The Secret Life of Pets 2: Review

In 2016, Illumination studios asked us what our pets get up to when we’re not around, and answered with the incredibly charming The Secret Life of Pets. Well, the film proved to be a smash hit, becoming one of that year’s highest-grossing pictures, so a sequel was almost inevitable. Now, as its follow-up hits the screen, we need to ask a different question – is it any good? Generally, the answer is yes, but it’s a forgettable picture despite many strong steps.

Max the terrier (Patton Oswalt) is used to his happy life with owner Ellie and fellow dog Duke, but he is forced to cope with some major life changes – Ellie gets married and has a baby. Max grows to care for the child, and seeks to protect it from all of life’s dangers, leading to him becoming increasingly neurotic. However, there may be a break for Max when his family take a trip to the countryside, where he meets gruff farm dog Rooster (Harrison Ford). Meanwhile, Snowball the bunny (Kevin Hart) embarks on a quest to save a mistreated circus tiger, and Gidget the Pomeranian (Jenny Slate) tries to rescue Max’s favourite toy from a cat-packed apartment.

The general point of this story is a rather generic message about being brave and facing your problems, and it doesn’t really resonate in the way it hopes to

If that seems like a lot of story for a film that doesn’t even hit 90 minutes, you’d be right. The Gidget storyline is mainly an excuse for a sequence in which a cat teaches a dog how to behave like a cat, and it does result in a few genuine laughs (particularly good is the laser pointer scene). The Snowball storyline is, bizarrely, comparatively dark, featuring an abused tiger, some terrifying wolves and a circus owner so pointedly evil it is almost comic. As Snowball, Hart never gets a moment to calm down, and the introduction of Tiffany Haddish as a dog doesn’t add much.

The main crux of The Secret Life of Pets 2 is, of course, Max. Oswalt takes over from Louis C. K. (on account of the latter’s somewhat dodgy behaviour), but the change strips away some of Max’s personality. That said, he does bounce off Ford well, whose no-nonsense attitude feels very at odds with the world of the film and thus makes it funnier. However, the general point of this story is a rather generic message about being brave and facing your problems, and it doesn’t really resonate in the way it hopes to. This is, in large part, because it falls by the wayside in a final sequence in which all the plots just slide together into a giant chase sequence.

Individual moments work extremely well, but the movie sadly isn’t the sum of its parts

Although the story structure does leave a little to be desired, many of the jokes land and are genuinely funny, in spite of their surroundings. They play on your familiarity with the animals and their habits, and the voice cast do a lot in shaping their characters. There’s a score by Alexandre Desplat and a theme that I definitely remembered from the first Secret Life of Pets, which works its way in nicely. And, although the framing is weak, many of the set-pieces are really enjoyable in themselves – there’s a real sense of peril in a fairground chase, for example. Individual moments work extremely well, but the movie sadly isn’t the sum of its parts.

The Secret Life of Pets 2 is not quite the breath of fresh air that its predecessor was, but it still benefits from being good fun and a number of great laughs. The cast and the characters are enjoyable, but the movie suffers most from some weak story decisions that leave it feeling somewhat forgettable. You’ll enjoy this movie when you’re watching it, but don’t expect it to stay with you.