The Secret Life of Pets (Yarrow Cheney & Chris Renaud)

[Dukefrukem]

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UZJVc_JTI_w/maxresdefault.jpg

[Dukefrukem]

I was really hoping this would be Toy Story only with Pets, but they took a much campier path.

[TGM]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdQp85nN4to

[Dead & Messed Up]

On the fence, but erred on the side of charity. This is a movie that goes wherever it needs to from moment to moment, rushes through character beats, and creates a quest less interesting than its central conceit of pets simply hanging out at home. But I laughed more than I expected, and the animation occasionally has the timing, snap, and wit of classic cartoons. A bit with a snake and falling concrete plays like a style nod to Wile E. Coyote, and the visit to the Weiner Factory brought out a hallucinatory bit that played like a loving (and very funny) nod to Homer Simpson's visit to the land of chocolate.

If the flick caught me on a different day, I probably would've marked it as a nay.