{"id":18428,"date":"2019-06-06T13:59:07","date_gmt":"2019-06-06T20:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=18428"},"modified":"2019-06-06T13:59:07","modified_gmt":"2019-06-06T20:59:07","slug":"the-secret-life-of-pets-2-caters-exclusively-to-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=18428","title":{"rendered":"THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2 Caters Exclusively to Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/24_0006_C+-merged.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7079\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>The Secret Life of Pets<\/em> proved to be something of a\nsurprise success back in 2016, chronicling the lives of animals and what they\nget up to when their owners are away. It earned solid reviews from the press and\na massive box office haul. So naturally, it was only a matter of time before\naudiences would be receiving a sequel. <em>The Secret Life of Pets 2<\/em> is\nbright, colorful and will certainly impress children. However, adult will find\nit as nothing more than genial and forgettable; they&#8217;ll probably be most\npleased by the fact that their kids are sufficiently distracted.&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Secret-Life-of-Pets-2-happy-lead-1024x555.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18429\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even if you haven&#8217;t seen the original film, there&#8217;s nothing\nabout what&#8217;s happening onscreen that will confuse latecomers to the series. Max\n(Patton Oswalt) is a Jack-Russell terrier living in a New\n  York apartment that can communicate with other\nanimals in the building. He and his shaggy cohabitant Duke (Eric Stonestreet)\nare happy living with their family. However, the arrival of a new baby has\ncaused Max to fret over the child&#8217;s safety and welfare, resulting in something\nof a panicked state and crisis of confidence. When the family take a vacation,\nMax leaves his most prized possession with Gidget (Jenny Slate), who promptly\nloses it and must recover the item before his return. Finally, a rabbit named Snowball\n(Kevin Hart) is asked by a pooch named Daisy (Tiffany Haddish) to help her\nrescue a tiger from an abusive circus owner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Secret-Life-of-Pets-2-ford-lead-1024x554.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18431\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This follow-up doesn&#8217;t seem in any way interested in\ndetailing the secretive activities of pets. Instead the script follows three\nseparate plotlines that eventually converge in the final act. At least each\noffers a couple of chuckles here and there. Highlights include Rooster\n(Harrison Ford), a gruff Welsh Sheepdog who ultimately serves as something of a\nmentor to Max, intimidating the protagonist while subtly attempting to build\nhis confidence. Ford&#8217;s voice work is very effective, and he manages to earn a\nfew laughs with his less-than-enthused demeanor. There are also a few amusing\nsights as Gidget encounters the unhinged feline occupants of another apartment.\nAnd a couple of Snowball&#8217;s offhanded comments raise a smile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Secret-Life-of-Pets-2-gidget-1024x581.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18432\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additionally, it is a nicely animated movie. The bold colors\nreally pop off the screen, particularly when the characters move around the\ncity or travel to a picturesque country farm. And of course, the furry\ncharacters look incredible as well, with great care taken to show distinctive\nhairs and textures on the leads. However, the movie goes a little overboard\nwith oversized eyes. These characters have such enormous, glassy peepers that\nsometimes it seems like half of the frame is filled with gigantic pupils. Call\nthis reviewer heartless, but he grew a bit tired by the constant doe-eyed looks\nemanating from the animal characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Secret-Life-of-Pets-2-bunny-hero-1024x548.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18433\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while it&#8217;s pretty and a few of the gags work, many of\nthe jokes land with a thud (including some unnecessary scatological humor) and\nare clearly geared to very young audiences. Although one wouldn&#8217;t expect too\nmany surprises from a family film, none of the events or drama featured feels\nparticularly urgent or exciting. There&#8217;s also a strange aspect to the tiger rescue\nsubplot, which involves an animal being abused and a conflict involving knife\nblades and antagonists falling off a train. These bits and the happy-go-lucky\nlines that follow feel out of sync with the events being depicted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The end result is a good-looking animated flick that, quite literally,\nis bright and colorful enough to entrance children. However, the story and\noverall product doesn&#8217;t aspire to separate itself from the tropes of numerous\nanimated family pictures and won&#8217;t earn more than a shrug from older audiences.\nOverall, <em>The Secret Life of Pets 2<\/em> never seems overly interested in\ncatering to anyone over the age of ten.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Secret Life of Pets proved to be something of a surprise success back in 2016, chronicling the lives of animals and what they get up to when their owners are away. It earned solid reviews from the press and a massive box office haul. So naturally, it was only a matter of time before [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[197,1455,7035,7283,7325,8908,10594,11622,15811,17903,18035,22149,22865,22868,23562],"class_list":["post-18428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-197","tag-animated","tag-eric-stonestreet","tag-family","tag-farm","tag-harrison-ford","tag-jenny-slate","tag-kevin-hart","tag-patton-oswalt","tag-secret-life-of-pets-2","tag-sequel","tag-the-secret-life-of-pets-2","tag-tiffany-haddish","tag-tiger","tag-universal"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18428\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}