The story's thin, but the cast is pretty great

Rating: 6/10 (25 July 2016)

"What do our pets do when the humans are at work all day?" That's a really good hook - something you'd expect from PIXAR, at that - and it has wide-reaching appeal. That there are gags centered on animals other than just cats and dogs means that a lot of this is accessible to just about everyone. And when "The Secret Life of Pets" is about that premise, it's gold. There's a wealth of stand-up talent in the cast, and the animators find plenty of behavioral humor to mine in the pets (cats, especially). But then the main characters are taken out of their home and onto an epic adventure - and this is where the movie goes straight into "Flushed Away" area. I was much more interested in the goings-on in the apartments than I was in the sewer.
But, aside from that narrative indulgence and some ill-advised song choices (there are much better odes to the Big Apple than "Welcome to New York"), this is a decent children's movie. It's not as tight as the Despicable Me movies, or even "Minions", but of all the movies you can be dragged to by a kid ("Smurfs" anyone?), it's a harmless Summer diversion.
6/10