Very funny movie with an important message hidden within!

Rating: 8/10 (15 September 2017)

(Not sure there's any real spoilers in here, but safe than sorry.) I thoroughly enjoyed "The Secret Life of Pets"! It tells a great story that a lot of us can relate to, especially us older siblings! Max the Jack Russell Terrier has a pretty great life with his owner Katie in an apartment in Manhattan. That all gets upended when Katie brings home Max's new "brother", an... um... "exuberant" mutt named Duke.
They do not, needless to say, become best buds from the get-go.
What follows from there is a humorous, exciting tail (whoops) I mean "tale" where we are introduced to a myriad of interesting characters - my favorite being Gidget, a feisty and good-humored Pomeranian (voiced by Jenny Slate). Max, btw, is voiced by Louis C.K. and Duke by Eric Stonestreet, both doing terrific work.
But it's Kevin Hart, voicing the movie's main antagonist Snowball, a VERY bitter white rabbit, who steals the show - for a very real, very tragic reason. Abandoned by his human, Snowball has organized "The Flushed Pets" - other animals callously tossed aside by people that just got tired of them.
Sure, there's lots of laughs in "Pets" (some of which will go right over the heads of kids), but there are also some pretty good teaching moments, especially about being a responsible pet owner.