MSRP: £14.99
Film Review
Illumination expand on their Minions-related portfolio with the engaging The Secret Life of Pets, a solid companion-piece to Zootropolis.
After the disappointing Minions, and while we wait for the far more anticipated Despicable Me 3, Illumination's The Secret Life of Pets proves that the studio has a little more variety up its sleeve, even if the film distinctly walks in the shadow of the Disney's arguably more superior Zootropolis. Offering up a Look Who's Talking-esque expose into the minds of household pets, we follow a couple of mismatched dogs who get into some trouble with a gang of vicious alley-cats, some determined pet catchers and a band of underground revolutionary anti-pets. New York really is a jungle.
Playing as a Toy Story-lite escapade, only exclusively featuring a band of animals, Pets is a frequently diverting, oftentimes entertaining animation which should certainly leave the youngest generation of viewers wanting to watch it again. And again. The comedy gems aren't as razor sharp for adults, admittedly, with only a few supporting characters (Albert Brooks' angry Hawk, Kevin Hart's psycho bunny and Steve Coogan's crazy Sphinx) standing out in a fun feature that unfortunately otherwise struggles to maintain the highs established in the hilarious opening montage (basically, the trailer). A far cry from Minions, it's also not 'Toy Story with Dogs'.
Picture Quality
Unsurprisingly, The Secret Life of Pets looks absolutely stunning on Blu-ray, delivered with a fabulous 1080p/AVC-encoded High Definition video presentation framed in the movie's original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 widescreen.
Detail is fabulous, lapping up the finer textures of the various pets - the plushness of the fur on each individual animal offering up distinction between them. It's outstanding, with the vibrant, colourful cityscape backdrop coming to life with rich texturing and the mannerisms, nuances and characteristics of these characters beautifully depicted. The colour scheme is, also unsurprisingly, broad and rich, with vibrant, vivid, strong tones allowing the picture to pop with primary intensity, and strong black levels allowing for a rich foundation and impressive shadow detail during the darker sequences. Outstanding work, there's little here to fault.
The Secret Life of Pets looks absolutely stunning
Detail is fabulous, lapping up the finer textures of the various pets - the plushness of the fur on each individual animal offering up distinction between them. It's outstanding, with the vibrant, colourful cityscape backdrop coming to life with rich texturing and the mannerisms, nuances and characteristics of these characters beautifully depicted. The colour scheme is, also unsurprisingly, broad and rich, with vibrant, vivid, strong tones allowing the picture to pop with primary intensity, and strong black levels allowing for a rich foundation and impressive shadow detail during the darker sequences. Outstanding work, there's little here to fault.
Sound Quality
The Secret Life of Pets boasts a Dolby Atmos track with a tremendous Dolby TrueHD 7.1 core, making for reference material no matter what your home cinema capabilities.
The beleaguered pets provide clear and coherent dialogue throughout, alternated with the barks that their owners hear, keenly disseminated across the frontal array, although brooding scenes of catty tension when the alley-cats flock The Birds-style, tend to take up more of the soundstage. Effects are wonderfully realised, bringing vitality to the intricacies of this innovative universe, leveling undercurrents of well-manipulated LFE input, and delivering discrete surround excellence. Chases ignite the array; rushing water threatens to flood your living room; and the sound designers know just how to bring the environment to life.
Reference material no matter what your home cinema capabilities
The beleaguered pets provide clear and coherent dialogue throughout, alternated with the barks that their owners hear, keenly disseminated across the frontal array, although brooding scenes of catty tension when the alley-cats flock The Birds-style, tend to take up more of the soundstage. Effects are wonderfully realised, bringing vitality to the intricacies of this innovative universe, leveling undercurrents of well-manipulated LFE input, and delivering discrete surround excellence. Chases ignite the array; rushing water threatens to flood your living room; and the sound designers know just how to bring the environment to life.
Extras
Headlined by a trio of excellent accompanying Mini-Movies, the disc is packed with an otherwise predominantly Featurette-based offering that does have a few further gems of animated delight. The three Mini-Movies are NTV: Norman Television, Weenie and Mower Minions, the last of which is likely to be the biggest draw, and they come with their own Making-of, whilst the remaining offerings on the main film include a quintet of Interviews with the team members who were integral to this production, The Humans That Brought You Pets, and then a further Animals Can Talk: Meet the Actors Featurette promoting a salvo of recording studio clips and interviews with the voice cast. All About the Pets looks at the characters, whilst Hairstylist to the Dogs takes a tongue in cheek look at real-life pet grooming. How to Make an Animated Film briefly sketches over how they put the film together, Anatomy of a Scene breaks down the intricacies of one key sequences, whilst The Best of Snowball compiles some of Kevin Hart's best moments in a minute-long montage. There's also a "Lovely Day" lyric video, a Hot Dog Sing-Along, a trio of cheap, pointless and unfunny 'Brian the Minion on Pets' clips, and a Trailer for the upcoming Sing movie.
Conclusion
The Secret Life of Pets Blu-ray Review
Another engaging offering from the creators of the Despicable Me franchise
Topping Minions, The Secret Life of Pets is another engaging offering from the creators of the Despicable Me franchise, delivering some fine moments in a solid animated offering which isn't quite as good as its excellent trailer would make you believe, but which is still well worth investigating - particularly if you have younger kids to entertain. Reference video and audio, and a strong selection of extras leave this disc an undoubted must-have for fans.
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