Post by Trey_Vore on Dec 8, 2022 1:20:25 GMT -5
The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019)
Distributor: Universal Pictures/Illumination Entertainment
Director: Chris Renaud
Cast: Patton Oswalt (Max), Kevin Hart (Snowball), Jenny Slate (Gidget), Lake Bell (Chloe), Eric Stonestreet (Duke), Bobby Moynihan (Mel), Hannibal Buress (Buddy), Chris Renaud (Norman), Ellie Kemper (Katie), Pete Holmes (Chuck), Henry Lynch (Liam), Nick Kroll (Sergei), Meredith Salenger (Cat Lady), Dana Carvey (Pops), Tiffany Haddish (Daisy), Harrison Ford (Rooster)
Runtime: 86 min.
MPAA rating: PG (some action, rude humor)
This movie, set some time after the events of the original Secret Life of Pets, has some changes occurred in Max’s home apartment, now that he lives peacefully with Duke. For one, Katie got married and she and her husband Chuck now have a son named Liam. Max and Duke soon take on the role of protective parents and the stress of it causes Max to develop an itch. A visit to the vet later, Max is wearing a vet-prescribed cone to curb his itching. Taking a trip out to Chuck’s uncle’s farm, Max meets an alpha male Welsh sheepdog named Rooster who pulls off the cone and tells Max to face his fears. Meanwhile, Max has entrusted his favorite bumblebee chew toy to his white Pomeranian neighbor Gidget, which she winds up losing inside a cat lady’s apartment and seeks aid from tabby cat Chloe to recover it. At the same time, Snowball the bunny has reformed from his days as leader of the Flushed Pets and now wants to be a superhero. He gets his chance when a Shih Tzu named Daisy asks him to help her free her friend Hu, a white Siberian tiger who is held prisoner inside a circus. Can all stories come to a happy conclusion?
Before I start this review, I’m going to ask a simple question.
Do you remember what was going on back in 2012? During that time, the prophesized apocalypse turned out to be false, Barack Obama won a second term in office against Mitt Romney, the Summer Olympics were held over in England and The Avengers was the highest-grossing movie of the year. During that time, we still had a channel which was called the Hub, and during the Fall of that year we got a cartoon series called Littlest Pet Shop. This series was based on a popular toyline from the 90s about a girl named Blythe would is capable of talking with the pets that are periodically dropped off there. The show ran for a total of four seasons and was the second Hasbro series to reach 100 episodes. I tend to think this show was good and it made my Honorable Mentions for Top 11 Nostalgic 2010s cartoons. It did attain a level of popularity, though probably a lot more modest about it unlike the loud and blatant approach taken by My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
The show did not get a movie, but I felt that was not needed as when the series ended in 2016, we got an unrelated pet movie in The Secret Life of Pets. This movie, a summer release that got good reviews and made $875 million, was a major hit and the 6th highest grossing movie of the year. If we did get a hypothetical Littlest Pet Shop movie in 2016, which would be superior? We’ll never know as it never occurred, but I’ll go out on a limb and say… it’s debatable.
When I first saw the original Secret Life of Pets in 2016, I felt it was a good, but not superior, movie. I just feel that it had its flaws but still was good for some lighthearted fun. That said, I wasn’t itching for the prospect of a second movie. However, money talks, and with the amount of money it did make, the Pets returned for a second adventure.
…apparently I wasn’t alone, as it made less than half what the first movie did. Time for me to let the proverbial cat out of the bag…
So what’s the story this time? Well, we don’t have just one story, but three. There’s a Max story where he wants to be braver, a Gidget story where she needs to recover Max’s favorite toy and a Snowball story where he goes on a rescue mission. But despite my earlier plot synopsis, none of these stories take precedence over the others; it doesn’t feel like there is one important story with two side plots as they all seem to have equal focus and weight.
I do remember two years earlier, Universal and Illumination gave us Despicable Me 3. That movie, being the first Illumination-animated movie after Sing, was not perfect but I do consider it one of the better animated movies of 2017. Flaws that it had came from the fact there was not one strong story but rather it felt like a collection of subplots, a jumbled character focus, the seeming fatigue of its theme and the characters almost feeling as though they were being stretched to a breaking point. Despite all those issues, I still felt Despicable Me 3 worked well enough.
With The Secret Life of Pets 2 though… it doesn’t work quite so well.
Maybe I should use an example. I remember in the 12th Season of The Simpsons, one of my favorite episodes of that year was an episode called “Trilogy of Error”. In that episode, there are three separate stories that converge on the first day of Spring. For “Homer’s Day”, Marge winds up accidently slicing off Homer’s thumb and he needs to put it on ice until they can surgically re-attach it. During “Lisa’s Day”, Lisa needs to get her science project to school for the science fair but is constantly getting sidetracked. For “Bart’s Day”, Bart and Milhouse get caught up in a firework-smuggling ring and need to help Chief Wiggum bust the guilty party. For this episode, one of the stories would have some sort of influence on the other two and vice versa. All three stories seemed to have some level of impact and it was tons of fun seeing the perspective of the characters, like their own spin on Vantage Point.
With this story though, they don’t do that here. All three stories are just kinda self-contained, with no input on the other two, sure they come together at the end but you could just split them into their own stories and have it play as a trilogy, like movies like Cinderella 2: Dreams Come True, Tarzan and Jane or Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas. And that’s kind of a bad sign if I’m comparing a theatrically-released movie to some DTV features…
It’s not all bad though. I will say the Snowball story does have the best reason for a narrative and a modern look at why circuses are no longer “in”. The Gidget plot does have some cute charm to it and some good jokes, and Max? …eh… it’s got Harrison Ford. That work? Moving on.
The animation is I would say about the same quality, but in some ways that’s not good. For one, we’ve already seen a lot of what the first movie did and this movie is giving us more of the same. There’s some differences, like a circus, a farm, an apartment full of cats… but there’s nothing here you haven’t already seen. The animation does it’s job well though, and we see solid textures and the pets still have their cute appeal. The animation is probably the strongest part of the movie.
Now, the characters. Well, not much has changed as far as writing; they still feel like they’re just pets and nothing more. Maybe I should try to give individual looks to each… with one exception, everyone comes back. First, we have Max, who is now out to conquer his fears and be more like an alpha male dog. I should mention though, that Max does have a new voice as Louis C.K. was caught up in a scandal and had to be replaced with Patton Oswalt. I admit the new voice is barely noticeable, but new voice or no, that is probably the most interesting aspect of Max. They do try to do something else with him to try to make him seem a little more dynamic than he was in the past, but it doesn’t change the fact he’s still the same boring, uncharismatic snore you remember from the first movie and have no reason to care about. Like having someone in a movie who is just not an actor and even having them die would not go anywhere. Gidget fares better in that she is a dog that tries to act like a cat; again this part of the story gives some deeper enjoyment to those of us that prefer cats to dogs. The downside though, is any sort of feeling comes solely from Gidget; she and Max never even interact very much. Snowball gets expanded on in that he’s no longer out to rebel against humanity; he’s now got the urge to act as a superhero and he’s adjusting to the job. Again, Snowball's story could stand on its own and be its own movie, Kevin Hart's performance makes it work. For the rest… well, Mel, Buddy, Chloe, Norman, Sweet Pea… all the other characters from the first movie (with Tiberius the hawk being the only hold out) return with no greater reason other than continuity. Yes, even Duke, who was a co-star with Max in the first movie, now gets pushed into the background.
Now for the new characters? Well, they don’t get so much as they are restricted to just one plotline; but they do have some development. Rooster is the alpha male sheepdog that helps mentor Max; it’s always good to hear from Harrison Ford and while he is not very prominently featured he’s pretty much the one bright part of Max’s story. There is Sergei, the stereotypical foreign circus owner (not disclosing nationality just to prevent trouble) who is just meant to be seen as wrong, Hu the Siberian tiger is the wild cat who acts like an innocent child, and Daisy the Shih Tzu can be described as Tiffany Haddish playing Tiffany Haddish. The characters may not have the strongest dispositions, but they have a charm to them that continues.
Did you wonder why I was discussing Littlest Pet Shop in the beginning? Simple, this movie didn’t need to be made, it’s really just product—only existing because the first movie made money. Like a popular toy, it probably had to be thoroughly play-tested to ensure it will not cause any trouble, but the downside to that in regards to being a movie is while the first movie can be a guilty pleasure, this movie just feels… too safe. It promises to be good and will not stir up problems, but it won’t challenge kids or make them feel any smarter for having watched it.
These pets might still have their secrets, but we’re not missing much. The Secret Life of Pets 2 is passable as a continuation of the original movie and harmless. I can recommend it if you love pets, are in need of a babysitter, or if you are a rabid fan of the first Secret Life of Pets and simply must have these particular characters in another movie.
The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019)
TreyVore rates it: C
Distributor: Universal Pictures/Illumination Entertainment
Director: Chris Renaud
Cast: Patton Oswalt (Max), Kevin Hart (Snowball), Jenny Slate (Gidget), Lake Bell (Chloe), Eric Stonestreet (Duke), Bobby Moynihan (Mel), Hannibal Buress (Buddy), Chris Renaud (Norman), Ellie Kemper (Katie), Pete Holmes (Chuck), Henry Lynch (Liam), Nick Kroll (Sergei), Meredith Salenger (Cat Lady), Dana Carvey (Pops), Tiffany Haddish (Daisy), Harrison Ford (Rooster)
Runtime: 86 min.
MPAA rating: PG (some action, rude humor)
This movie, set some time after the events of the original Secret Life of Pets, has some changes occurred in Max’s home apartment, now that he lives peacefully with Duke. For one, Katie got married and she and her husband Chuck now have a son named Liam. Max and Duke soon take on the role of protective parents and the stress of it causes Max to develop an itch. A visit to the vet later, Max is wearing a vet-prescribed cone to curb his itching. Taking a trip out to Chuck’s uncle’s farm, Max meets an alpha male Welsh sheepdog named Rooster who pulls off the cone and tells Max to face his fears. Meanwhile, Max has entrusted his favorite bumblebee chew toy to his white Pomeranian neighbor Gidget, which she winds up losing inside a cat lady’s apartment and seeks aid from tabby cat Chloe to recover it. At the same time, Snowball the bunny has reformed from his days as leader of the Flushed Pets and now wants to be a superhero. He gets his chance when a Shih Tzu named Daisy asks him to help her free her friend Hu, a white Siberian tiger who is held prisoner inside a circus. Can all stories come to a happy conclusion?
Before I start this review, I’m going to ask a simple question.
Do you remember what was going on back in 2012? During that time, the prophesized apocalypse turned out to be false, Barack Obama won a second term in office against Mitt Romney, the Summer Olympics were held over in England and The Avengers was the highest-grossing movie of the year. During that time, we still had a channel which was called the Hub, and during the Fall of that year we got a cartoon series called Littlest Pet Shop. This series was based on a popular toyline from the 90s about a girl named Blythe would is capable of talking with the pets that are periodically dropped off there. The show ran for a total of four seasons and was the second Hasbro series to reach 100 episodes. I tend to think this show was good and it made my Honorable Mentions for Top 11 Nostalgic 2010s cartoons. It did attain a level of popularity, though probably a lot more modest about it unlike the loud and blatant approach taken by My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
The show did not get a movie, but I felt that was not needed as when the series ended in 2016, we got an unrelated pet movie in The Secret Life of Pets. This movie, a summer release that got good reviews and made $875 million, was a major hit and the 6th highest grossing movie of the year. If we did get a hypothetical Littlest Pet Shop movie in 2016, which would be superior? We’ll never know as it never occurred, but I’ll go out on a limb and say… it’s debatable.
When I first saw the original Secret Life of Pets in 2016, I felt it was a good, but not superior, movie. I just feel that it had its flaws but still was good for some lighthearted fun. That said, I wasn’t itching for the prospect of a second movie. However, money talks, and with the amount of money it did make, the Pets returned for a second adventure.
…apparently I wasn’t alone, as it made less than half what the first movie did. Time for me to let the proverbial cat out of the bag…
So what’s the story this time? Well, we don’t have just one story, but three. There’s a Max story where he wants to be braver, a Gidget story where she needs to recover Max’s favorite toy and a Snowball story where he goes on a rescue mission. But despite my earlier plot synopsis, none of these stories take precedence over the others; it doesn’t feel like there is one important story with two side plots as they all seem to have equal focus and weight.
I do remember two years earlier, Universal and Illumination gave us Despicable Me 3. That movie, being the first Illumination-animated movie after Sing, was not perfect but I do consider it one of the better animated movies of 2017. Flaws that it had came from the fact there was not one strong story but rather it felt like a collection of subplots, a jumbled character focus, the seeming fatigue of its theme and the characters almost feeling as though they were being stretched to a breaking point. Despite all those issues, I still felt Despicable Me 3 worked well enough.
With The Secret Life of Pets 2 though… it doesn’t work quite so well.
Maybe I should use an example. I remember in the 12th Season of The Simpsons, one of my favorite episodes of that year was an episode called “Trilogy of Error”. In that episode, there are three separate stories that converge on the first day of Spring. For “Homer’s Day”, Marge winds up accidently slicing off Homer’s thumb and he needs to put it on ice until they can surgically re-attach it. During “Lisa’s Day”, Lisa needs to get her science project to school for the science fair but is constantly getting sidetracked. For “Bart’s Day”, Bart and Milhouse get caught up in a firework-smuggling ring and need to help Chief Wiggum bust the guilty party. For this episode, one of the stories would have some sort of influence on the other two and vice versa. All three stories seemed to have some level of impact and it was tons of fun seeing the perspective of the characters, like their own spin on Vantage Point.
With this story though, they don’t do that here. All three stories are just kinda self-contained, with no input on the other two, sure they come together at the end but you could just split them into their own stories and have it play as a trilogy, like movies like Cinderella 2: Dreams Come True, Tarzan and Jane or Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas. And that’s kind of a bad sign if I’m comparing a theatrically-released movie to some DTV features…
It’s not all bad though. I will say the Snowball story does have the best reason for a narrative and a modern look at why circuses are no longer “in”. The Gidget plot does have some cute charm to it and some good jokes, and Max? …eh… it’s got Harrison Ford. That work? Moving on.
The animation is I would say about the same quality, but in some ways that’s not good. For one, we’ve already seen a lot of what the first movie did and this movie is giving us more of the same. There’s some differences, like a circus, a farm, an apartment full of cats… but there’s nothing here you haven’t already seen. The animation does it’s job well though, and we see solid textures and the pets still have their cute appeal. The animation is probably the strongest part of the movie.
Now, the characters. Well, not much has changed as far as writing; they still feel like they’re just pets and nothing more. Maybe I should try to give individual looks to each… with one exception, everyone comes back. First, we have Max, who is now out to conquer his fears and be more like an alpha male dog. I should mention though, that Max does have a new voice as Louis C.K. was caught up in a scandal and had to be replaced with Patton Oswalt. I admit the new voice is barely noticeable, but new voice or no, that is probably the most interesting aspect of Max. They do try to do something else with him to try to make him seem a little more dynamic than he was in the past, but it doesn’t change the fact he’s still the same boring, uncharismatic snore you remember from the first movie and have no reason to care about. Like having someone in a movie who is just not an actor and even having them die would not go anywhere. Gidget fares better in that she is a dog that tries to act like a cat; again this part of the story gives some deeper enjoyment to those of us that prefer cats to dogs. The downside though, is any sort of feeling comes solely from Gidget; she and Max never even interact very much. Snowball gets expanded on in that he’s no longer out to rebel against humanity; he’s now got the urge to act as a superhero and he’s adjusting to the job. Again, Snowball's story could stand on its own and be its own movie, Kevin Hart's performance makes it work. For the rest… well, Mel, Buddy, Chloe, Norman, Sweet Pea… all the other characters from the first movie (with Tiberius the hawk being the only hold out) return with no greater reason other than continuity. Yes, even Duke, who was a co-star with Max in the first movie, now gets pushed into the background.
Now for the new characters? Well, they don’t get so much as they are restricted to just one plotline; but they do have some development. Rooster is the alpha male sheepdog that helps mentor Max; it’s always good to hear from Harrison Ford and while he is not very prominently featured he’s pretty much the one bright part of Max’s story. There is Sergei, the stereotypical foreign circus owner (not disclosing nationality just to prevent trouble) who is just meant to be seen as wrong, Hu the Siberian tiger is the wild cat who acts like an innocent child, and Daisy the Shih Tzu can be described as Tiffany Haddish playing Tiffany Haddish. The characters may not have the strongest dispositions, but they have a charm to them that continues.
Did you wonder why I was discussing Littlest Pet Shop in the beginning? Simple, this movie didn’t need to be made, it’s really just product—only existing because the first movie made money. Like a popular toy, it probably had to be thoroughly play-tested to ensure it will not cause any trouble, but the downside to that in regards to being a movie is while the first movie can be a guilty pleasure, this movie just feels… too safe. It promises to be good and will not stir up problems, but it won’t challenge kids or make them feel any smarter for having watched it.
These pets might still have their secrets, but we’re not missing much. The Secret Life of Pets 2 is passable as a continuation of the original movie and harmless. I can recommend it if you love pets, are in need of a babysitter, or if you are a rabid fan of the first Secret Life of Pets and simply must have these particular characters in another movie.
The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019)
TreyVore rates it: C
How you holding up?