The Secret Life of Pets is the third animal-based animated film of the summer (behind Zootopia and Finding Dory) and the probably the slimmest in terms of plot and/or saying stuff – but that doesn’t mean it’s not almost sublimely smart, silly fun.
Max the terrier (Louis C.K.) has an almost ideal situation with his sweet, kind owner, Katie (Ellie Kemper) – at least until she brings home a rescue dog. The huge mutt, Duke (Eric Stonestreet) and Max do not get along.
When an attention-free dog walker somehow misses that Max has gotten off his leash, both Max and Duke wind up in trouble, end up needing vet supplies and have to help each other to survive.
Pets uses the idea that pets might not be what they seem once their owners have gone off to work to springboard into a caper and chase movie that puts its characters into unfamiliar and uncomfortable situations: being hunted by Animal Control, or stumbling onto a group of ‘flushed pets’ that seek to free all pets from their human owners – and not by peaceful means.
When Max goes missing, only Gidget notices and she becomes quite the alpha to get his friends to help her find him.
There are two groups of animals here: the pets – Max, Duke, Gidget (a Pomeranian voiced by Jenny slate), Norman (a guinea pig voiced by co-director Chris Renaud), Chloe (a cat, voiced by Lake Bell, who makes Garfield look slim), Tiberius (a hawk, voiced by Albert Brooks, who is willing to give up preying on smaller animals in return for a best friend), Mel (a hyper but not terribly bright pug voiced by Bobby Moynihan), Pops (a codger Beagle, voiced by Dana Carvey, who needs a doggie wheelchair), and the gang of ‘flushed pets’ led by former magician’s rabbit Snowball (voiced by Kevin Hart, a terror who makes the killer rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail look all soft and friendly-like).
While some of the movie’s best gags are in the trailer (Leonard, the show poodle who turns out to be a headbanger; Chloe’s adventures in the fridge) there are plenty of solid laughs to spare. Pets excels in physical gags (watch the trio of pets that appear for just a few seconds as percussionist accents to Leonard’s headbanging – they’re not as obvious in the trailer).
Norman gets plenty of laughs though his situation (lost in the air vents of the apartment building, he can’t find his way home) isn’t the most cheerful.
An ongoing party, at the home of a pet whose owner is almost never home, serves up some quality yuks – beginning with the posh type (voiced by Steve Coogan) who mans (dogs?) the door.
The voice cast is pretty wonderful: Louis C.K. plays against type and nails the mostly happy, slightly wistful Max; Stonestreet deftly balances the mix of aw shucks and potential menace of Duke; Hart’s Snowball may the single funniest role he’s played to date.
Slate’s Gidget is appropriately sweet but makes a very believable transition to no-nonsense alpha when Max goes missing; Bell’s silky work as Chloe gives the plus-sized kitty a good range (from disinterested fat cat to semi-involved pep talk giver and determined would be rescuer), and Brooks completely gets the mix of menace and loneliness of Tiberius.
Written by Cinco Paul (the Despicable Me movies), Ken Daurio (the Despicable Me movies) and Bryan Lynch (Minions), The Secret Life of Pets may take the film’s pets into increasingly absurd situations, but they have nailed the behavior of the animals so well that they work.
Co-directors Chris Renaud and Yarrow Cheney pay attention to details, so when the pets stray into more menacing situations, they know just to use exaggeration to blunt the scares enough for younger kids without losing the older audience. They also keep the movie moving at a frenetic enough pace that when a gag doesn’t land, one that does will be along in a few seconds.
Because The Secret Life of Pets is just trying to entertain – rather than trying to say stuff – it might seem slighter than, say Zootopia and that’s okay. It does what it set out to do and that makes it prime summer family fun.
Final Grade: A-