The Secret Life of Pets Review – Animation July 2016

You must know by now that I am a sucker for all things animation. I might miss watching any other movie, but not animation. Nuh-uh. Never going to happen.

Before my daughter Little B was born, Mr B and I watched animation movies only on the big screen. Once she was in this world, our only option was to turn up to televisions and laptops for satisfying our animation craving. We didn’t hate it but we didn’t love it either. The big screen is the big screen after all. However, as soon as Little B turned 4, we were back in the theatres indulging in movications with our daughter.

The first trailer for The Secret Life of Pets was released in (I think) summer last year (2015). The trailer was hilarious and it showed the kind of goofy-silly-funny things pets do once their owners go out of the house. The trailer was hilarious and I pinned the movie in my “2016 Must!” list. (You can watch that trailer here)

The Secret Life of Pets released in India a couple of weeks back and of course we went to see the film within the first week itself. The movie was funny and downright entertaining. The very next day Little B and I shot The Secret Life of Pets review for Youtube. This was our first movie review together! Have a look –

I know the video sounds more like a random chatter but in my defense it is extremely hard to keep a five-year-old on track! We had crazy fun shooting the video but for those who are looking for a little more serious review of the film, here’s the low-down –

The Secret Life of Pets Review

The Secret Life of Pets is produced by Illumination Entertainment, of Despicable Me and Minions fame.

The plot of the film goes something like this – Max is a terrier who is loved and pampered by his owner. Max as well is quite obsessed with his owner. He has other pet pals that he hangs with when their owners leave them alone in the house for work. One evening Max’s owner gets a new dog Duke and that is where the jealousy starts. Max and Duke both want their owner’s attention. As one thing leads to another, Max and Duke find themselves lost in the big city of New York. In their bid to find their way back to home, they run into an evil gang of abandoned pets led by a rabbit Snowball. Now, Max and Duke are trying to get back home and also trying to run away from Snowball and the gang. Of course, the movie concludes with a happy ending.

Now here’s the thing about the movie, it is pure entertainment. There is some sort of absurd-crazy-funny thing happening in the movie at all times. The plethora of characters insures that the viewers are always engaged. If dogs aren’t doing something silly, the cats are. If the cats aren’t doing something silly, the birds are. If the birds aren’t doing something silly, the rabbits are. There is some funny thing happening constantly.

The story is set in New York and Brooklyn and the season for the setting is fall/autumn. Movie’s animation gives a consistent glistening warm hue and so the movie is pleasurable to look at as well.

And now here’s what is raw about the movie – the plot. The story is vague and at times it gets off track. The story has uncanny resemblance to Toy Story series.  Also, probably the funniest scene in the movie, the one where pets start doing crazy things as soon as their owners step out, was part of the trailer in its entirety. I wondered why the movie makers would give away the funniest 2-minutes of the movie as is to the trailer.

There are too many scenes to laugh at but too little to remember afterwards. The time you’ll spend watching the movie, you will be entertained. However, as soon as you step out of the theatre, there will be nothing for you to take back home. Even though film is enjoyable, there’s nothing unique in it to set it apart from most other animated movies.

Go ahead and watch The Secret Life of Pets to laugh for 90 minutes. However, after 90 minutes, in all likelihood, , the memory of the movie would start evaporating fast from your mind.