Talking animals, clichéd-ridden

Rating: 6/10 (27 July 2016)

Welcome to the world of Secret Life of Pets, where you and other owners leave their home and your pet starts to do devious things.
When I saw the trailers for this film, I thought that it was going to be a silly, crazy, corny film. But after seeing this film, I was like meh, this wasn't as bad as I thought, but still wasn't wildly entertaining.
The writing was somewhat inconsistent, but the directing makes up for it, creating a funny but weird adventure. The story rehashes the Toy Story plot without much heart. There was not enough emotion and development within the characters, so it felt a bit rushed but it's not like it gets boring and I'm sure it will really entertained the kids more so than the adults or teenagers over 15.
None of the characters really stood out to me, none were ultimately likable but some were still pretty fun to watch, though they were sometimes too over dramatic, even some of them to the point of me not caring much for them. Also, Snowball quickly taking a shine to Molly (the annoying little 7-year-old girl) felt a bit forced.
I wasn't very interested in the character animation and the scenery in this. Yes, the city looks beautiful, but some of the background and character animation is bland. Also, I was confused if Gidget was a kitty or a dog.
The only thing that stood out to me was the music. There was hip-hop and old music in this and that's what I found pretty cool about this film. But there were too many big-named casts in this film.
I would give this movie a 5.9, the adventure about two set of characters was up my alley. But unfortunately, I think Illumination Entertainment is gradually getting worse like Dreamworks. The short that accompanies this film had a pretty good cameo of a dog in Secret Life of Pets but it didn't make much sense. But at this point, I am a little more worried about their upcoming film, Despicable Me 3. Especially since the second one wasn't very good.
Story: 4
Character: 5
Animation: 7