The Secret Life of Pets 2

The Secret Life of Pets 2 is an American 3D computer animated comedy film produced by Illumination, directed by Chris Renaud, co-directed by Jonathan Del Val, and written by Brian Lynch. It is the sequel to The Secret Life of Pets (2016) and the second feature film in the franchise. The film features the voices of Patton Oswalt (who replaces Louis C.K.), Kevin Hart, Eric Stonestreet, Jenny Slate, Tiffany Haddish, Lake Bell, Nick Kroll, Dana Carvey, Ellie Kemper, Chris Renaud, Hannibal Buress, Bobby Moynihan and Harrison Ford.

The film was theatrically released in the United States on June 7, 2019, by Universal Pictures. It received mixed reviews from critics and has grossed over $432 million worldwide.

Plot
Sometime after the events of the first film, Max and Duke's owner, Katie, gets married to a man named Chuck and have a son, Liam, whom Max disapproves of at first due to his rough play but eventually softens up to him. Later, Max's overprotective feelings for Liam develop into an itch which prompts Katie to get him a dog cone from the veterinarian in an effort to lower his symptoms. Max's luck changes when Duke reveals that the family is going on a road trip outside of the city.

When Max and Duke's family reaches a farm owned by Chuck's uncle, Max grows unaccustomed to the farm's ways, including local sheepdog Rooster. After an incident with the farm's sheep, Rooster takes Max out to find one of the missing sheep that ran away. Rooster's teaching and encouragement to Max about acting unafraid prompts Max to successfully retrieve the sheep. Rooster allows Max to stay with him overnight as a result. Before departure, Rooster also gives Max one of his handkerchiefs as a souvenir.

Before Max left, he had entrusted his favorite toy, Busy Bee, to Gidget. Unfortunately, Gidget loses Busy Bee in a cat-infested apartment owned by a cat lady. She receives cat lessons from Chloe, Mel, Buddy, and Sweet Pea in order to sneak in the apartment easier. With the help of Norman, she successfully retrieves Busy Bee and unintentionally gets hailed as the "queen of cats".

Meanwhile, Chloe and Snowball meet Shih Tzu Daisy, who explains that she needs Snowball, who dreams of being a superhero, to assist her with rescuing a White tiger cub named Hu, who can understand pets, but can't talk to them. While on flight back to the city, Daisy encountered him being held captive by an abusive circus owner named Sergei. Daisy and Snowball sneak in and find the circus Hu is in. With much difficulty from Sergei's black wolves, they free Hu from the circus. However, in the heat of the escape, Daisy accidentally drops her flower clip, which the wolves use to track her down.

She and Snowball take him to Pops' apartment first. Pops reluctantly lets Hu live there at first, but due to his destruction of the apartment afterwards, Hu is kicked out and relocated in Max and Duke's apartment. Around the same time, the family returns from the trip. Sergei and his wolves track Daisy down and capture both Hu and Daisy. Sergei escapes in his train moving for the circus in which Snowball, Max, and Norman pursue while contacting Gidget for assistance in the chase. Gidget and the cats take their owner off in her car, in pursuit of the train.

Max and Snowball defeat the wolves and Sergei's pet monkey, while freeing Hu and Daisy respectively. Max, using his newfound bravery Rooster gave him, successfully infiltrates the train locomotive Sergei is in. The rest of the animals go and kick him out of the train. But before they are shot by Sergei, Gidget, along with the cat lady, Chloe, Mel, Buddy, Duke, and Sweet Pea knock him out with her car and offers the animals a ride back home. Life resumes normally, with Max and Duke's family saying goodbye to Liam as he enters his first day of preschool while Hu takes up residence in his new home with the cat lady and Snowball becomes New York City's local superhero.

In a mid-credits scene, Snowball raps to "Panda", which only lasts briefly before his owner, Molly, comes into the room he is in.

Cast

 * Patton Oswalt as Max, a Jack Russell Terrier.
 * Kevin Hart as Snowball, a white rabbit and a would-be superhero.
 * Harrison Ford as Rooster, a Welsh Sheepdog.
 * Eric Stonestreet as Duke, a large, brown, shaggy Newfoundland mix who lives with Max.
 * Jenny Slate as Gidget, a white Pomeranian and Max’s girlfriend.
 * Tiffany Haddish as Daisy, a Shih Tzu.
 * Lake Bell as Chloe, a morbidly obese and apathetic grey tabby cat.
 * Dana Carvey as Pops, an elderly Basset Hound who is paralyzed in his back legs.
 * Bobby Moynihan as Mel, a hyperactive pug.
 * Hannibal Buress as Buddy, a laid-back dachshund.
 * Chris Renaud as Norman, a guinea pig.
 * Ellie Kemper as Katie, Max and Duke's owner.
 * Pete Holmes as Chuck, Katie's husband.
 * Henry Lynch as Liam, Katie and Chuck's son.
 * Nick Kroll as Sergei, an abusive circus owner.
 * Sean Giambrone as Cotton, a young sheep whom Max and Rooster save from a cliff.
 * Meredith Salenger as a cat lady.
 * Michael Beattie as Lead Wolfdog, the leader of Sergei's trained wolfdogs.
 * Michael Beattie also voices a skinny cat
 * Kiely Renaud as Molly, Snowball's owner.
 * Tara Strong as Sweetpea, a green and yellow budgie parakeet.
 * Garth Jennings as a hamster.

Additional Voices

 * David Acord
 * Jaime Camil - Fernando
 * Antonio Raul Corbo
 * Brian T. Delaney
 * Jessica DiCicco
 * Terri Douglas
 * Sandra Echeverría - Maria
 * Kylie Hart
 * Garth Jennings - Hamster
 * JP Karliak
 * John Kassir
 * Scott Menville
 * Scott Mosier
 * Laraine Newman - Chloe's Owner
 * Capri Oliver
 * Arthur Ortiz
 * Lucian Perez
 * Chris Renaud
 * Maddix Robinson
 * Ashley Silverman
 * Tara Strong - Sweetpea
 * Fred Tatasciore - Big Fat Cat
 * Cory Walls
 * Matthew Wood

Uncredited

 * Dee Bradley Baker - Animal's Vocal Effects
 * Bryce Papenbrook
 * Frank Welker - Animal's Vocal Effects

Production
On August 2, 2016, Universal Pictures and Illumination announced a sequel to the 2016 animated film The Secret Life of Pets with director Chris Renaud and writer Brian Lynch returning. Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy would produce the film, with Michael Wildshill executive producing. The Oatmeal writer Matthew Inman has been working on the film as a creative consultant.

In November 2017, it was announced that Louis C.K. would not be reprising his role as Max after being accused of and later admitting to sexual misconduct with five women. In April 2018, it was announced that Patton Oswalt would replace C.K. as Max while Hart, Stonestreet, Slate, Kemper, Bell, Carvey, Buress, Moynihan would reprise their roles. Additional casting includes Tiffany Haddish, Nick Kroll, Harrison Ford and Pete Holmes.

Music and soundtrack
Alexandre Desplat, who previously composed the score of the first film, returned for the sequel. The soundtrack was released by Back Lot Music on May 31, 2019.

Release
The Secret Life of Pets 2 was released in the United States on June 7, 2019 by Universal Pictures. It was previously set for a July 13, 2018 release, and then on July 3, 2019. The film was released in the United Kingdom two weeks earlier on May 24, 2019.

Marketing
Leading up to the movie’s release, a few character trailers have dropped, which each features Max, Chloe, Snowball, Daisy, Gidget and Rooster. On April 11, 2019 (National Pet Day), the first official full trailer dropped. The final trailer was released on May 16, 2019.

Promotional partners for the film include General Mills, Ziploc, Bounty, and McDonald's.

Home media
The Secret Life of Pets 2 was released on Digital on August 13, 2019 and on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD on August 27, 2019 in the US. It includes two mini-movies: Super Gidget, and Minion Scouts. The 4K Ultra HD version was also Universal's first release to use the HDR10+ format

The film was released in the UK on October 8th for DVD and Blu-ray and Digital Download.

Box office
The Secret Life of Pets 2 has grossed $158.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $271.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $429.4 million, against a production budget of $80 million.

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Dark Phoenix, and was initially projected to gross around $60 million in its opening weekend. The film played in 4,561 theaters, the second-widest release of all-time. After making $17.4 million on its first day (including $2.2 million from Thursday night previews, down from the first film's $5.3 million), estimates were lowered to $46 million. It went on to debut to $48 million, less than half the opening of the first film but still finishing atop the box office. In its second weekend the film made $24.4 million, finishing second behind newcomer Men in Black: International.

In the United Kingdom, the film debuted to $4.1 million from 613 theaters on the May 24 weekend. A week later the film expanded to Russia and made a combined $17.2 million between the two countries.

Critical reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 59% based on 150 reviews with an average rating of 5.72/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Secret Life of Pets 2 doesn't teach its animated stars any new narrative tricks -- but for fans of the original, this funny, energetic sequel should still satisfy." At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, the same score as the first film, while those at PostTrak gave it an average 4.5 out of 5 stars.