★★
Continuing the story of Max and his pet friends, following their secret lives after their owners leave them for work or school each day.
Classification: U
Lacking the narrative focus of the first film, The Secret Life of Pets 2 splits its time between three subplots of middling story and forgettable comedy. While the kids may laugh at the hijinks of Max, Snowball, Gidget and the gang, the film doesn’t have a cohesive depth to resonate with the audience after. Until all these storylines suddenly converge in the third act, it is unclear why the characters were separated on their adventures and it feels that the film was just stalling for time. Of the three storylines, only one garners real interest as it shows the main character Max being mentored on responsibility and bravery by a far more experienced dog voiced by Harrison Ford. The storylines of Snowball and Gidget are extended comedy sequences that film cuts back to again stretch the runtime and help with the pacing.
While three separate storylines help show a broader idea of “the secret life” that pets have when their owners are away, the way the storylines are brought together doesn’t lead to a satisfying conclusion or make particular sense. However, the comedy does have its moments, the Gidget storyline, especially which has her character be trained in the ways of the feline in order to rescue a dog toy from a horde of cats. The moments when The Secret Life of Pets 2 has its humour come from our own experiences with animals really showcases the charm of the premise. For the most part, the “society” the pets have together is believable and the comedy that comes from the relationships to each other is enjoyable until the more outlandish elements of the story take centre focus.
The Snowball storyline is where The Secret Life of Pets 2 falls into the sequel trap of “bigger must mean better”, Snowball the manic bunny from the first film now dons a superhero moniker and goes on a quest with new character Daisy to save a white tiger from an evil circus. While the first film had its wacky moments but did so to serve as challenges for the characters and further the arcs whereas, in this film, the Snowball storyline is just used as an excuse for goofy action-comedy. It almost feels like the filmmakers wanting to capitalise on the superhero trends on cinema and these action scenes while varying the pacing do feel out of place with the rest of the film and contribute to the third act’s misfortunes.
The Secret Life of Pets 2 does have a central theme of parenting run throughout its three storylines, the Max storyline in particular tugs at the heartstrings with the beautiful connection people have with their pets. However, despite these themes throughout the storylines, the film fails to have them combine in a gratifying way. The Gidget storyline doesn’t reach a logical conclusion and the Snowball storyline is always comedic with little emotional closure. Max’s storyline is the only one that has any narrative relevance to the themes of the film and even then it does the bare minimum and has the climax of that story happen within Snowball’s storyline.
It’s stumbling through its storylines and its comedy isn’t grounded by a central focus instead of a series of comedic sequences of strange situations for pets. The Secret Life of Pets 2 disappoints as a sequel and doesn’t do anything new or original within the franchise or with animated comedies. As mentioned before the comedy works enough to make it enjoyable for children but that's the level of enjoyment, surface level and not much else. Even with the beautiful animation, The Secret Life of Pets 2 focuses too much on the eccentric rather than the emotional.
Director: #ChrisRenaud
Cast: #PattonOswalt, #EricStonestreet, #KevinHart, #JennySlate, #TiffanyHaddish, #LakeBell, #NickKroll, #DanaCarvey, #EllieKemper, #ChrisRenaud, #HannibalBuress, #BobbyMoynihan, #HarrisonFord
Release Date: May 24th 2019
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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