Three years after the original, The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019) follows the lives of pets in an apartment in New York City as pet owners leave for the day. The sequel presentation includes the original cast with the added mixture of a circus, a farm, and an airplane flight to the mix.
(Patton Oswalt as Max and Eric Stonestreet as Duke with Henry Lynch as Liam in the movie The Secret Life of Pets 2).
Max and Duke are front and center in the sequel film to The Secret Life of Pets (2016), with a new actor standing in for the voice of Max. A major change for Max especially is feeling ownership for the new little person to join the family after Katie, the person of Max and Nick, marries Chuck. Baby Liam joins the family and grows to a toddler who loves Max and Duke.
(Patton Oswalt as Max and Harrison Ford as Rooster in the movie The Secret Life of Pets 2).
The adventure for Max and Duke starts with the notion of change. When the feeling of love comes along, a visit with for Max and Duke with Liam, Katie and Chuck to a family farm in Chuck’s family brings about some much different living than in the city. Rooster goes about offering some brotherly support for Max, who feels scared when he thinks of all the ways that Liam might get hurt.
(Kevin Hart returns as the voice of Snowball. Tiffany Haddish voices Daisy in a new adventure involving the circus and a lion. Dana Carvey reprises his role as Pops in The Secret Life of Pets 2).
While Max and Duke are away, separate adventures led by Snowball and Gidget emerge. Chloe introduces Snowball to Daisy, who brings personality and her acquaintance with a lion named Hu caught up in some circus intrigue. Hu is held against his will and treated severely by circus people and circus animals. Daisy asks for help in saving Hu, and a second adventure with the flare of Daisy and Snowball ensue. Pops lends some help in saving the day.
(Jenny Slate voices Gidget and Lake Bell voices Chloe in the movie The Secret Life of Pets 2).
Meanwhile, Gidget has been given the task of keeping Max’s favorite toy, Busy Bee, protected and safe. Gidget takes this effort seriously, seeing the toy as a stand-in child for a romantic relationship with Max where Busy Bee is offered significance. Adventure ensues with the many cats in the home of the home of the Cat Lady, wherein the fate of Busy Bee is questioned. Chloe befriends Gidget in supporting her behavior with cats.
(Brian Lynch wrote the screenplay for The Secret Life of Pets 2).
The three adventures ultimately join together into a single adventure where the pets of the apartment work together to bring about a just result for Hu. Max, meanwhile, gets to roam freely without his cone, and the touching point of the movie happens with Liam declares his love for Max and Duke while beginning his experience at pre-school. The film offers a musical sendoff for Snowball. All ends with a feel good ending to a family friendly film.
(Jonathan del Val and Chris Renaud co-directed The Secret Life of Pets 2).
The Secret Life and Pets 2 hits on many levels. A scene with Hu and the head of the circus struck us as a bit intense for the target audience of this film. This scene should not keep those with little ones from the film, however. For me, The Secret Life and Pets 2 earns 3.5-stars on a scale of one-to-five stars.
Matt – Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Matt Lynn Digital 