A little under two weeks after we waved goodbye to our dog sitting duties, Cat spotted that The Secret Life of Pets was released at Vue Cinema. The film had sort of skipped under the radar and didn’t seem to have that much hype about it. And sadly (in a way), when I realised it had had some advertising on a broadband advert, I just thought it was generic cartoon animals!
The Secret Life of Pets
We hadn’t been to the cinema for a few weeks and felt we needed to get the benefit from our Vitality tickets. The only kids film that appealed was The Secret Life of Pets, which we’d heard a couple of people mention that it looked good. We really didn’t know what to expect.
What do your household pets get up to when you head out for work?
Max, a Terrier lives with his owner Katie in a Manhattan apartment. Here he goes out of his way to please his owner, from doing tricks and loyal companionship. Life is going pretty good for max. He is looked after and loved. The status quo is perfectly balanced, until a new dog turns up!
Duke, is a stray dog from the pound that is a giant fluffy lump of … dog! I’m not 100% sure what sort of dog he’s supposed to be, just dog. Max isn’t sure how to adapt to the new housemate and Duke isn’t about to let Max walk all over him. Imagine Buzz Lightyear and Woody in Toy Story. Which is probably a pretty good comparable story in terms of the structure.
I don’t really want to put any real spoilers in this review, but the pair end up on an adventure which cements their friendship.
Doggy behaviour
One of the scenes early on shows Max responding to Katie leaving the apartment for work. This was such a familiar scene in our house with Milly (the Maltese Terrier).. The excitement when you opened the front door when you returned. Even if it was just to pick up something you forgot. The animation picked up on this perfectly.
Imogen and Abigail loved it. With a couple of toilet humour jokes that were memorable, we giggled in the car on the way home. Cat shared my thoughts with the same reference, even though it shouldn’t be comparable. “It wasn’t as good as Zootropolis”. The only true comparison was that they were animals, which possibly reinforces the story line in Zootropolis. Where Zootropolis had depth and underlying stories, The Secret Life of Pets was quite shallow and perfect for kids. There wasn’t anything hidden and deep that a child wouldn’t understand. Which I think is a shame as parents need to sit through the film with their children. The bonus was it didn’t drag, which also meant there wasn’t much seat shuffling.
Kids will love it, parents will be OK with it.
Visit the official site here
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