lynch, Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio (Despicable Me, Despicable Me 2, Minions, Hop) is not exactly Pixar-flavored, "The Secret Life of Pets" has a familiar story that has a lot of predictable turns.

Nevertheless, it is an enjoyable animated feature that I'm sure kids, teenage girls and elderly women will enjoy.