The Secret Life of Pets (2016)

Max is a lucky dog and he knows it.  He has a place to live and a human that he loves and that loves him back.  That’s why he’s surprised when his owner, Katie, brings home a new dog, Duke.  Duke seems friendly at first, but eventually takes a liking to his new home…and Max’s bed.  Max is adamantly against this intruder, but this is an animated movie.  While Max and Duke can communicate with each other in English, Katie hears nothing but barking.   Max’s complaints go nowhere.

Max has an idea, though.  He can damage enough of Katie’s vases so that Duke looks bad.  Duke gives in, but has an idea of his own.  He finds a weakness in the fence of a dog park.  It would be simple enough to abandon Max somewhere in the city.  Duke would have the apartment all to himself.  What Duke doesn’t count on is a gang of cats stealing their collars and leaving them for animal control to deal with.

Both dogs are put in the truck with a third dog.  Just when it looks like neither is going home, Snowball comes to the rescue.  Well, to the rescue of the third dog, specifically.  It turns out that Snowball and his cohorts hate humans.  Max and Duke agree with the rhetoric to get Snowball to spring them, as well.  You see, Snowball leads a gang of abandoned pets called The Flushed Pets.  All of the animals had homes until they didn’t.  Snowball, for instance, was a magician’s rabbit until the human found another job, making Snowball unnecessary.  Since many of the other animals would be considered exotic pets, it’s presumable that the others have similar stories.

Back home, Max’s friends band together to rescue Max.  They’re led by Gidget, who seems to have a small crush on Max.  She even enlists the aid of a hawk named Tiberius.  The adventure takes all three parties across Manhattan and Brooklyn.  Max and Duke even search for Duke’s previous owner.

You might wonder why I would give away so much information about a movie.  I think most adults won’t be surprised.  I’m not saying that the movie is formulaic.  It’s just that it does follow a certain pattern that I’ve seen before.  You have one character leading a nice, comfortable life.  That life is disrupted by an unwelcome newcomer who inadvertently sets them off on some wild ride.  There is at least clear threat, usually more, as the two characters face danger at every turn.  (In this case, Max and Duke have to worry about animal control and The Flushed Pets.)   While that adversary isn’t a great threat, there will be one life-threatening, paradigm-shifting situation that will cause the first character and the newcomer to become friends.

The movie is still entertaining.  It’s exactly the kind of movie that would be safe for kids and enjoyable by the parents that have to bring them.  There are a few dangerous situations for the characters.  Max and Duke are faced with the choice of being attacked by The Flushed Pets or a long fall into unclean water.  There are one or two scenes where their lives are in real danger, but it’s a comedy.  There’s no real expectation that Max and Duke won’t go home.  In fact, it’s exactly the kind of ending you could get a sequel out of.  I just hope that this doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone.

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The Little Prince (2015)

I used to work at Wolf Camera years ago.  One thing I remember was the mantra “Give yourself a raise.”  It meant that you could always be selling more of the things that got you sales incentives or commissions.  You could always sell more extended warranties or loyalty cards.  You could always sell more accessories.  Basically, it felt like I would always have the carrot of better numbers in front of me.  There had to be a point where it stopped.  (If I sold everything in the store with the maximum warranty, would they have me special order stuff?)

Such is the world of The Mother and The Daughter.  The Mother is anxious to see her daughter get into a good school.  They even have an answer for their expected Big Question.  However, when she’s asked a different question, The Daughter gives her rehearsed answer anyway, oblivious to the fact that it doesn’t make sense.  This necessitates a move to the same neighborhood as the school.  The cheapest house happens to be next door to The Aviator, a man that the neighbors (and police) seem to avoid whenever possible.

The Daughter and The Aviator become fast friends, as The Daughter tries to avoid her rigorous schedule.  You see, The Daughter has a lot of studying to do if she wants to do well and eventually get a good job.  The Aviator is an adult, but hasn’t grown up yet.  He sees in The Daughter someone he can tell his story to.  That story is the story of The Little Prince.

Never having read the book, I’m not sure how well the movie stays faithful to its source material.  In the movie, The Aviator tells of meeting The Little Prince, who claimed to be from an asteroid.  The Little Prince tells of his life and some of the people he’s met, like a businessman.  While on Earth, he meets a fox and a snake.  He has a good time, but eventually has to go home, which saddens the Aviator.  However, The Little Prince tells The Aviator to simply look up at the stars to remind him of their time together.

In the present timeframe, The Aviator tells The Daughter that he’s happy that they met, as he now has someone to pass along the story.  The Daughter infers that he may be leaving or even dying, which The Aviator denies.  She even gets upset with him for having such a sad ending.  When The Aviator is taken away in an ambulance, The Daughter takes it upon herself to find The Little Prince so that The Prince might help The Aviator.

The tale of The Mother, the Daughter and  the older Aviator seems to have been made for the movie.  From what I can tell, the book was meant as a children’s book for adults, warning of forgetting how to be a child.  The Mother and the other adults seem to have forgotten this, but The Aviator hasn’t.  He sees in The Daughter the opportunity to let her be a little girl for a few minutes.  The Mother means well, but she doesn’t seem to see that her daughter might want an hour or two to play.  (Isn’t hard work what being an adult is all about, though?)

It’s appropriate that the film uses CGI and stop motion.  Animation is typically seen as being for children.  Many adults seem to have forgotten how to enjoy an animated movie.  For years, I’ve been trying to get my parents to watch movies like Up and Zootopia to no effect.  I don’t know that they’ll ever take the recommendations seriously.

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Finding Nemo (2003)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

Marlin and Coral, two clownfish, are going to be parents. They have several hundred baby clownfish on the way and Marlin wants to name half Marlin Jr. and the other half Coral Jr. They’ve just moved into a great neighborhood and have great neighbors. Unfortunately, a big fish comes along and eats Coral and all but one of the eggs. Marlin names the one remaining fish Nemo, which is what Coral had wanted.

The next scene is Marlin getting Nemo ready for school. Marlin is understandably protective of Nemo. Nemo is his only child and has a lame fin, too. (Marlin tells Nemo that it’s his ‘lucky’ fin.) It’s a tense moment for Marlin having to let go, but Nemo’s excited. He can’t wait to get out and see things. The trouble is that Nemo’s going to a part of the ocean that Marlin considers dangerous. Marlin arrives just in time to see Nemo heading out towards a boat.

This is where the action begins. Nemo, in an act of defiance, goes all the way out to the boat to show everyone that he can do it. On the way back, he gets captured by a diver. Everyone else manages to get to safety, but Marlin has lost his son. He has to go and find him. Along the way, he meets a blue fish named Dory. (Yes, she’s a natural blue.) Dory’s a little forgetful. She thinks it runs in the family, but she can’t really remember that far back. Either way, Marlin and Dory have a long journey ahead of them. They find the dentist’s mask. Since Dory can read, they know where to go. Figuring out how to get there is a different story. They are able to ask directions and don’t waste too much time getting to where they have to go.

Nemo wakes up to find himself in a tank at a dentist’s office. (The dentist is also the diver that captured him.) He meets the dentist’s other fish, which were all bought. To make matters worse, Nemo isn’t staying for very long. Nemo is to be presented to the dentist’s niece as a birthday present at the end of the week. The girl has a reputation as a fish killer. The dentist props up a picture of the girl for the fish to see and in it, there’s the fish she got as last year’s gift – floating in the bag she got it in! Now, the pressure’s really on to get out. An angelfish by the name of Gil is the established leader of the fish tank. The others inhabiting the tank are Bloat, Peach, Bubbles, Deb, and Jacques. They all have to work to get Nemo out. (Hopefully, they can get out, too, but Nemo’s the one with the deadline.) Gil has a trick or two up his sleve, but getting out won’t be easy.

The movie’s rated G and 100 minutes in length. Despite the rating, you might want to consider before you take young children. As I mentioned, Coral and most of the eggs are eaten. You don’t actually see this happen, but you’ll probably have to explain why they’re gone. Marlin also faces some troubles on his way to find Nemo, including a shark that’s out to get him. (The shark is part of an AA-type support group for sharks who don’t want to eat fish.) I don’t know that it will necessarily scare or upset a child, but it’s something to consider.

It should be an enjoyable movie for children and the adults that take them. I’m an adult and enjoyed it on my own. (I rented it from Netflix.) My brother has also seen it and enjoyed the animation. (He has an interest in art and CG.) The animation alone will make watching this movie enjoyable. The DVD that I got from Netflix had a behind-the-scenes feature that you should watch. It shows how the movie was made and what went into the animation.

The only thing that I didn’t like about the DVD was that in order to see the deleted scenes, you had to go through the audio commentary. I didn’t see any way to watch them separately. One of the great things about DVD is the ability to add such features. I still liked it. I have to give this movie five stars.

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