Kiddies delight in the new pet movie

The Secret Life of Pets, with the voice talents of Louis CK, Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart and Jenny Slate, directed by Yarrow Cheney and Chris Renaud. 3/5

THEY’RE cute and cuddly, and can only look at the world from a pet’s perspective. They are the pets of the new animated movie showing at Rosehill Cinemas,

Max (voice of Louis CK) the dog is pretty put out when his owner, Katie (Ellie Kemper), brings home a new dog she found at the pound, Duke (Eric Stonestreet). He has been Katie’s “soul mate” for as long as he can remember, and Max determines he wants the big brute, Duke, out of his life.

After a night where Duke confronts his new “brother” and makes life difficult for him, Max is even more determined to get rid of Duke. Early in the morning, once Katie leaves (the dogs have no idea where she goes or why) the dogs, plus other dogs in their neighbourhood, are taken for a walk to the park by the dog walker who is more interested in texting his girlfriend than looking after his charges.

Duke fools Max to leave the park on a pretence and they end up in an alley where they are confronted by a gang of cats, led by the unbalanced Ozone (Steve Coogan) who take their collars and chase them away. That is when the dog catchers nab them and take them to the pound.

In the meantime, Gidget the poodle (Jenny Slate), who is secretly in love with her neighbour Max, sees the other dogs return from their walk but Max is not with them. This concerns her greatly, so she organises a search party for Max and Duke, and the posse reluctantly goes off on a mission to find Max and Duke.

Thus begins an adventure that lasts the entire day, and the strange group get to meet many other creatures along the way including a psychotic bunny named Snowball (Kevin Hart), a tattooed pig named Tattoo (Michael Beattie), a hawk named Tiberius (Albert Brooks) and many more.

This is a funny movie, and the characterisations are immediately recognisable and likeable (even the insane characters like Snowball). The subtext is that everyone needs love, and we should all just get along. You could be forgiven for believing you have seen this movie before, as the storyline is not particularly original, but the kids in the audience seemed to be having a great time, along with their adult caregivers.

If you have kids, then this movie is a must.