If you’ve read the reviews or seen a trailer or just love pets and wonder what they think about, you’d want to check out the animated, 3-D movie “The Secret Life of Pets.” I certainly wanted to–and did–and, alas, I don’t recommend it. Especially if you’re inclined to bring along a young child.
I was expecting a Jerry Seinfeld-meets-Woody Allen take of what pets, especially dogs, do when their owners aren’t around. It’s ripe for anecdotal and insight riffs. As a dog(s) owner, I’m already familiar with providing voice-overs for their behaviors and moods. I know I’m not alone.
The first 10 minutes and the last five of “Pets” are precious. It’s what you hoped for. Droll, observational humor and a sentimental (spoiler alert) reunion scene as voiced by the likes of Louis C.K., Albert Brooks, Dana Carvey and others. But they are bookends for what some reviewers have labeled “madcap comedy.”
Would that were the case.
Instead we get high-octane, winceable, squeamish chase scenes–a pop-culture staple of comic-book-and-video-games-gone celluloid. Think nightmares for little kids.