Movie review: The Secret Life of Pets on par with Toy Story
Warning: This review may contain mild spoilers.
Ever wonder what your pets would do when you would leave the house? See through the eyes of pets as we witness their journey of finding their way back home.
The film takes place in Manhattan, New York where we find our main character, Max, narrating how he was living the perfect life with his owner, Katie. We see from the beginning how this pair found each other and has grown together while living in the big city. When Katie leaves for work, we meet the other characters of the film: Gidget, Chloe, Mel, Buddy, Sweet Pea, and Norman.
As Katie arrives back from work, she brings in a new dog, Duke, to live with them. Frustrated and confused by this newcomer, Max tries everything he can to make sure Duke doesn’t stay with them anymore. A dog walker takes Max, Duke, Mel, and Buddy out to the park where Duke tricks Max and drags Max by his leash out into the streets and into an alleyway. There they lose their collars from the alley cats and are being chased by animal control. They are then rescued by a group of rebel pets led by a bunny, named Snowball, as they escape down to the sewers where their lair of “Flushed Pets” is.
When Gidget notices Max is not back from the park, she and the rest of the gang go off on a journey to find Max and bring him home. They have additional help from a hawk named Tiberius, and an elderly dog named Pops as they head out to find Max.
The moral of the story is about finding your way back home and acceptance to whatever new things comes your way. Max had difficulty accepting this new change to his already perfect life, but he learned just how important it is to welcome new possibilities in his life. Even when being enclosed in their home, the pets learn how to embrace the opportunities and the time they get to have with their owners and the friends around them. Each character development is interesting because we, the audience, were shown many different personality traits that we wouldn’t see in certain characters.
The storyline was very well-written and it has an amazing cast with Louis C.K. (Louie) as Max, Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family) as Duke, Kevin Hart (Central Intelligence, Ride Along) as Snowball, Jenny Slate (Zootopia) as Gidget, Ellie Kemper (Unbreakable Kimmy Schimdt, Bridesmaids) as Katie, and so much more. The movie is fast-paced and funny with lots of laughs and action for children and adults. Secret Life of Pets is an enjoyable and funny story about the way our pets see the world and how they see us. If you enjoyed Toy Story, you will enjoy Secret Life of Pets. It is a genuine and heartwarming story, especially for all you pet lovers out there.
Secret Life of Pets is playing in Ostrander Auditorium in the CSU from Nov. 2-5. The times are 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, 7 p.m. on Friday, and 7 p.m. on Saturday.
