The Secret Life of Pets

The Secret Life of Pets is a 2016 American 3D computer animated comedyfilm produced by Illumination Entertainment. The film is directed by Chris Renaud and Yarrow Cheney and written by Brian Lynch, Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. The film stars Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Steve Coogan, Ellie Kemper, Bobby Moynihan, Lake Bell, Hannibal Buress and Albert Brooks. The film premiered in Annecy on June 16, 2016 and is scheduled to be released in the United States on July 8, 2016 by Universal Pictures.

Plot
Inside of a Manhattan apartment building, a terrier named Max (Louis C.K.) lives a spoiled life with his owner Katie (Ellie Kemper) and hangs out with other pets like Chloe (Lake Bell), Mel (Bobby Moynihan), Buddy (Hannibal Buress), and Sweet Pea. One day, Katie adopts a giant dog called Duke (Eric Stonestreet) who is very sloppy and careless. Max becomes upset about how Duke is treating him. One day when they are being walked by a caretaker while Katie is away, Duke tricks Max into being dragged far into the city. They are attacked by a gang of cats including Ozone (Steve Coogan), but are both caught by Animal Control and are being brought to the pound. Duke reveals to Max that Katie adopted him from the pound and will now be put down. However, they are rescued by a white rabbit called Snowball (Kevin Hart) who tells them to work for him.

He brings Max and Duke down into the sewers where they meet his cult of abandoned pets called "The Flushed Pets" who despise humans. They believe Max and Duke hate humans and try to make them join through the initiation which involves being bitten by a venomous snake, a viper. When Max and Duke kill the snake and Snowball finds out they're domesticated, the Flushed Pets chase them out and Max and Duke escape to Brooklyn. Snowball vows to find them and kill them.

Gidget (Jenny Slate), a white American Eskimo Dog that has a crush on Max, finds out that he went missing. She recruits a hawk called Tiberius (Albert Brooks) and they find out that Max and Duke are being brought to the sewer. Gidget, Mel, Buddy, Chloe, Sweet Pea and Tiberius team up to find Max and Duke. They also find a paralyzed elderly dog called Pops (Dana Carvey) to help them through the city. They find Snowball and learn his plan to kill Max and Duke, in which they are discovered but escape and continue to try and find them. However, Pops's hamster friend, Myron, accidentally makes his way back into their lair and is captured.

After raiding a sausage factory, Duke reveals to Max that he once had an owner who adopted him back when he was a puppy. One day, Duke chased a butterfly and was taken by Animal Control to the pound and his owner never returned. Max decides that Duke should reunite with his owner. Once they get to the old house, a cat tells them that Duke's owner had died. A depressed Duke accuses Max of trying to get rid of him and starts barking at the new house owners. However, Duke is once again caught by Animal Control.

Max is chased down by Snowball and some of his minions. When those minions are also taken by Animal Control, Max and Snowball decide to join forces. They chase down the Animal Control Van using a bus, but Snowball's other minions appear and try to kill Max on the Brooklyn Bridge. Snowball also breaks out his minions that were captured. When Max seems doomed, Gidget and the other pets show up and fight the Flushed Pets. The destroyed Animal Control Van falls off the Brooklyn Bridge into the river with Duke still trapped inside and Max hanging onto it. Max tries to break out Duke with the keys, but they float away. Snowball decides to save Duke by jumping into the water and bringing the keys to Max. He breaks Duke out as he's about to die and they get back to the surface.

Using a taxi, all the pets go back to the apartment block. Snowball and the other Flushed Pets return to their plans. The pets return to their owners and Max and Duke finally reunite with Katie, sparking a new friendship.

Voice cast

 * Louis C.K. as Max, a Jack Russell Terrier
 * Eric Stonestreet as Duke, a Newfoundland
 * Kevin Hart as Snowball, a white rabbit
 * Steve Coogan as Ozone, a Sphynx cat
 * Ellie Kemper as Katie, Max and Duke's owner
 * Bobby Moynihan as Mel, a pug
 * Lake Bell as Chloe, an obese tabby cat
 * Dana Carvey as Pops, an elderly basset hound, who is paralyzed in his back legs.
 * Hannibal Buress as Buddy, a dachshund
 * Jenny Slate as Gidget, a white Pomeranian who has romantic feelings for Max.
 * Albert Brooks as Tiberius, a red-tailed hawk
 * Tara Strong as Sweet Pea
 * Laraine Newman as Chloe's Owner
 * John Kassir as Leonard's Owner
 * Michael Beattie as Tattoo
 * Sasha Lester as Girl

Production
On January 24, 2014, the film was announced, with Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet and Kevin Hart, set to voice the main characters. On June 16, 2014, Albert Brooks, Hannibal Buress, Bobby Moynihan, Lake Bell and Ellie Kemper joined the cast.

Music
In December 2015, it was announced that Alexandre Desplat would score the film.

Release
The film was originally scheduled to be released on February 12, 2016 but was pushed back to July 8, 2016. The Secret Life of Pets premiered at the 2016 Annecy International Animated Film Festival on June 16, 2016 and will be screened at VidCon.

Box office
Internationally, The Secret Life of Pets will receive a scattered release over a period of four months, from June to August and is set to face competitions from other animated films such as Finding Dory and Ice Age: Collision Course. It was released in the U.K. and Norway two weeks ahead of its U.S. release where it grossed a combined total of $14.1 million in the two markets. Prior to its official debut in the United Kingdom and Ireland on June 24, the animated film had two days worth of previews on June 18 and 19 where it made £3.63 million ($5.2 million) in two days. This figure was later counted in the film's official opening weekend. It went on to score the biggest animated opening of 2016 (breaking Zootopia 's record) and the fourth biggest original animation opening weekend ever there with £9.58 million ($13.4 million) from 592 theaters. It trails behind Inside Out, Monsters, Inc. and Up. Excluding previews, its total three-day opening was $8.1 million. This was amidst the Brexit and despite facing competition from ''Independence Day: Resurgence. ''In Norway, it also took the number one spot as well, with $778,000. Next weekend, it will open in a handful of markets including Hong Kong, Israel, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 84%, based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 64 out of 100, based on 8 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".