Jun 7, 2019

Illumination "The Secret Life of Pets 2": The audience likes it; critics are not so

Illumination's The Secret Life of Pets 2, the sequel to its hit 2016 feature, is expected to perform well at the box office this weekend, yet weekend projections are estimated to be far behind its predecessor. Though critics haven't embraced the animated comedy-adventure - it currently holds an unflattering 54% rating on Rotten Tomatoes - audience reactions have been positive, with 94% giving the film a thumbs up.

Catering to parents with young children who have already watched Disney's hybrid Aladdin, The Secret Life of Pets 2 is set to open stateside on 4,561 screens. Despite going up against Fox's Dark Phoenix, analysts project Illumination's latest will end up on top, with a $50+ million domestic gross. While that number is not insubstantial, it lags in comparison to the original's U.S. opening of $104.3 million. The first installment went on to make $368M domestically, and combined with its international, $875.4M worldwide.

Chris Renaud, who was in charge of the first chapter, returns as director, with the production adding Jonathan del Val (animation director on the original film) as co-director. Brian Lynch, who penned the original, is the returning screenwriter. Most of the core cast is also back, with the notorious exception of Louis C.K. who previously voiced Max, the canine protagonist. Now, famous animal lover Patton Oswalt is taking over the role. Kevin Hart (Snowball), Jenny Slate (Gidget), Eric Stonestreet (Duke), and Lake Bell (Chloe) reprised their parts. Pets 2 adds Harrison Ford (Rooster) in his first animated voice role ever, and Tiffany Haddish (Daisy).

The production was made at Illumination Mac Guff in Paris, France, with some pre-production work done at Illumination's U.S. head office in Santa Monica, California.

Even though most of the elements that made the 2016 film a top-grossing project are contained within this film, reviewers mostly feel the sequel falls short. One of recurrent complaints is the way the story is divided into three episodes focused on different characters, which lack coherence or a strong throughline. Few critics delved into the characteristics of the animation, as by design, it's similar to the original.

Here are some takes on the film from critics at major publications:

Writing for RogerEbert.com, Christy Lemire noted the lack of cohesiveness in the screenplay because of the segmented approach:

In her review for New York Post, Sara Stewart questioned the very existence of the sequel:

Meanwhile, Kristen Page-Kirby of The Washington Post discussed the lack of originality and detail in the animation:

For Entertainment Weekly, Chris Nashawaty was apathetic about Illumination's latest and deemed it unworthy of the big screen:

Representing one of the “positive” reviews, Bilge Ebiri's take in The New York Times was still a lukewarm recommendation: