Written by Logan J. Fowler and Justin Matchick
Release Date: July 8th, 2016
Starring (the voices of): Kevin Hart, Lake Bell, Dana Carvey, Hannibal Burress, Albert Brooks, Louis C.K., Steve Coogan, Jenny Slate, Ellie Kemper
Director(s): Chris Renaud (Despicable Me, Despicable Me 2, The Lorax) and Yarrow Cheney
Pre-Trailer Thoughts: The Secret Life of Pets could do for domesticated animals what Toy Story did for toys and Wreck-It Ralph did for video game characters. However, it isn’t being done by Disney, so it’s up in the air whether this upcoming animated film will capture the heart and humor of the previously mentioned movies. -LJF
Pre-Trailer Thoughts: The big selling point to The Secret Life of Pets right now is that it’s coming from the same team that has worked on most of the Despicable Me and Minions movies. It seems like your excitement for this will be based off of how much you enjoyed those movies, and while I found the Despicable Me movies to be mediocre I was pleasantly surprised by the Minions. It’s going to be interesting to see how the writers and directors will deal with not being able to use the Minions as a comedic crutch. – JTM
Rate the Trailer: 3 out of 5. It doesn’t have much, but to its credit, The Secret Life of Pets trailer is pretty entertaining. The over-exaggerated animation works for the animals, and it seems to have that silly humor that made both Despicable Me movies stand out. Nothing overall really to complain about, but this will do for now. –LJF
Rate the Trailer: 3 out of 5. It certainly looks to be way better than The Angry Birds Movie from last week. I was actually laughing at the jokes and, even if the story does seem to be familiar territory for an animated kids movie, still invested enough to want to see what happens. Even if Illumination isn’t quite up to par with Pixar in terms of storytelling yet they are certainly close in terms of animation quality. Everything here looks incredibly gorgeous and colorful, although the the human character design looks way too similar to the Despicable Me movies. The voice cast might be the biggest selling point for me, with Louis CK getting the starring role and an excellent crew of supporting voices including Hannibal Burress, Kevin Hart, and Jenny Slate. – JTM
Theater, Rent, No Thanks, Undecided? Rent (but maybe Theater). I’m putting all of my money towards that other animated film with animals this summer (Finding Dory) but if finances are good and I just want a fun time at the theater, I’ll probably check out The Secret Life of Pets. Otherwise, it’ll be a good weekend rental for sure. -LJF
Theater, Rent, Undecided, No Thanks? Rent. I don’t know if I’ll be swayed to decide to the this in theaters between now and its release date, but the presence of some of my favorite comedians in major voice roles is enough to get me to at least want to watch it in the near future. – JTM
The Secret Life of Pets Comes out of its cage July 8th, 2016
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