
They meet a Welsh Sheep Dog named Rooster (Harrison Ford, brooding as ever). The basic premise of The Secret Life of Pets 2 separates into three parts you have our favorite Jack Russell Terrier Max (now voiced by comedian Patton Oswald, replacing Louis CK, who obviously couldn’t helm a family picture at this point) and Duke ( Modern Family’s Eric Stonestreet) taking a trip to the country. It is void of plot almost entirely, which is not to say it’s a bad thing. The Secret Life of Pets 2 doesn’t borrow as much as it steals from decades-old films like City Slickers, Babe: Pig in the City, and it is almost like an episode of Seinfeld because it’s really about nothing. While the first Pets found a lovely story and even an engaging plot, the sequel doesn’t quite hit that mark. Very rarely do sequels top their predecessors, with the Toy Story series being one of the few that had gotten better with every installment. There is nothing like the sight of a big dog, not knowing he is a lap dog but going for the landing anyway. Yes, it gave some huge healthy helpings of sentimentality that I let pull my heartstrings, and that had me fall in love with Eric Stonestreet’s large, brown, shaggy Newfoundland mix named Duke.

I had so much fun with it I managed to slip it into the last slot on my 2016 Top Ten List. The Secret Life of Pets was my favorite animated film of 2016. The Secret Life of Pets 2 falls short of the original, but still has kinetic energy about it and delivers some solid laughs despite its faults - like the lack of any real plot.
