Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

The Secret Life of Pets 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 28, 2019

A game challenging players to correctly predict what movie will earn a sequel would wing up being pretty boring, pretty fast. The modern movie landscape is as predictable as the sunrise, and that there would be a short-order sequel to Illumination's smash hit animated film The Secret Life of Pets comes as absolutely no surprise. It's also not much of a surprise that its a shell of the original, a picture with a purpose only to sell tickets and merchandise (and Blu-rays and UHDs and DVDs, of course), a "Happy Meal Movie" as it might rightly be called, rather than one to build on the characters or themes introduced in the original in any meaningful way. Cynical? Nope. Reality? Yup. This is a decent enough jumble of animated sweets but nothing more. A few scattered laughs and cheerful colors (and a few darker undertones) are about all this patchwork movie, which runs a compact 78 minutes sans credits, has to offer.

The plot is scattered but primarily follows Max (voiced by Patton Oswalt) who isn't in much of a hurry to see his life upset with the arrival of a newborn baby. He sees how animal lives are disrupted all around him when a new bundle of human joy (and tears and screams and poop) makes an appearance, but his days as top dog are numbered when his owner Katie (voiced by Ellie Kemper) meets a man named Chuck (voiced by Pete Holmes). And, much to Max's chagrin, love and marriage lead to little Liam (voiced by Henry Lynch), a typical human baby that would seem to be the end of his world. But when Liam, grown up a bit, declares his love for Max, the pooch takes it upon himself to watch over the boy through thick and thin, including a family trip out of the city to a farm, a place that poses its own unique set of dangers. Meanwhile, pampered pooch Gidget (voiced by Jenny Slate) is charged with watching over Max's favorite toy while a rabbit named Snowball (voiced by Kevin Hart) finds himself living a real superhero's life when he's tasked with helping to rescue an exotic tiger from a particularly slimy circus operator.

There are shades of A Dog's Journey in The Secret Life of Pets 2 when Max, once he's become comfortable with Liam and loved by the little boy, vows to protect and watch over him at all costs. It's a relatively simple connection to make and certainly not unique to these movies alone, but it's one of only a few real feels for character connection and purpose in Pets 2. But while A Dog's Journey soars, this film fumbles about in search of a reason to exist. It's so lacking identity that the film feels like nothing more than a collection of the mini-movies for which Illumination is so famous, mini-movies expanded to short-film length and stitched together in a largely futile effort to form some sort of cohesion amongst them. The characters go their separate ways and do their own things, such as learn about the realities of family, face the challenges of city and country life, go on an undercover mission into a cat lady's apartment, and journey into the teeth of a dark and dangerous circus act. On their own, each are quasi-enjoyable but Pets 2 surely struggles to bring them together and mold any kind of purpose around them.

The Secret Life of Pets 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The image is everything one would expect of a bright, shiny, new digitally animated release. Universal's 1080p picture is abundantly, richly, and fully colorful. Every color absolutely leaps off the screen with remarkable punch and intensity. Seemingly every color known to man (and animal, as the case may be) appears in the film with bold, brilliant depth: blues, reds, greens, purples, yellows...name it, and the Blu-ray nails it. It's an impressively diverse but also nuanced color explosion. It's not just a group of colors, it's a veritable playground of subtleties intermixed with the expressive primaries that bring the movie to incredibly rich and detailed life. Textural revelation isn't bad, either. In fact, it's excellent. The Blu-ray more than adequately reveals all of the fine animal furs, environmental textures (sprawling city, country farm, the low-light cat lady apartment interior) with striking command of every last little element of digital construct the movie has on display. Character models are obviously the most impressive as the most consistent and dominant screen detail, but it's when there are adds to the core elements that the image shines brightest. Bits of dirt and debris on max's fur in chapter 13 after a dangerous rescue mission on the side of a steep cliff, for instance, appear as razor-sharp and practically countable. There are no examples of even minor banding, aliasing, or other artifacts to be seen. This one's a showstopper.

The Secret Life of Pets 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The included Dolby Atmos soundtrack is a bit of well-engineered sonic excellence. The movie literally opens with aggressive bass beats that include positive instrumental and lyrical clarity and wide and deep stage berth. Booming thunder in the five-minute mark strikes heavily and rolls with impressive stage-covering depth and top-end engagement. Music throughout follows suit, with prominently wide front end stretch and perfectly tuned surround implementation to pull the listener into the flow without overwhelming it with needless fluff or prominence. A herd of cows rumbling through the stage in chapter 13 represents just one of many superior effects for clarity, low end extension, and sound imaging. The track never fails to bring life to every character, environment, and action. It's all well integrated and sonically crystal clear. Dialogue reproduction is perfect, finding positive front-center engagement and well balanced prioritization.

The Secret Life of Pets 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Secret Life of Pets 2 contains a mammoth assortment of mini movies, featurettes, deleted scenes, music videos, and the like (including a lot of kid-centered fluff). A DVD copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code are included with purchase. This release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• Super Gidget (1080p, 3:49): The first mini-movie in the bonuses that focuses on Gidget's rescue of Max, who has been kidnapped by squirrels.
• Minion Scouts (1080p, 4:04): The second mini-movie sees the minions join the Badger Scouts in search of badges.
• The Making of the Mini-Movies (1080p, 4:59): A quick exploration of the challenges and rewards of making each movie.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 2:19 total runtime): Included are Wake Up, Duke Explores the Farm, Snowball in Training, and Secret Confessions. Scenes one and three are presented in incomplete stages of the animation process.
• A Tapestry of a Tail - The Making Of (1080p, 7:00): A catchall that explores the process of imagining and building a sequel, crafting the film's three stories, exploring various narrative details, digital artistry and editing, voice acting, and more.
• How to Draw (1080p, 7:40 total runtime): Head of Story Eric Favela shows viewers how to draw three characters from the movie. Included are Max, Snowball, and Chloe.
• Frame by Frame - How to Make a Flip Book (1080p, 4:25): Favela returns to show viewers how to make a flip animation.
• Character Pods (1080p, 16:40 total runtime): Voice actors briefly talk about their characters. Included are Patton Oswalt - Max, Kevin Hart - Snowball, Eric Stoenstreet - Duke, Jenny Slate - Gidget, Tiffany Haddish - Daisy, Lake Bell - Chloe, Nick Kroll - Sergei, Dana Carvey - Pops, Bobby Moynihan - Mel, and Harrison Ford - Rooster.
• My Buddy and Me (1080p, 3:28): Cast and crew introduces and cuddles with their animals and discuss their first pets.
• The Further Adventures of Captain Snowball (1080p, 6:32): Snowball appears in a narrated and interactive motion comic, a "choose your own adventure" sort controlled via remote.
• Pets with Jobs - A Documentary (1080p, 7:10): A look at some of the real-world works that animals perform in service to others.
• A Party Fit for a Pet (1080p, 7:19): Instructions on putting on a party for pets, including preparing various yummy treats and making costumes. Following an Intro, the following segments are included: Captain Snowball's Super Capes, Pops' Pupsicles, Daisy's Happy Hats, Duke's Doggie Donuts, and Gidget's Goody Bags.
• Relax the Cat: The Secret Life of Pet Massage (1080p, 4:21): Dana Carvey, Bobby Moynihan, Lake Bell, and Animal Massage Therapist Amber Lockspeiser train viewers how to massage their pets.
• Pops' Puppy Training School with Kevin Hart (1080p, 2:28): Hart humorously tries to train a puppy to perform various activities.
• Production Pets (1080p, 5:56): A stream of photos featuring the animals who bring joy to the filmmakers.
• Pat's Yule Log (1080p, 2:13): Various animals from the film move back and forth across the screen.
• Lyric Videos (1080p): Karaoke-style presentations of "Panda" (0:45) and "It's Gonna Be a Lovely Day (Secret Life of Pets 2)" (3:55).

The Secret Life of Pets 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Young children will undoubtedly be delighted to watch their favorite characters appearing again on the screen and voiced enthusiastically by a well-rounded cast. And for Illumination that's mission accomplished. "Merchandising, merchandising, merchandising!" the great and wise Yogurt once proclaimed. The Secret Life of Pets 2 nails it if its raison d'être is moneymoneymoney. There's certainly not much charm and no real dramatic or thematic allure. It's quite capable in terms of its technical construction and it will certainly please the little ones but the buck stops (and starts) there. Universal's Blu-ray is loaded with extras and delivers top-tier video and audio, so parents at least have that to look forward to.