Movie Review: The Secret Life of Pets

When we leave our pets at home, what do we usually think they do? Most of us probably think that they just sit around, nap, and eat, right? Well, The Secret Life of Pets wants to show us otherwise; that maybe there’s more to them than meets the eye. It per­tains to the notion that our pets may have a lot going on with their lives.

The movie introduc­es Max, the movie’s main protagonist, as an incredibly loyal and loving pet to his own­er, Katie. Everything was nice and normal until Katie decided to adopt another dog, Duke, whom Max instantly disliked. Things went from bad to worse when their squabbling led to them getting captured by animal control, and now together they must find their way back home. Along the way, they encountered adversity after adversity, met friends as well as foes, until they slowly realized that they’re going to need each other to return to Katie.

Story-wise, it’s quite humorous, especially when the cat was tempted by the various food in the fridge, and was shown to be resisting hunger, but was afterwards shown to have eaten the entirety of it. It has some sad and grim moments as well, like when Max and Duke were trapped in a van un­derwater and were about to drown. The presenta­tion was done pretty well, with standout voice-over performances from Kevin Hart, who portrayed the rebellious and manic bun­ny, Snowball, and Jenny Slate, who portrayed the role of Max’s earnest and adorable but gutsy ad­mirer, Gidget.

The music and soundtrack fits every scene very well, like Taylor Swift’s song, “Welcome to New York” playing at the first scene to establish that they were indeed in Great Apple. The graphics and an­imations were beautifully made, with tasteful color schemes and good lighting.

The characters were quite compelling, with human­-like emotions and actions blending with their respec­tive animal traits, such as Max and Duke showing the friendship and loyalty that’s customary to dogs, or Chloe the cat’s indiffer­ence reflecting those of cats around the world.

The plot of the mov­ie itself isn’t very original, with its concept of animals having human-like thoughts, feelings, emotions, and ac­tions, nor does it have the depth and emotion of other animated movies, but it certainly has some emotionally charged moments, like Duke’s expo­sition of his and his former owner’s relationship.

Overall, The Secret Life of Pets isn’t the most original animated movie, nor is it the most emotion­ally compelling, but it cer­tainly has its moments; its presentation is great, with good graphics and a fitting soundtrack. It is an undemand­ing, humorous movie, which is a great thing to watch and spend a relaxing afternoon, with your pet by your side.

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