The Secret Life of Pets (2016)

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

An enjoyable animated comedy-adventure with a big cast, "The Secret Life of Pets" examines what animals really get up to when their owners go to work. Louis C.K plays Max, a sweet little dog who loves his owner Katie ("The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt's" Ellie Kemper). Max's peaceful world changes when Katie adopts Duke ("Modern Family's" Eric Stonestreet), a giant, clumsy dog. Initially hostile towards Duke, the pair have to work together after getting lost in the park, attacked by alley cats and captured by Animal Control.While TSLOP avoids the adult-centric in jokes of most animated comedies, adults won't be bored, helped by a voice cast including Kevin Hart (a crazy, human-hating bunny called Snowball), Albert Brooks (the hawk Tiberius), Dana Carvey (the ancient dog Pops who hosts wild animal parties at his home), "Parks and Recreation's" Jenny Slate (Max's wannabe girlfriend Gidget) and Hannibal Buress (Buddy, one of Max's dog friends).TSLOP isn't as memorable as the top shelf Disney/Pixar movies, but is still worth watching.

If you have a pet no matter how old you are you will love this!

Max's comfortable and happy existence, marred only by Katie's inexplicable absences every day, is thrown into chaos when extremely large and bumptious Duke comes into the household. The ensuing conflict finds them out on the street, imprisoned by Animal Control as homeless strays, and pursued by pets from the apartments who are trying to rescue Max, and an assortment of outlaw animals, led by psycho bunny Snowball, intent on revenge-based harm.We love our pets, don't we? And we especially love to read human characteristics into them. The partial anthropomorphising of Max, Duke and Co. is cheating a bit - they have animal characteristics when that suits the movie, and they have human characteristics when that is appropriate - but that's no more than we do with our pets anyway, is it? And the fact that these characters can have both animal and human attributes as the story demands is not only absolutely fine, it feeds the film with charm and laughs.This CGI adventure is packed with action and humour. There is a huge cast, and every character is well designed with a distinctive look and an even more distinct character - you never get the various animals confused, and every one stays true to his character throughout. The look of the film is hugely attractive, with a New York which is realised in bright colours and simplified design, but recognisably the Big Apple nevertheless.But the thing which raises Secret Life above the average is the subtext. Family, camaraderie, trust, second chances - these are all issues which are addressed during the film, and never in a way which beats you over the head with moralising. The film has heart, a quality all too often lacking.The 3D could have added to this film: regrettably, it doesn't,I thoroughly enjoyed this, and recommend it.

In a fantastic world where pets can talk to each other, a small dog by the name of Max is forced to face a harsh fact. His owner brings him a new roommate with whom he must share everything. Unfortunately, their relationship seems doomed from the beginning due to differences in character and also in size, but this is about to change when they must work together to return home after the city pound catches them without collars.It is a funny animation which tells the story of two very different dogs who struggle to tolerate each other and as you would expect, they're forced to put their differences aside in order to survive and get home to their owner. It seems funny at the beginning and it manages to make you laugh from time to time, but far from the expectations I had, while the plot is simplistic, very predictable and very common. As you can tell from its rating, it's an average movie which doesn't stand out from the crowd with anything, thus making it only a good watch, bound to be forgotten very soon, although it had potential through its imagined world.