THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2

PG, 88 minutes. Through today only at Stonington. Still playing at Westbrook, Lisbon. It was probably too much to ask that this sequel live up to 2016’s “The Secret Life of Pets,” an unexpectedly clever and touching film about what your pets do when you’re not at home. The buddy comedy about two domestic dogs who accidentally join a gang of feral strays was wildly contrived but, thanks to several heartwarming moments, hard to resist. The sequel makes resisting easier. Writer Brian Lynch and director Chris Renaud (both returning) cobble together three wisp-thin plotlines that, added together, still barely qualify as a full-length feature. — Rafer Guzmán, Newsday

SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME

you have to wholeheartedly buy into the rule that, categorically, the best songs ever written are by The Beatles. They’re great songs, to be sure. But in “Yesterday,” they are revelatory, tear-jerking, Best Songs Ever, no matter the context or who is singing them. It’s very high stakes, but then again, most everything about “Yesterday” is high stakes. This heightened high-concept magical dramedy presents the idea that a weird electrical blip/solar flare causes electricity all over the world to go out, while simultaneously wiping our collective consciousness clean of all traces of The Beatles. Jack (Himesh Patel), a struggling pub musician and busker, is at that moment hit by a bus (thank goodness he’s wearing a helmet), totaling his teeth and his bike tire. But somehow, his memory of The Beatles remains magically intact. He discovers the quirk when, as a get well gift, his pals get him a guitar. And because “a great guitar deserves a great song,” he plays a few bars of The Beatles’ “Yesterday,” absolutely flooring his friends, who wonder when and how he wrote the tune. Jack’s the only person in the world who remembers the band (or so it seems). And so, through a series of jogs in the rain clutching his forehead, he ultimately decides to capitalize on it, sending his career into overdrive. His trajectory to the top is aided by Ed Sheeran, who is apparently now the world’s best songwriter (in this timeline, Oasis does not exist, but the Rolling Stones do), and his manager, Deborah (Kate McKinnon) hears Jack’s crooning and sees dollar signs. Written by Jack Barth and Richard Curtis, the king of the British rom-com (“Love Actually,” “Four Weddings and Funeral,” “About Time”), “Yesterday” is a love story disguised as a high-concept music film. Jack has friend-zoned his best mate, Ellie (Lily James), and through The Beatles’ music and his journey to global superstardom and back, he learns what’s really important in life. Everything in the film is high: high concept, high pressure, high stakes, and it often feels bizarrely forced. Nothing makes any sense and is never explained. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service