The Secret Life of Pets movie review (2016) | Roger Ebert (2024)

“The Secret Life of Pets” is a kind-hearted, sweet storyabout the unique relationship not only between pets and their owners butbetween pets and major cities like New York. It may open with lovable terrierMax (voiced by Louis C.K.) speeding through Central Park in the basket of hisowner Katie’s (Ellie Kemper) bike, but it’s more about apartments, fireescapes, roads and sewers than parks, and how a lovable group of animals is forced totraverse them on one crazy day. To be more direct, it’s an almost beat-for-beat rip of Pixar’s “ToyStory,” from the idea that we don’t know what our toys/pets do while we’re goneto the “new guy who mixes things up” storytelling dynamic. In the end, it’s tooaggressively likable to hate—especially given its strong character design andexcellent voice work—but simultaneously too shallow and forgettableto really register. The best animated movies give us themes to discuss with ourkids when they’re over and work for both adults and children. “TheSecret Life of Pets” is the disposable, summer diversion that many familieswill be looking for as temperatures rise and the start of school seems so far away, but most won’t be able to remember after they see it.

Max narrates this story of the day that his ownergot a second dog, a big hairball known as Duke (Eric Stonestreet)—and the visualoffset between tiny Max and giant Duke offers a Laurel &Hardy charm that I wish the movie played with more. When Max decides he’s notready to share space and vie for Andy’s, I mean, Katie’s love, he tries toframe Duke for destroying their owner’s apartment. Before you know it, Max andDuke are on the street, hoping to avoid both animal control and a group ofsewer-dwelling “flushed” pets who are organizing a revolution against thehumans, led by the scene-stealing bunny named Snowball (a great, energetic turn by Kevin Hart).

The pampered dog named Gidget (Jenny Slate, who I'd like to do voice work in every major animated from now on if at all possible) happens to noticethat the object of her affection in the apartment across the way (Max) ismissing and leads a posse to find him that’s made up of other house pets from nearbyflats, including temperamental cat Chloe (Lake Bell), hyperactive dog Mel(Bobby Moynihan) and even a hawk named Tiberius (Albert Brooks), forced tofight his instinct to eat every animal with whom he’s now aligned. “The SecretLife of Pets” is an adventure tale, a story of two dogs trying to find theirway home while their friends come to the rescue.

And yet there’s not much adventure to it. At a certainpoint, one realizes that “The Secret Life of Pets” doesn’t really have a lot ofstory, cramming so many characters into its brief 90-minute running time thatthey’re not given much to do. There are no real stakes. When wewatch “Toy Story” or “Wall-E,” we honestly fear for the safety of thecharacters involved. Any threat in “The Secret Life of Pets” is exaggerated—the bumblinganimal control nitwits, a ritual with a deadly snake—and when the writers dorisk getting a bit emotional involving a subplot about Duke’s former owner,they run back to the action before it can get too real. There's a draft somewhere of "Pets" with a few less characters and a few more stakes that works better (and could also become the inevitable sequel, now that the introductions are out of the way).

While “The Secret Life of Pets” is undeniably a dip in a kiddie pool compared to the deeper swimming lessons of better animated films,it works on those terms. Max is the kind of relatable protagonist to which kidswill be attached (my seven-year-old was) and the supporting characters are way morememorable than standard non-Pixar fare, enlivened by great voice work frompeople like Moynihan, Brooks, Hart and especially Slate. There’s also something to besaid for the relative unpredictability of “The Secret Life of Pets.” Whereas Ifelt like I could chart “The Angry Birds Movie” from first beat to last afterseeing the preview, the oppressive advertising for this flick hasactually held back some of its twists and turns to the degree where I was neverquite sure where it was going next.

Ultimately, “The Secret Life of Pets” is not unlike the bigdog named Duke who sets its plot in motion—sweet, likable, but a little dim. It’sworth a look for families because it doesn’t talk down to kids and may even furthertheir appreciation for the household pet. Is that too low of a bar in a worldthat includes more ambitious fare like “Zootopia” and almost everything that Pixarand Studio Ghibli does? Arguably, but if you approach this shaggy dog with the rightexpectations then you’llprobably find it affable enough to take home with you. And it won’t lick yourface.