Mark Reviews Movies: THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2

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Review by Mark Dujsik | June 7, 2019

The Secret Life of Pets 2 is less aggressive and less oddly violent than its predecessor, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a better movie. The sequel isn't a lazy copy, either, but that also does not mean it doesn't feel overly familiar. On a superficial level, the plotting appears to be a little more ambitious than the previous movie, but that doesn't mean the story works.

There's a lot to weigh here, both in terms of how this sequel compares to the original and how it operates as its own entity. At a certain point, though, one starts to wonder if it really matters. This is, after all, a sequel to a movie that was basically a one-joke concept—that household pets vocalize the regular and weird stuff they do on a daily basis. There wasn't much of an idea with which to begin, especially for a feature-length animated comedy. It seemed like material better suited to a single short or, generously, a series of them.

Perhaps, then, there's some wisdom to Brian Lynch's screenplay this time around. The returning screenwriter (going it solo after the group effort that was the original movie's script) essentially gives us three short stories for the price of a single feature, with each of the storylines tied up together in a climax that feels as if it's trying to stuff in all of the action and violence that had been missing until that point.

The basic joke remains the same, and just like the previous movie, the story moves into stranger places once the gag runs out of fuel. The starting point, which ends up having very little to do with the actual plot, is the arrival of a human child in the life of Max (voice of Patton Oswalt, who is a major upgrade in every extent from the actor he's replacing), a Jack Russell Terrier.

Max dislikes children, but in a sappy montage, he comes to love the son of his owner and her new husband. Lynch appears to have forgotten all of the other relationships Max developed the last time around—his adoptive brotherhood with the now-sidelined Duke (voice of Eric Stonestreet) and his love for Gidget (voice of Jenny Slate). Then again, it's a movie about talking animals, so maybe wondering about character consistency is a losing prospect. Instead of continuing those storylines, Max's tale involves a trip to a farm, where he learns to be braver from Rooster (voice of Harrison Ford), a country dog with a rather unsympathetic view of Max's anxiety over the boy's safety.

Meanwhile, two other characters get separate stories of their own. In order to retrieve a toy belonging to Max that she lost, Gidget tries to infiltrate a cat clowder of unhealthy numbers in an old lady's apartment. In another apartment, Snowball (voice of Kevin Hart), the hyperactive rabbit who's now the pet of a young girl, believes that's he's a superhero. Daisy (voice of Tiffany Haddish), a cute little Shih Tzu, arrives looking for Captain Snowball's help to save an abused tiger cub from a circus.

None of these segments is particularly effective on its own, although Hart and Haddish's vocal performances give some life to Snowball's not-so-super superhero antics (The segment itself is clearly trying to capitalize on the current cultural obsession of all things superhero, without bothering to parody or embrace the concept). Chloe (voice of Lake Bell), a lazy cat, teaching Gidget to behave like a feline is amusing, and there's also a funny bit involving a laser pointer and the fake cat's sudden ascension to near-godlike status.

Together, the segments fare even worse, since there's little plot and no thematic connection between them. While the supporting characters' tales are entirely comedic (save for the depictions of the tiger being whipped and otherwise tormented), Max's story goes for the heartstrings in unconvincing fashion, since the character basically becomes a supporting one himself. The abrupt attempt to bring the characters together involves a villainous circus ringleader (voice of Nick Kroll), a chase/battle aboard a train, and a resolution that, in the moment, looks suspiciously like two, very violent cases of vehicular manslaughter (The victim is fine after the first hit, and then the driver shifts into reverse, which is more akin to outright murder—although, again, the victim is "fine").

The concept here remains shallow, and there's a distinct sense of disconnect among the movie's various plotlines. It would come as no surprise to discover that The Secret Life of Pets 2 was envisioned as a series of shorts, only for them to be crammed together without much thought.

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