The Secret Life of Pets

Genre: Children, Comedy, Drama
Rating: U
Warnings: None

The very basic concept, that pets are sentient and get up to things where you aren't there, seemed too similar to Toy Story's 'toys are alive' concept and was the only part of the film included in the trailer.

Even the bare bones of the plot shared seemed very similar: Max/Woody, the established pet/toy, gets a rival in new pet/toy Duke/Buzz; they become lost and must return home without their owner realising. 

This did not do the film justice at all. The plot is actually about the two dogs trying to manoeuvre through an anti-human animal gang called Flushed Pets to get home, pretending to be vicious strays, and their friends meeting other pets in the area and trying to find them. Clever, funny and exciting, this is likely a modern classic children's animation film.

It's fairly easy to stereotype animal personalities, but the pets and wildlife avoid, play with and subvert these stereotypes. The hamster is stupid and not cutely behaved, the pig is a thug and his appetite doesn't come up, and the Pomeranian dog is brave and her princess-iness is played with. The 'secret life' part comes in nicely with a posh man's poodle, which switches his classical playlist for some metal, and the constant party that the elderly dog's home is. Obviously, there is only one pet cat shown, and her 'secret' behaviour is exactly what a cat does when you're there too: She eats a chicken from the fridge and comes and goes as she pleases. The daily lives and interpersonal relationships of dogs is far easier to play with, after all. The way the dogs see their relationships with their owners is interesting, and the love interest doesn't feel shoe-horned in or too predictable.

This is a children's film, and the danger and violence are on a child-acceptable level. The vague threat of the Animal Pound, being bitten or eaten without gore, and drowning in a crashed car are the threats, and the only violence we see is the bloodless kung-fu style fighting and an over-the-top bloodless slapstick squishing. The humour regularly plays into juvenile interests, with some poop jokes and silly lies.

Luckily for the adults, there are some good jokes aimed at adults, including an obvious Monty Python killer bunny reference and a subtle Some Like It Hot "nobody's perfect" shoutout, and some subtle references to humorous pet behaviours like the cat sitting in a small box and the hawk's trouble with not eating the smaller pets are quite amusing. Compared to many adults reactions to Illumination Entertainment's minions, being amusing to adults is something amazing.

Especially after the recent mess of disability representation in serious adult media, the way the elderly, disabled dog is portrayed is fantastic. His doggie-wheelchair is a minor point, part of his travel decisions, but not a plot point or any sort of character flaw like it can so often be shown as. His vision impairment is used for a couple of jokes, as he has an assistant to lift his baggy brow to help him see, and sees the cat character as very attractive if blurry. Both are most likely age related, and only humour in what they cause him to do, not in themselves.

With all of these coming together to make a really great film , it might be a sign Illumination is going to be a very big player in animation. Either way, this is a great film for all the family.