The Secret Life of Pets 2 Movie Review

“The Secret Life of Pets 2” is very similar to the first movie in this series (the first one was just named without the “2”). It has mostly the same animated characters, and (mostly) the same actors doing the vocal work of those characters. The same cheerful animation style is used to tell a cute and engaging story about several pets who live in New York City. The dogs and cats, and occasionally a little white bunny and a hamster, have grand adventures and learn deep, important lessons about life. In other words, it is kid’s movie. But it is done with a wonderful flair and style, and the animation is top-notch. The story is a nice blend of adventures based on three of the main pets. There is nothing earth-shattering here, just a fun time for the kids…

In New York, the two dogs Max (Patton Oswalt) and Duke (Eric Stonestreet) are owned by a nice lady named Katie (Ellie Kemper). In the first movie, the adventure revolved around Max getting used to Duke as a new dog housemate. Now Katie is married, and she has a child. Max, who is already a Nervous Nelly type anyway, is very petrified that his job is to always protect the little kid. Max develops a scratching issue, and he is brought to the vet. Max gets the ‘Cone of Shame’, and he is even more upset. Duke is not worried about little things like that. Both dogs are ready to take a trip to the country for some relaxation. While at the farm, Max meets a fearless farm work dog named Rooster (Harrison Ford). Rooster will not put up with any little pansy-wansy city dogs. If Max is out at the farm, he will learn to face his fears and be brave.

Back in the city, Max’s neighbor dog Gidet (Jenny Slate) has been given the job to safely hold in to Max’s favorite toy. But Gidget accidentally lets it get away and it goes into an apartment owned by a crazy cat lady, who has multiple crazy cats. The only way that Gidget can get the toy back is to get advice for another neighbor cat named Chloe (Lake Bell). Chloe is a typical cat and will help Gidget to get the mindet of a cat. She works with Buddy (Hannibal Buress) and Mel (Bobby Moynihan), so she can learn the ‘Way of the Cat’. Gidget is able to enter the crazy cat lady apartment and face the overwhelming foes. There are cats that really want to keep the new toy, and they do not want to give it up. She must battle to become the Top Cat in the crazy cat lady space.

Also, there is a cute fuzzy white bunny named Snowball (Kevin Hart) who is deluded into thinking that he is a superhero. He even has daydreams about being ‘Captain Snowball’ – the caped crusader against evil and bad things. In his daydreams he seems to enter “Into the Snowball-verse”, an alternate dimension where is a real Hero. He does get his chance when a new dog named Daisy (Tiffany Haddish) comes looking for help. She knows that a baby white tiger is being held captive by a very bad circus owner named Sergei (Nick Kroll). She and Snowball go there to the circus to fight wolves and release the little deadly tiger. They seem to be able to do this will remarkable ease, but the evil Sergei and his fierce wolves are soon on the hunt and get him back. By the end of the movie, all the pets get into the chase to catch up with Sergei and free the little tiger cub again.

There is a big ensemble cast in “The Secret Life of Pets 2” and they all do very good voice work. The visual details are well done, and the clear characterization of each of the pets is fun to watch. The story line is a little bit fragmented, seeing that there three different stories going on. But it easy for even a small child to see the various story lines progressing as the movie goes on. Each of the stories matches up towards the end, with a chase and a fight sequence on a train. But even when the darker side of Sergei is revealed, there is a way that all the pets work together to defeat him. They even get a boost from the crazy cat lady to get back the baby tiger and send Sergei packing.

So you can do yourself a favor by seeing this movie. That way you can stay out of the dog house (unlike Louis CK)…