Continuing on from the first film, Max (now voiced by Patton Oswalt) shows he’s happy with how life has turned out with his fellow furry brother Duke (Eric Stonestreet) and their human owner Katie (Ellie Kemper) until Katie finds a male companion and the two share a birth of a baby.
Happiness soon starts to fade for Max as the stress and anxiety takes over to protect the new born baby from the dangerous world. Katie decides to take her new family away from the big city out to a farm on the country side where Max meets Rooster (Harrison Ford), and learns that the world isn’t as dangerous to what he had thought. As Max and Duke spend some quiet time in the country, the audience get to enjoy the other character stories; Gidget (Jenny Slate) as she attempts to blend in with a group of cats to get back a toy she honoured to protect and Snowball (Kevin Hart) as he tries to help Daisy (Tiffany Haddish) save and protect a white tiger from a cruel circus owner.
I felt as though I enjoyed this sequel more than the original. Although the storyline branches out to multiple storylines to see what each character we’ve grown to love from the first movie is getting up to, seeing two of my favourite characters, Gidget and Chloe (Lake Bell) have their own subplot was the highlight for me. These two have complete opposite personalities and humour but they always had me laughing. Harrison Ford also makes his voice acting debut as Rooster and despite his character having very little screen time, Ford was very impressive.
Being an animal lover and pet owner myself, I knew this film would not just be enjoyable for kids, but for everyone. Whenever you sit down to watch a Illumination Entertainment film usually, you know you’re in for an enjoyable treat. Every one of their stories is filled with bright colours, uplifting music and impressive animation detail. This tradition continues in The Secret Life of Pets 2 and I believe that it will bring happiness to viewers of all ages, whether you own a pet or not.
The Secret Life of Pets 2 is in cinemas from June 20.