The Secret Life of Pets 2 – A Simplistic Follow-Up (Early Review)

Max (Oswalt) had some changes in his life: his owner got married, which means now he has another dog to share his life with, Duke (Eric Stonestreet). But the changes don’t stop there: there’s a new baby in their lives, and Max, who never really cared for kids, would eventually fall in love with his new human and become protective of him. That constant state of alert would be stressful for Max and he can’t deal with the tension very well and luckily for him, it would only get worse for him. Meanwhile, his friends from the city has to deal with their own various problems.

In the history of film, there have been countless animated features that can speak to viewers of all ages. Films like Toy Story, Shrek and Finding Nemo sway children all around while also managing to entertain adults. This was unfortunately not the case for The Secret Life of Pets 2. Though the film may be perfectly cute and charming, it is very clear the story is not that complex or well developed which all add up to an experience that will be quite boring for any viewer over the age of 10. While there may not be anything wrong with the film as it is, it will certainly give a lot of joy to young children but it will be difficult to see it appeal to anyone beyond that.

The stories and feelings these characters had to deal with are quite simple. The fact that the stories happen independently to each other just makes the nature of the film seem wasted: it’s quite strange to hardly see these character “acting”together, since each has its own storyline and problems to solve. There’s not much complexity in any of the storylines presented in the film and are handled so simplistically. Some moments don’t even make sense as a whole and whose sole purpose appear just to be entertaining or make people laugh. What was even worse was that most seemed to ignore whatever came before just to solve the problem. Again, the problems are solved in such simple ways that it occasionally requires some suspension of belief in order to fully enjoy them.

Despite all of that, it doesn’t mean that The Secret Life of Pets 2 is not entertaining to a certain degree; it is and it has some fun moments, especially thanks to the two additions to the cast: Ford gives his commanding nature to Rooster, a farm dog with great strength and wit, who teaches Max how to control his emotions; and especially Tiffany Haddish, who is really the standout in the cast, giving her Daisy, the Shih Tzu, boatloads of personality.

At the end of the day, The Secret Life of Pets 2 will surely give a lot of joy to children while probably boring whomever takes them to the theatre.

*still courtesy of Universal Pictures*

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leandromatos1981