When The Secret Life Of Pets focuses on the two main characters, Max and Duke, it’s derivative and boring. Jenny Slate’s voice was perfect for this character.Īnd the mark of Jenny Slate being awesome also marks the biggest problem with the movie. From the trailers, I thought this character would be played for cuteness but this little Pomeranian gets violent at the drop of a hat. Gidget, (voiced by Jenny Slate), was the biggest surprise to me as she undoubtedly got the most laughs. These are the characters that make the film more enjoyable than it probably should be. However, that isn’t the case with some of the side-characters. Max and Duke are incredibly bland characters. I like the actors portraying them but they just aren’t interesting and everything done with them is predictable. Case and point this movie is Toy Story with pets. And, just like Toy Story 2, the main characters friends search the city for him. There’s even a truck chase in the climax of this film, just like the end of Toy Story. They end up becoming friends and make it back to their owner in the end. When the owner goes away, the others come out and show their way of life to the audience. You have a character that loves being his owner’s favorite until another character comes in and threatens his way of life. In fact, for the most part, it feels like a derivative copycat of Toy Story. When all is said and done, there really isn’t a ton of new ground broken with The Secret Life Of Pets. Meanwhile, Max’s animal friends form a search party to find him. Through a series of circumstances, Max and Duke become lost in NYC and must learn to get along to survive and make it back home. As you could expect, Max and the new dog, Duke (voiced by Eric Stonestreet), get off on the wrong foot immediately. He narrates how perfect his life is until the obvious plot point kicks in his owner brings home another dog from the pound. He’s a small dog, living with his owner, Katie (voiced by Ellie Kemper), in the big city. The Secret Life Of Pets gives us our hero, Max (voice by Louis C.K.). At times, it can be funny but when each plot beat hits, the story unfortunately can’t escape auto-pilot. However, it also contains a story so forgettable and derivative of other works that there’s really nothing that interesting about it. It’s a film with some funny moments and good voice acting. Unfortunately, The Secret Life Of Pets represents more or less what they gave us with Hop and Minions forgettable entertainment. The folks at Illumination Entertainment have made a name for themselves with hits like Despicable Me and The Lorax.

The secret life of pets movie