An improvement over Minions, but absolutely not perfect.

Rating: 8/10 (16 July 2016)

This film is from illumination entertainment, which recently created the first non Disney animated film to crack 1 Billion worldwide, Minions. For my thoughts on the studio, Despicable me 1, and 2 were great, Hop was OK, but forgettable, but The Lorax and especially Minions were bad. Then this film came along.
Easily the weakest part is the writing. It rips off Toy Story using the same concept except with pets, which makes this movie very predictable, often in the first hour. It however, becomes a lot less predictable in the 3rd act, which gives it some suspense. This is also a problem with Independence day resurgence, but unlike that movie, the concept is well executed, which makes this movie entertaining. I had a good time watching it because of that. But overall, this writing is mediocre.
The characters in this movie are one of my favorite parts. Max is, however the weaker one who is like Woody from Toy Story, who is a jerk to his companion at first, but then grows to be friends with him. The rest of the characters are all lovable and enjoyable to watch, suck as Duke, Gidget, Chloe, and more. But my favorite one is the bunny Snowball, who is the funniest, with Kevin Hart making a good performance as the bunny that looks cute but has a violent personality, making him the villain.
New York City is one of my favorite cities in the world, and New York looks like nothing I've ever seen before. It perfectly shows all the attractions such as the One World Trade Center, Times square, Central Park, and Brooklin in way I've never seen in animation. Also, the design of the pets are accurate as they are both cute and well designed. The only part I don't like about the animation is the human design, which is always rather weak in Illumination movies. Along with this high quality animation, the humor hits a lot, with very smart gags, and not the very unfunny slapstick in Minions and it also takes a break from DreamWorks like Crass humor. There is an animated short that plays before this called "Mower Minions", which is OK and cute, its just that the humor isn't funny, just like the Minions film.
The writing may be weak, but the film is enjoyable with memorable characters, and smart and funny gags. The animation is also breathtaking as heck. I recommend to kids and adults. It may not be as smart as Zootopia, or as unforgettable as Finding Dory, but it is a good addition to the summer.