Review
JAMIE EAST AT THE MOVIES
The Secret Life of Pets 2 suffers from too many storylines and characters
Chris Renaud has cranked up the gears and given three films for the price of one
IT’S THREE years after it’s predecessor took nearly $900million (despite coming out at the same time as the superior Zootopia).
Max, Snowball and Duke are back for another adventure.
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Max (Patton Oswalt replacing Louis CK, who’s admission of being a sex pest doesn’t really sit well in the family entertainment genre) has had to get used to some changes in the household (you know the drill from Toy Story - marriage, kid arriving) - which has left him riddled with anxiety.
The family tootle off on a road trip to visit a relative on a farm, where Rooster, the very manly sheepdog, teaches Max a thing or two about himself. That in itself would usually be enough for a film of this type, but Chris Renaud has cranked up the gears and given three films for the price of one.
Snowball finds himself on a mission to free a tiger from an evil circus (Do the target audience even remember a time when Circuses had live animals? I feel like it’s only films keeping that trope alive) and Posh Gidget finds herself on attempting to rescue a toy from a houseful of cats.
You know what, this a perfectly fine film which suffers from too many storylines. The performances are all good (Harrison Ford gives us his debut animation performance), the jokes hit home more than they miss and there are a couple of brilliant set pieces. Competent and worth the half-term trip for a break from the kids.
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