Comparisons are inevitable between this film and Disney’s Zootropolis, which opened earlier this year. But although both are populated with wisecracking animals, The Secret Life of Pets is closer thematically to Pixar’s Toy Story. Both the dynamic between pets/toys and owners/children and the rivalry between established favourite and new usurper feel as though they have been lifted from the John Lasseter film. The latest picture from the Despicable Me director Chris Renaud, Pets might not have quite the same wit and polish in terms of screenplay as Zootropolis. But it does deliver brilliantly when it comes to visual jokes, action set pieces, physical comedy and unabashed silliness. The sight gags come so thick and fast in this tale of a small terrier, his oversized, hirsute roommate and a despotic rabbit with a grudge against humanity that it’s hard to take them all in on first viewing.
