( Pets is preceded, in fact, by a new Minions short that is much more successful than their recent feature film.)
Their adventures along the path back home are cleverly constructed and amusingly rendered by a team of mostly Despicable Me/ Minions vets - codirectors Chris Renaud and Yarrow Cheney, screenwriters Ken Daurio, Brian Lynch, and Cinco Paul - and breathe with the same wacky inventiveness of the Minions. Comedy of disaster ensues when their competition for the spot of top dog in the household results in them being separated from their inattentive afternoon human dog-walker and lost in the Big City. The comfortable life of terrier Max (the voice of Louis C.K.: Trumbo, American Hustle), who considers himself the “luckiest dog in New York” thanks to his person Katie (the voice of Ellie Kemper: Sex Tape, They Came Together), is thrown into disarray when she brings home his “new brother,” Duke (the voice of Eric Stonestreet: The Loft, Identity Thief), a large, shambling, clumsy sheepdoggy creature. So best consider the charming The Secret Life of Pets more an animated fantasy than a documentary, in case you were in any doubt. Unless you have a Bad Dog or a Bad Cat, in which case the torn-up sofas and puddles of vomit you return to are already pulling back the curtain of mystery on their daily doings.
Watch the full length trailer of ‘The Secret Life of Pets.What do our pets do all day while we’re at work or school? Mostly sleep, probably. There’s also a scene that shows pet owners coming home at the end of the day to embrace the animals who’ve entered their lives to wreak havoc but also to give them a rare shot at unconditional love. Also, in the pileup of fur and feathers, you may forget who is who - not to worry, however, since the action and laughs are nonstop. Yes, the movie goes a little dark at times, especially when we meet Snowball’s scary crew in the sewers (the film’s animation high point). As led by a street-talking rabbit named Snowball (a vocal comic tour de force from Kevin Hart) - he only looks sweet and cuddly - the Flushed Pets are hellbent on the destruction of humans. But the fiercest adversary comes in the form of a coalition of abandoned animals called the Flushed Pets. Gidget asks help from the unlikeliest places, such as Tiberius ( Albert Brooks), a predatory hawk, and Pops (Dana Carvey), a limping Bassett Hound. It’s a scary world out there, and not just because of feral beasties and animal-control brigades. They also band together when needed, especially when Duke gets lost and Max leads a chase to find them. They include Gidget (Jenny Slate), a white Pomeranian with a crush on Max, and Chloe (Lake Bell), a snob cat with a mouth on her.
The pooches go at each other to the delight of other pets who watch through the windows of their New York apartment building. The story starts simply when Katie (voiced by Ellie Kemper) disrupts her domestic bliss with her Jack Russell terrier Max (Louis C.K.) by bringing home a BFG of a mutt named Duke (Eric Stonestreet).
But they know how to use this Toy Story with critters to get loads of laughs and put a lump in your throat. Sometimes you wish they’d pull back a little on the throttle. Chris Renaud ( Despicable Me) and his co-director Yarrow Cheney pull out all the stops in the too-busy script by Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio and Brian Lynch ( Minions). Have you ever imagined what your pet does when you leave the house? Then this is the movie for you. The same principle applies to all of you who see The Secret Life of Pets, an animated fluffball that does everything to drive you crazy and ends up by being totally irresistible. “Another Sucker Found” - that was the sign on the take-home box that held the first pet I ever adopted, a kitty named Fitzie.