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As an adult, the best thing I can say about The Secret Life of Pets 2 is that it was short. As a mom, my Secret Life of Pets 2 parent movie review says there are some mild concerns, but that Secret Life of Pets 2 is kid-friendly. I mean- this one is for the younger crowd and they will love it- and that might be all you need to know before you go see it. But read this anyway, umkay?
I watched a lot of movies this week and The Secret Life of Pets 2 was high on the list. My daughter plans to see it with her Brownie Troop so I wanted to make sure those kids weren’t in for any big surprises!
They aren’t- The Secret Life of Pets 2 is kid-friendly for the most part. Even if it’s kinda stupid (I know, I know- I’m not the target audience!).
About The Secret Life of Pets 2
In the Secret Life of Pets 2, Terrier Max (Patton Oswalt) is coping with some major life changes. His owner (Ellie Kemper) is now married and has a toddler, Liam. And Max wants to protect his person. Max gets some guidance from veteran farm dog Rooster (Harrison Ford, making his animated-film debut).
Meanwhile, while her owner is away, plucky Pomeranian Gidget (Jenny Slate) tries to rescue Max’s favorite toy from a cat-packed apartment with a little help from her feline friend, Chloe (Lake Bell), who has discovered the joys of catnip.
And crazy-but-cute bunny Snowball (Kevin Hart) gets delusions of grandeur that he’s an actual superhero after his owner Molly starts dressing him in superhero pajamas. But when Daisy (Tiffany Haddish), a fearless Shih Tzu, shows up to ask for Snowball’s help on a dangerous mission, he’ll have to summon the courage to become the hero he’s only been pretending to be.
Can Max, Snowball, Gidget and the rest of the gang find the inner courage to face their biggest fears?
Rated: PG
Run Time: 86 minutes
When Can You Pee During The Secret Life of Pets 2?
I know taking kids to the movie always causes some concerns. Is there a good time to run to the bathroom during Secret Life of Pets 2?
Honestly, the movie isn’t that complex that if you need to go- GO! And you’ll be ok catching up on things when you get back.
But here are the points I’d say you can run to pee during The Secret Life of Pets 2:
- When Max and his family get into the car for the road trip around 15 minutes in
- After Gidget is successful in retrieving the Busy Bee around 48 minutes in
Does The Secret Life of Pets Have End Credit Scenes?
Stick around for a little bit post movie.
There are some adorable snippets of kids and pets shown that almost make up for the rest of the movie! And if you really want to stay through the full credits, you’ll get a quick one-liner from Harrison Ford at the very, very end.
The Secret Life of Pets 2 Parent Movie Review
I’m going to skip most of the regular review and just get to the parent movie review portion. But to sum that up real quickly: I found The Secret Life of Pets 2 pretty boring and disjointed; more like 3 short stories that they decided to try to cram into one longer movie.
It wasn’t bad, I was just bored.
That being said, as an adult, I was tickled by the voice actors. Patton Oswalt, Harrison Ford, and Tiffany Haddish were fun to hear and I was smiling on just about every line from these three. But they are also actors I enjoy in live-action movies so that might have influenced things just a bit.
As far as holding a child’s attention and keeping them entertained, this movie will do the trick. It’s just that adults might be a bit pickier!
That Being Said, Is The Secret Life of Pets 2 Kid-Friendly?
From a language standpoint: yes! I didn’t catch or pick up any language concerns in this movie. Phew!
There was an awful lot of potty humor, however, so if that’s something your family avoids, please take note. Like- a lot of potty talk (pets and humans.)
There’s also a joke about a cat getting high on catnip that certainly hints at drug use (the song “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane is playing in the background of one scene). I know kids won’t get it, but hey, I want you to be aware via this parent movie review.
My biggest issue with the movie was the animal fight scenes and animal abuse scenes. There are a lot of them and they take it a bit too far in a few cases. There’s a monkey that’s throwing fistfuls of knives at a bunny that just feels excessive. The style of fighting between animals at one point is more MMA than slapstick.
There are also a few scary scenes that might make a younger child jumpy: a dog and sheep falling off a cliff in one instance and some creepy wolves giving chase in others.
Your kids are going to want to see this one- especially if they saw the first movie. If general violence or potty humor doesn’t bother you or them, I don’t think you’ll find too many issues with that happening.
Rating: 6/10
No-Guilt Fangirls Podcast Secret Life of Pets 2 Review
Patty Holliday is a movie critic, writer, and podcaster living in the Washington, DC area. Her goal is to bridge the gap between casual fandom and picky critic with parent movie and television reviews.
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