A part of my job as a movie critic is not just to help determine whether or not the reader should see a movie at all, but also to help discern what's theater-worthy and what's Netflix/Redbox-worthy. Movie tickets these days are flat-out expensive and I want to make sure people are getting their money's worth. That being said, while I feel that watching The Secret Life of Pets is a good way to spend an hour and a half, the film falls just short of me recommending it as a theater movie.
The movie's shortcomings lie mainly in its two main characters Max and Duke. Max and Duke are two dogs that end up having to share a household and consequently come to hate each other. Their continued one-upmanship (or one-updogship?) leads them on a crazy adventure where their main mission is to get home. Here's the problem: Max and Duke are pretty boring. They are about as one-dimensional as it comes as far as characters go with no real distinctive qualities save for one is a large dog and one is a small dog. And, no, it isn't too much to ask for your primary characters in an animated movie to harbor some kind of substance. Look at Carl From Up. Or Gru from Despicable Me. Or Po from Kung Fu Panda.
Not only were those characters fleshed out extremely well, their respective stories took them to new levels of growth. That's not so much the case in Secret Life. Not only do the two characters lack substance, but chemistry as well. I love Louis C.K. and Eric Stonestreet (Max and Duke respectively), but it feels like they did all of their voice recordings in completely separate rooms.
On the flip side of things, Secret Life does an excellent job of capturing the true nature of animals in general and how each species acts respectively. A lot of research and work must have gone into making this happen as there were a number of different types of animals throughout. The movie is definitely on par with Zootopia in that sense (although not nearly as good of a movie overall). In one scene in particular, a dog being held on a leash sees another group of dogs and wants to say hi. As he's casually walking over, his owner reels him back in with the leash. The dog sits where he is...then two seconds later, he goes right back to trying to get into that same group. This goes on for three or four rounds as we know how persistent dogs are. There were quite a few moments where I thought, "That's just like my dog!"
Little touches like this aid in making the overall movie an entertaining experience. The pet crew's adventure is definitely a grand one. It takes place in New York and we know how much trouble you can get into in New York. The gobs of different characters keep the movie interesting as well. Compared to what was lacking from Max and Duke, the movie succeeds in giving each side character their own personality and original feel. I still can't decide who I love better, Gidget the crazy pomeranian or Chloe the nonchalant, uncaring cat who ate whatever and whenever she wanted to. Kevin Hart's character Snowball (the bunny) was pretty funny as well, especially when he's paying tribute to Ricky. Just thinking about those parts have me cracking up even now. Of course you have to see it to know what I'm talking about. Mum's the word...
The Secret Life of Pets is great for a movie night...at home where you're paying a minimal amount. I give it a 78.
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