Geekatana Movie Review: The Secret Life of Pets 2

Now we got the first film out of the way lets dive into the sequel. The Secret Life of Pets 2 is a sequel to the first movie that came out back in 2016. The first film was the sixth highest grossing film of that year earning 875 million dollars worldwide so like most high earning films its producers the folks at Illumination Studio wanted to make a sequel.

  

The first film has had mixed reviews from movie critics but the movie was all in account still considered a box office hit. With the over abundance of superhero movies this might be a nice icebreaker. 

The story follows up the first one a few years later. Max and Duke now has to deal with new problems as their owner now has a child named Liam, this is all new for Max that he has become overprotective of the child. he goes to this farm to learn how to control himself. And if this wasn't enough his animal friends Snowball and Gidget are having trouble of their own.

As a plot the story is a bit all over the place with three main plots happening at the same time. Also despite the high emphasis on Max, Duke and Liam at the beginning of the film the movie jumps back and forth between these three said story plot that they tend to gloss over each other.

I was expecting the film to have this kind of bond to develop between Max and Liam in some way but its so not the case. The movie jumps from each of the three story that it feels like three thirty episodes of a Saturday morning cartoon cut and pasted together to make a one and a half hour long film.

Visually the movie was a step up from the first film. The furs on the animals looked almost real and the city is more alive and well animated. You only need to comapre the leaves at the park during the trailers to know how much they have improved. if only they did also with the story.

Don't get me wrong the movie was entertaining but it lacks a deeper narrative and character development you would expect on films. The only character development we got was with Max and even that seems a bit unconvincing as max overcoming fear is pretty much how you overcome fear of water by just jumping into it. At least they tone down on the number of animals on the screen but I will miss the Hawk.

So is the movie bad? No. Is if a good film? Not really. It's quite fun and entertaining as you would expect but it's pretty much what the first movie did all over again. High octane adventure, comedy and slapstick. They took out the darker elements of the first film in this one for more child friendly aspect. Also I like the music they used on this film.

The kids will surely love this film as the kids that were with us at the theater was laughing and having so much fun watching the movie. So there is always that but as an adult who wants more substance outside of the comedy gag there's nothing here that hasn't been done before. 

Overall the Secret Life of Pets 2 was an enjoyable movie if you just want to enjoy an animation that is full of high octane comedy and entertainment. Kids and the likes will enjoy this film. This is pretty much what the first film was with better visuals, music. if you like the first film than you will most likely enjoy this one as well. Just don't expect them to re invent the wheel.