Review of The Secret Life of Pets (2016) by Skeptic303 — 23 Oct 2016

The Secret Life of Pets is the breakout hit from the studio behind Despicable Me. It definitely looked good and I couldn't wait to see what they would do with the premise...but that's the problem, you see.

Any conflict that comes between Max and Duke in this movie is tossed into the desert after ten minutes and left as a test subject for the next generation thermonuclear warhead. Yep, they ditch the premise in favor of a very goofy caper that doesn't go far. Instead, Gidget becomes the best character in this movie...by a mile.

This is one of the first times (but not the last time) you'll hear me complain that they should have focused on the side character. It's as if they thought that the main characters shouldn't be too miserable or that the audience can't take the two dogs fighting over ownership and room space for more than the first ten minutes.

Other problems with this movie stem from the fact that its abandonment of the premise (which would have worked so well) makes this movie nothing more than a mainly generic kids movie. Given that I'm in a post-Inside Out world, I am really hoping for much better because it can be both great for kids and profitable in the long run. More specifically, I'm looking at good vs. evil elements, jokes, and other things that are associate with a standard kids movie. I appreciate this film's moments of brilliance and the vast entertainment that comes with this film, but entertainment can only help so much as it is exploited by standard blockbuster fare. Therefore, it is kind of disappointing to only lend this film a seal of mediocrity.