The Secret Life of Pets 2 movie review

MOVIE TITLE: The Secret Life of Pets 2

RATING: PG

LENGTH: 86 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: B+

IN A NUTSHELL:

So colorful. So many details. So cute. So many ridiculous moments that will make you laugh out loud. This doggone sequel is totally adorable and even better than the first in many ways. Kids will get a kick out of the outlandish shenanigans and parents will laugh enough to tolerate it. There are many of your favorite characters from the first The Secret Life of Pets but plenty of new ones to add new adventures. This is Illumination’s first sequel since the Despicable Me franchise.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Family-friendly and enjoyable by all ages.
Your kids will want a pet. Be prepared.
You might need to explain to young kids what catnip is and why it works the way it does on cats.
Some animal cruelty is portrayed by an evil circus man. I wouldn’t say the film preaches an anti-circus message necessarily, but your kids might get that impression.
A woman intentionally hits a man with her car.
Lots of action to keep your kids interested.

THEMES:

Courage
Friendship

THINGS I LIKED:

The voices of the entertaining characters are brought to us by the talented cast: Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, Harrison Ford, Patton Oswolt, Eric Stonestreet, Jenny Slate, Lake Bell, Hannibal Buress, Nick Kroll, Dana Carvey, Ellie Kemper, Pete Holmes, Garth Jennings, Bobby Moynihan, and more.
Patton Oswalt has a complete potty mouth in his stand-up comedy routines, but his voice is perfect for an animated dog. He replaced Louis C. K. from the first The Secret Life of Pets.
Jenny Slate has the perfect voice for animation too. Her character, Gigi, is totally cute. I mean, seriously, so cute.
New York City looks magical.
So many cute and funny sequences that made me laugh out loud.
Harrison Ford! What a fun surprise. This is his first animated film.
Eric Stonestreet voices Duke. I absolutely adore him on MODERN FAMILY. That TV show makes me laugh out loud in EVERY episode. Such clever writing and fun characters. You’ll get a kick out of Modern Family Season 1-7 Bundle
You don’t really need to have seen the first movie to understand this one at all. You can read my review of the first movie at https://moviereviewmom.com/?s=the+secret+life+of+pets
Cute rolling credits at the end.
It’s really hard to write a movie review of this film without using the word “cute” a million times.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

There isn’t really a cohesive plot like in the first The Secret Life of Pets. This film features more of a collection of 3 different adventures the animals go on. What they have in common are that the pets are friends and know each other, as well as the theme of developing courage in each story.
My niece lived in Russia for 1 ½ years and said that Russian people are very aware that “bad guys” in American movies are almost always Russian. She said it hurts their feelings. So yeah, there’s a Russian bad guy in this movie.
I always need some peace and quiet after listening to Kevin Hart for a while.

FUNNY LINES:

“This is obviously glued to the floor.” – Snowball (Kevin Hart) as he tries to lift weights
“It was pretty intense. You tell him, Rooster.” – Max * “Some stuff happened. Now it’s over.” – Rooster * “He really knows how to tell a story.” – Duke

INTERESTING LINES:

“The first step to not being afraid is acting like you’re not afraid.” – Rooster (Harrison Ford)
“Everything changes. Nothing stays the same for long.” – Max
“You never know what life is going to throw at you and you have two choices: run from it or run at it.” – Max

OTHER MOVIES LIKE THIS YOU MIGHT ENJOY:

Sing