Film Review: The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019)

I knew it was only a matter of time before I’d be forced into a movie theater to see the sequel to one of my 4-year-old daughter’s favorite movies. I wasn’t dreading the day or anything – more like waiting to see how long it would take her to ask me. When she finally did, I was already mentally prepared for what I assumed would be a lazy cash grab capitalizing off the success of its predecessor. Pets 2 may have succeeded in wowing my daughter, but I doubt it will do so for anyone past kindergarten.

Pets 2 only manages a few decent laughs but that’s not its real problem. Its biggest flaw is that there is no central story. What we’re given are three separate storylines that tediously merge for a lackluster final act. What’s most frustrating about this is that each of these stories has some real potential if only they’d been given a chance to grow and develop. Instead, we’re left with pacing that feels at times rushed and other times padded for run-time considerations. In addition, the disparate nature of the three very different stores doesn’t invite any sense of unity. There’s no flow.

Let me try to explain it another way. Pets 2 should not have been released in theaters as a feature film. It should have been released episodically on television or a streaming service. Had the film been cut up into episodes or vignettes, they would play much, much better. I have no issue with the stories director Chris Renaud and writer Brian Lynch were trying to tell, just in the way they’ve chosen to present them. The Looney Tunes style zaniness of the Snowball (Kevin Hart) and Gidget (Jenny Slate) segments could have been phenomenal if only they’d been allowed to thrive.

Kudos to the filmmakers for giving the ax to Louis C.K. and going with the much better Patton Oswalt in the role of Max. Oswalt is a better comedian and a better human being than C.K. ever was anyway, and his addition to the cast is a plus. I only wish he had more to work with. Same goes for the rest of the voice actors (including Eric Stonestreet, Tiffany Haddish, and Harrison Ford, among others). They’re good but limited in what they can accomplish with the flawed set-up and presentation. I do like these characters and the premise, though, and I wouldn’t mind if the franchise continued (neither would my daughter). Here’s to hoping the next one will have a little more to it since I’m sure I’ll be taking the little one regardless.