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The Secret Life of Pets: Movie Review

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The Secret Life of Pets is everything last weekend's box office flop The BFG is not. It's funny without being (too) gross. It's heart-warming and it's fast-paced.

The "humans behind Despicable Me" delve into the world of dogs and cats and rodent pets (oh my!) in this new Illumination production. And the talented vocal cast (including Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, and Kevin Hart) do themselves proud in offering families a fairly clean, completely fun, and good messaged movie.

Max (Louis C.K.), an adorable terrier, and his loving human, Katie (Ellie Kemper), are a match made in doggy heaven. Their lives are perfect -- until Katie brings home a rescue dog named Duke (Stonestreet). Vying for top-dog status, the two stubborn mutts lose their way in New York City and stumble into a cotton-tailed bunny with nefarious plans named Snowball (Hart).

Rated PG for action and some rude humor, The Secret Life of Pets is not suggested for the littlest ones in your family. There are some mean-looking and ill-tempered former pets (including a vicious viper) that are quite scary. Plus, some of those discarded, cynical pets go into detail as they maniacally laugh about how they'd like to kill humans for their misdeeds.

In the end, The Secret Life of Pets plays out well. It's an enjoyable popcorn movie for the whole family - save kids under 6 or so - about how selfishness and revenge can lead you down a dark path. It likely (and deservedly) will be a box office hit that spawns a sequel or two.

 

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About The Author

Hannah
Goodwyn

Hannah Goodwyn served as a Senior Producer for CBN.com, managing and writing for the award-winning website. After her undergraduate studies at Christopher Newport University, Hannah went on to study Journalism at the graduate level. In 2005, she graduated summa cum laude with her Master's from Regent University and was honored with an Outstanding Student Award. From there, Hannah began work as a content producer for CBN.com. For ten years, she acted as the managing producer for the website's Family and Entertainment sections. A movie buff, Hannah felt right at home working as CBN.com's