by Peter Callaghan

I am not a pet person. Hairy, unpredictable and craving attention – no pet would have me. And given that I am a childless thirty (soon to be forty) something, I am as far removed from the target audience as Robert Mugabe is of becoming Mr Gay Zimbabwe. However, if someone like me can enjoy The Secret Life of Pets by the American animation company Illumination Entertainment who brought us the delightful Despicable Me and Minions, then feline aficionados and dog droolers should love it!

What starts off as an upbeat promotional video for The Big Apple which includes a colourful tracking shot of the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park to the tune of Welcome To New York by Taylor Swift (or as her ex Calvin Harris would call her Tail, Short Shrift), descends into a downbeat love triangle between Max and Duke who compete for the affection of girl about town Katie. Max being a far from terrifying Jack Russel terrier (Louis C.K.) whose “perfect relationship” with his owner Katie (Jenny Slate) is disrupted by the sudden arrival of a shaggy Newfoundland Duke (Eric Stonestreet) who steals the former’s bed, blanket and biscuits.

In an act of revenge, Max literally pulls the rug from under Duke’s feet and starts smashing vases, toppling tables and scattering books in the hope that Katie will blame the newcomer and return him to the pound. But Duke counters the threat of eviction by dragging Max into a dark alleyway where a scraggly Sphinx (voiced by a terrific Steve Coogan) leads him into the inner circle of a militant animal liberation front headed by Snowball (Kevin Hart), a white fluffy rabbit with black balls of steel who after being dumped by a children’s entertainer because “bunny tricks are out of style” has set up an army of “owner killers” to free pets from slavery.

Step forward Gidget (Jenny Slate), a white Pomeranian and far from secret admirer of Max, who rallies a troop of neighbouring pets – including a hyperactive pug (Bobby Moynihan), an obese tabby (Lake Bell) and a laid-back Dachshund (Hannibal Buress) – to persuade a wise Basset Hound (Dana Carvey) and a bloodthirsty hawk (Albert Brooks) to rescue Max from the fangs of a viper “fuelled by a diet of anti-human rage”.

The Secret Life of Pets by directors Chris Renaud and Yarrow Cheney and writers Brian Lynch, Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio may not have the depth of Toy Story or laugh-out-loud comedy of The Lego Movie, but it is warm and gentle, engaging and funny, and should appeal to both young and old, pet owners and averse. There is no schmaltz, no moralising, no effects for effects sake. Just good old-fashioned storytelling, which for a family friendly film is nigh on purr-fect!

[imdb id=tt2709768]

Peter Callaghan
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1 Comment

  1. Thanks for review. From the trailer – which I thought was hilarious – I perhaps expected more from this. Still, it’s probably one that’s worth catching up with because it sounds like it’ll still entertain even if it doesn’t reach the heights of some of the animated masterpieces of the last few years.

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