Uninspired Illumination animation

Rating: 4/10 (3 July 2016)

Surely a case of concept first/plot comes later, The Secret Life of Pets is the latest feature from Illumination, the animation studio responsible for (to blame for?) everything Minions-related. Though there are references, Pets wisely doesn't try to replicate the little yellow army. But while the new movie does its own thing, I'm not sure it will have the simple, resilient appeal of the Despicable series.
Jack Russell terrier Max (Louis C. K.) lives in a Manhattan apartment block, populated by all kinds of apparently perfect pets who lead rebellious shadow lives while their owners are away. Max adores his master. So when she brings home a stray dog, Duke (Eric Stonestreet), a fierce rivalry begins.
One day they are out for a walk when Duke decides to get Max into trouble by dragging him off the beaten track. Duke and Max come up against a gang of cats, led by the vicious Ozone (Steve Coogan). After being captured by Animal Control, the dogs are inadvertently rescued by a rabbit called Snowball (Kevin Hart), who introduces them to The Flushed Pets, a society of forgotten animals who live in the sewer. The encounter triggers a series of farcical events against the backdrop of Max's and Duke's journey home – and of course their burgeoning friendship.
My synopsis doesn't scratch the surface of what is a weirdly complicated storyline. I've named but a fraction of the enormous cast. The film suffers from a damaging overabundance of characters resulting in a ridiculously busy plot. Combined with its vehement slapstick focus and almost complete lack of pathos, it's a dizzying ADHD experience which is aimed at the very young and the very excitable.
Beyond the titular premise there is little invention or originality. Lovely animation infuses the animals with personality. But they aren't helped by a rote script which puts a frankly boring, not-particularly-odd couple front and centre while sidelining the potentially interesting creatures (Albert Brooks' pathologically predatory hawk is briefly hilarious).
Some jokes strike, even if the pacing makes them fleeting. My personal favourite moment was in the sewers and a visual reference to Super Mario Bros' dashing green Koopa shells. But too many big punchlines land softly, spread across too many plot threads. If it feels like we're watching a series of vignettes then that's surely telling us that this is a short film stretched to scattering point.
Perhaps it's because it comes so soon after another anthropomorphised animal animation, Zootropolis, with its vibrancy and its depth, that Pets comes across as so visually dull and narratively rudimentary. In a post-Pixar world, "just a kids' film" doesn't cut it. A mediocre film is a mediocre film, even one with moments of individual brilliance – all of which, I can report, can be seen in the trailers.