‘The Secret Life of Pets 2’ Movie Review Roundup: Same Old Dogs, No New Tricks

Though Universal’s The Secret Life of Pets 2 led ticket sales at the box office this weekend, it fell short of expectations.

The movie took the No. 1 spot, but it earned under half the roughly $104.4 million that the original Secret Life of Pets made domestically during its first weekend in 2016.

While The Secret Life of Pets 2 wasn’t expected to reach those figures, it was expected to come closer to half that.

The sequel, which provides insight as to what our furry friends are up to behind our backs, brings back many of the characters from the original, including a tabby cat voiced by Lake Bell and a rabbit voiced by Kevin Hart.

The animated movie also features the voices of Tiffany Haddish, Jenny Slate and Patton Oswalt, who replaced Louis C.K. after the comedian was removed from the film following sexual harassment allegations.

The $80-million film earned a 3/5 on Common Sense Media, but a 55% “rotten” rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.

While the majority of the critics could agree that the animated animals were adorable, they were less than impressed with how similar the plot is to the original.

Check out what they had to say:

Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times

“The key to the appeal of “The Secret Life of Pets” is that the filmmakers understand the lovable quirks and characteristics that make our furry friends who they are. In the sequel to the animated hit, “The Secret Life of Pets 2,” it’s more of the same, but with babies and toddlers thrown into the mix. If you’ve seen the first movie, you get it.”

Bilge Ebiri, The New York Times

“These stories, each involving a character adopting a different persona, don’t add up to much, though they do eventually converge in a conventional chase climax. But despite indifferent plotting, “Pets 2” has some winning gags, often cleverly built around these creatures’ all-too-familiar qualities; any cat owner who’s had their pet walk all over their laptop keyboard before knocking over a coffee mug will chuckle in recognition. The movie is a time-waster, but (mostly) in a good way.”

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

“The Secret Lives of Pets 2 is running in circles without actually going anywhere. You want to pet the movie like a good dog for putting on an energetic show. But in the end it’s nothing to wag your tail about.”