In the ever so gob-stopping world of Illumination Entertainment, there are Minions that make you pull your hair and cash-grabs that give kids a genuine smile.
Meanwhile, Chris Meledandri’s big-boss attitude alerts his co-workers, “We made a lot of money on ‘The Secret Life of Pets’. It might be a rip-off of ‘Toy Story’ to audiences, but it isn’t to us. That means a sequel must happen, which we can cram as many sub-plots as we want! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! More money for us!”
“The Secret Life of Pets 2” isn’t necessarily a bad sequel, but it easily tells a statement about the disease of “sequelitis”, which means it should be with a group along with “Rio 2” and “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2” as some examples of the animated movies that honestly didn’t need to have a sequel.
It of course takes place after the first film when the dog Max (now played by Patton Oswalt) faces major changes. His owner Katie (played by Ellie Kemper) decides to expand upon the family by her having a husband and a cute little baby girl. Max has a hard time adjusting to the family tree since it is usually him and Katie.
After the very first 20 minutes or so minutes of the film, this movie suddenly evolves into three stories and my god, do they not work at all.
The first of the three encompasses Max on a “City Slickers”-style journey at a rural farm, where he is surrounded by a Welsh sheepdog named Rooster (played by Harrison Ford). The dog’s purpose (no movie reference intended) is to teach Max to overcome his fears while embarking wild adventures with Rooster.
The second involves the (now) annoying rabbit Snowball dressed up as a Superman wannabe and new character Daisy, a circus Shih Tzu dog. They have to rescue a white tiger named Hu from Daisy’s own circus. This tiger is captured by one of the most generic villains in an animated film since “Sherlock Gnomes”, Sergei (played by Nick Kroll).
However, the third one is probably the one that was in many non-submitted drafts of the sequel, but then accepted for cash-grab purposes. It’s basically Gidget (played by Jenny Slate) trying to worry about his bee toy “BusyBee” and keeping it safe.
I am telling you that this sequel will make millions and millions of dollars at the box office for parents and kids alike. I could easily tell that this sequel will be forgotten from my mind by the end of the year as soon as the credits rolled.
It’s kind of interesting, too, because I actually did not mind the first film that much regardless of being a “Toy Story” rip-off.
Like I said earlier in my review, this film isn’t a bad sequel where it doesn’t rank among Illumination’s other stinkers like “Hop”, that horrendous “Lorax” movie, and “Despicable Me 3”. It just shouldn’t have been made.
Harrison Ford does a great job playing Rooster, whom reminded me of Jack Palance’s personality as the tough character Curly from “City Slickers” since it reminded me of “City Slickers” most of the time. He is aware of the limits dogs needs to improve on and plays a great teacher while at it.
There are some neat song insertions in the first 20 minutes of the film like Beyonce’s “Empire State of Mind” and Stevie Wonder’s “I Was Made to Love Her” during when Katie and Chuck adopt the toddler except the song is playing for a boy since the song is about “to love her”.
The pet characters that return from the first do a fine enough with Patton Oswalt replacing Louis C.K. in the first (because of accused sexual harassment) as Max, Eric Stonestreet as Duke, Lake Bell as the obese cat Chloe, Jenny Slate as Gidget and Dana Carvey as the greyhound Pops.
Other than that, this film is easily forgettable.
I mean the chemistry between Snowball and Daisy isn’t anything interesting for me. The main circus abuser/villain Sergei was beyond generic and cliched that he even ripped off Illumination’s own supervillain Gru. God bless.
Kevin Hart as Snowball was more annoying than funny like in the first film. What makes matters worse is that he is a “Superman” wannabe and has his own traditional animated segment.
He made me at least chuckle with his “Panda” rap song.
Like “Hotel Transylvania 2”, the film feels like it was aimed more towards kids than adults other than some pet jokes and the vet scene from the trailer that I kind of laughed at.
The worst song choice in the film (and one of the worst scenes) is when the cat-obsessed grandma comes out with the pets to save the white tiger. It is horribly set to an ’80’s remixed version of ZZ Top’s “La Grange” to show that they are cool and stylized. I felt appropriately face palmed.
It is expected that parents are going to take their kids and they are going to think it is going to be adorable and cuddly. The best decision is to probably wait until “Toy Story 4” comes out and just ignore this unnecessary sequel.
Grade: 3/10
