Review of The Secret Life of Pets (2016) by Jonathan B — 21 Dec 2016

I think we've been spoilt by much of the animated output of Dreamworks which, despite having the primary target of kids very much in mind, also packs in plenty for the adult viewer to enjoy. Sadly, this is not the case with Universal and Illumination who here produce a rather promising idea for a movie and squander the chance to make something very clever and appealing to everyone.

The animation looks very polished and stylish, almost too bright and clean at times but the story is decidedly second rate and the laughs few and far between. I actually enjoyed the trailer far more than the full length movie and felt that had the plot reflected more what was seen in the publicity, this would have been a far more enjoyable experience.

My advice would be to stick the kids in front of the DVD and go and pour yourself a stiff one, you'll feel much better for it.