Cute animated animals voiced by famous stars – do you really need a solid story behind such a concept?
Apparently not.
‘The Secret Life of Pets 2’ is as thin as it is admittedly adorable. But SHOULD outright cute make up for one of the laziest attempts to construct a film on record? Probably not….though kids are going to want to see it, which means Mom and Dad will be helping to make this thing a hit. Fill in your own ‘tail wagging the dog’ joke here.
I’ll say this much, the animation is great – though Illumination (best known as the studio responsible for those darn ‘Minions’) doesn’t traditionally scrimp on visual goodness. But boy does it cheap out on plot.
The first film, for the few who don’t know, was about a dog named Max (voiced by Louis CK, but now voiced by Patton Oswalt, ’cause…..well gosh, read the headlines, people) trying to adjust to life when a second pooch, Duke (Eric Stonestreet), is introduced into his home. In ‘The Secret Life Of Pets 2’, another new addition arrives in the form of baby Liam. Then everyone leaves the city to visit a farm. And their neighbor, Snowball the Bunny (Kevin Hart), dresses up as a superhero. And there’s a quest for a toy. And an expedition to help free a tiger from a Russian circus. There are so many sub plots running around like over caffeinated puppies, it’s ridiculous – and what’s worse, the bulk of them just don’t have much of a point.
I did enjoy Max and Duke bonding with herding dog Rooster (Harrison Ford), simply because the dog is written so delightfully grumpy and they have the perfect pipes to bring the hound to life. And again, just about every character is undeniably cute. Otherwise, this is flimsy storytelling that exists more to sell merchandise than entertain. But the wee ones will probably like it, so……..see you back here for a review of number three, inevitably coming soon.
