THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2

Voices of:  Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, Harrison Ford, Patton Oswalt, Eric Stonestreet

Jenny Slate, Lake Bell, Hannibal Buress, Nick Kroll, Dana Carvey, Ellie Kemper

      Whereas in the first rendition of The Secret Life of Pets, a relatively simple story with lots of excitement is told, in Secret Life 2, the filmmakers opted to have three loosely related story plots alternating with one another.  One story is about the main character Max having to adjust to his owner’s new baby and going for a visit to a farm where he encounters an intimidating bigger dog named “Rooster” (Ford), although Rooster isa dog.  Another is about Max’s friend Gidget (Slate) trying to retrieve Max’s favorite toy, “busy bee”—which he entrusts her with while he is out of town—when it bounces away and ends up in a cat-filled apartment.  The third story is about Snowball (Hart) feeling like a super hero when his owner dresses him up in an action figure costume, and his friend Daisy (Haddish) asks him for help in rescuing a circus tiger from its abusive trainer Sergei (Kroll).  

     In my opinion, this structure becomes a near fatal flaw, because it fragments the plot and literally lurches through three very different settings and intrigues. Max is trying to brave it up on the farm; Gidget and her friend Chloe (Bell) are frantically trying to wrest “busy bee” from one huge snarling cat in a house full of cats, and Snowball and Daisy become action figures in outwitting and outfighting the evil Sergei for the tiger. Try as the filmmakers might, the three stories don’t really come together in the end; we just get a sample of endless chases modeled after adult action movies.  Bravery seems to be the element tying all this together, but by the end, we feel like we’ve seen three different movie shorts.

     The actors voicing the animals do a great job highlighting their characters’ personalities (Harrison Ford, Tiffany Haddish, and Nick Kroll are welcome additions to the first team), the animation and special effects are entertaining, and Alexandre Desplat’s music is an apt accompaniment.  

     Children in the screening I attended giggled and laughed at expected times and seemed to enjoy the film overall; I just wonder how well the younger ones especially followed and kept track of the three plots.

Another peek into the pet world, where challenges and intrigues are aplenty.

Grade:  C                                    By Donna R. Copeland

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS: THE FIRST EPIC MOVIE

Voices of:  Jordan Peele   Kevin Hart   Thomas Middleditch   Nick Kroll   Ed Helmsl   Kristen Schaal

     The setting of this animation of absolutely no value is grade school with a mean principal, Mr. Krupp (Helms) who has it in for two student cartoonists, George (Hart) and Harold (Middleditch), pranksters who constantly thwart Krupp’s efforts.  Of course, he is shown as being just as humorless and bad as the two pranksters are “funny.”  Funny is in quotes because the humor always has a scatological reference.  Let me list the words—you’ll be amazed that they could get this many into an 84-minute production:  Underpants (of course), toilet, toilet plunger, toilet paper, Uranus, peeing, farting, pooping, and diarrhea.  There’s even a Professor Poopypants (Kroll) and a farting symphony.  Not only is the principal disparaged in this film; so are school, science, and good students. 

     The basic premise of the plot is that mean Mr. Krupp threatens to put George and Harold into separate classrooms, which they’re convinced will destroy their friendship forever.  In desperation, they snoop around his office and find some of their things, which Mr. Krupp had confiscated, like a “hypnosis ring.”  With it, they’re able to put him in a trance, which transforms him by removing his clothes and putting him into underpants and a red cape.  An unanticipated side effect is that he thinks he’s a superhero and they start calling him “Captain Underpants.”  In this role he’s seen as partly a dumb fool and partly more heroic than he is in his natural state.  Anytime he starts transforming back into the principal, the two boys simply snap their fingers and sing “Tra-la-la”, and he’s in his underpants and cape again.

     Mixed into the plot is a mad scientist (Kroll) with a German accent and a hairdo that looks like a wild Einstein who gets hired to teach science.  He is Professor Poopypants, with fantasies of revenge for being imprisoned, and one of his efforts is to wipe out all laughter in the world.  This will clearly impede George’s and Harold’s comic book business, so they team up with Captain Underpants to try to destroy Poopypants.

      The ending is predictable.

     This film will appeal to five year-olds who are still in the giggly potty humor phase, but it gets very tiresome for other ages—particularly those who are mature—and it is devoid of any helpful, positive qualities for children.

This is for those who still think potty jokes are funny.

Grade:  F                                   By Donna R. Copeland

THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS

Voices of:  Louis C.K.     Eric Stonestreet     Jenny Slate     Kevin Hart     Albert Brooks  

          Loveable?  Playful?  Mischievous?  Loyal?  Sometimes possessive?  All pet owners know their darlings are all of these, but in The Secret Life of Pets, they are these and more—adventurous, spiteful, heroic, and really comical.  Basic credit should go to the directors (Chris Renaud and Yarrow Cheney), the writers (Ken Daurio, Brian Lynch, Cinco Paul), Production designer (Eric Guillon), and art director (Colin Stimpson).  And of course to all the actors, especially Louis C.K., Hart, Slate, and Brooks.  Everything comes together seamlessly, to make it a colorful and even exciting experience.

         In the beginning, we’re given a picture of the “normal” life of these pets after their owners leave them during the day.  Max (Louis C.K.) particularly misses his owner, and waits patiently by the door just pining for her to return and wondering where on earth she goes.  But horror of horrors, she comes in one day with a HUGE dog named Duke (Stonestreet), who proceeds to edge Max out of his bed, his feeding bowl, and his special status.  They begin to vie with each other repeatedly, and on one of their excursions outdoors get caught by dogcatchers and taken to the pound.

          This is where the heroics begin to surface, as Snowball (Hart) and his rascal following spring them from the pound and take them to the city sewers where animals who hate their owners band together and look down on pets as wimps and betrayers of the animal kingdom.  “Revolution!” they yell when they are “liberating” household pets.  This is where the challenge comes for Max and Duke, because as part of their initiation, they have to recount how they killed a human enemy. 

        Fantastical escapes, chases, and run-ins follow chaotically, which constitute the exciting and funny parts of the story.  Some of it is led by the complexity of the cat Gidget’s (Slate) having a giant crush on Max, and when he disappears, she enlists the help of many others to find him and save him.

         The music of the composing wizard Alexandre Desplat pumps up the intrigue and playfulness throughout.

         The Secret Life of Pets is not all fun and games, and the loyalty and heroics shown are good models for children to see.  The ending is the pièce de résistance, though, when the most vengeful character finds solace in a warm embrace.

An animation that animates…delightfully.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland

GET HARD

--> Will Ferrell     Kevin Hart

-->

Get Hard is typical fare for Ferrell and Hart fans, but this one is getting some flack about its racial and gay material.  But whereas the filmmakers (Etan Cohen, director; Jay Martel and Ian Roberts, writers) do make an issue of these subjects constantly, I think they are successful in striking a balance between both points of view about race and homosexuality.  They air both sides.  Additional jibes are made about the very wealthy (1%) vs. the other 99%.  The Ferrell character (James King) is extremely wealthy, and the Hart character (Darnell Lewis), while not poor, is struggling.  My impression is that they make pointed references to the “haves’” attitudes from the beginning, and by the end the “have”—King—is definitely on the side of the majority of Americans, and justice is served in the case of some wealthy financiers.

The plot begins with James King sitting pretty with a secure position in investments, a mansion of a house in Bel Air, California, and a gorgeous fiancé who happens to be his boss’ daughter.  Like many of his kind apparently are, he is oblivious to the people taking care of him, and he feels invulnerable.  However, his charmed life is about to come to an end when he is arrested for securities fraud and embezzlement.  After a trial in which he is found guilty, the judge orders a 10-year prison sentence—although he is allowed to go free for 30 days with an ankle identification device.

King is a nice guy, and has been cordial with the car-washing service owned by Lewis.  When Lewis finds out that King is going to prison, he gives hints about what is likely to be in store for King, a white prisoner, especially in San Quentin.  King does some quick statistical analyses in his head and concludes that since Darnell is black he must have been in prison.  (We’ll ignore the fact that statistics such as “so many out of so many” says nothing about an individual.)  Darnell plays on the stereotype, and agrees to coach King on how to survive in prison, teaching him how to fight (not so successful; King is a soft, Harvard-educated intellectual), how to trash talk, how to “suck dick”, and other “skills.” 

This is an elaborate training program that involves enlisting the help of a black gang and a Nazi-like white motorcycle band.  In the process, King and Darnell become fast friends, which is in large part the point of the movie. 

Although this type of film is not the kind I gravitate toward, I do appreciate the effort to bridge the gaps between racial, sexual, and economic groups, and although much of the film is silly hi-jinx and the humor often eluded me, it held my interest.

Definitely a film for Ferrell and Hart fans.

Grade:  C+             By Donna R. Copeland