Secret Life of Pets. Didn't love it...didn't hate it. Blah.

Jeremiah and I took Jonas to see the Secret Life of Pets last Saturday. I had high expectations since we had seen the trailer countless times over the last year and it always had us laughing. It had a great comic cast, such as Louis C.K. performing the voice of Max the spoiled terrier and Kevin Hart performing the voice of Snowball, the crazed rabbit who led the unwanted animals of the NYC underworld.

The premise of the story is about a pampered terrier named Max, who lives in bliss with his owner Kate. His world is turned upside down when Kate brings home a big, awkward, rescue dog named Duke (Eric Stonestreet). Max is outraged by this new addition and the two dogs are at competitive odds for territory. Max's goal is to try to get rid of Duke and during a trip to the dog park their rivalry leads them astray and they are accosted by alley cats and are then picked up by animal control. A rabbit named Snowball, who dislikes domestic pets, rescues Max and Duke from the truck and in exchange asks that they join his underground gang of disposed animals and pets. They agree but are found out to be domestic pets and narrowly escape Snowball's pursuit. Meanwhile, Gidget (Jenny Slate), Max's Pomeranian neighbor who has a big crush on him, rallies up the pets from their apartment building for a rescue mission. The rescue squad includes an apathetic cat named Chloe (Lake Bell) and a carnivorous falcon named Tiberius (Albert Brooks) and a bunch more characters whose names I've already forgotten. The rest of the movie is as predictable as expected, Max and Duke learn to accept each other, Gidget and her friends come to the rescue, and even Snowball abandons his pursuit to save the day.

I loved the idea of our pets having this double life that their humans weren't a part of and really thought the movie would be better. Jonas said he liked the it, especially Snowball, but I don't know if he will ask to see it again. Unfortunately, and I think my husband agrees, the movie just lacked heart. I desperately wanted to connect to Max and Duke's journey home and their learning to accept each other but found I was trying too hard to love SLoP when it was just okay. As I feared, the funniest parts of the movie were in the theatrical trailer and while I did chuckle a long the way, overall, Secret Life of Pets fell flat.

It had its moments, it wasn't horrible...it just wasn't memorable.