"The Secret Life of Pets": On a Short Leash. What are the names of the cartoon characters in The Secret Life of Pets? Pet Life Heroes
In a skyscraper in the center of New York, not only people live, but also their pets.
In the absence of their owners, they are busy with a wide variety of activities. Thus, the Pomeranian Gidget (Jenny Slate) spends time watching soap operas, the sleek cat Chloe (Lake Bell) feasts on delicious dishes from the owner's refrigerator, the resourceful dachshund Buddy (Hannibal Buress) uses a mixer as a massager, the resilient pug Mel (Bobby Moynahan), standing at the window, he defends his territory by barking at squirrels, and even the sedate poodle Starchi turns out to be a passionate fan of rock music and throws incendiary parties for the entire neighborhood. At first glance their life is boring and monotonous, but this is not true at all, because each of them has favorite owners.
The everyday life of the main character, a terrier named Max (Louis C.K.), consists of waiting for his beloved owner Katie, with whom he is selflessly “in love.” But one unfortunate day his measured life collapses: a compassionate girl brings into the house a huge and shaggy dog Duke (Eric Stonestreet). Katie is sincerely confident that the dogs will definitely make friends, but Max does not share her enthusiasm. Duke is rude and does not have good manners; all Max’s attempts to “put him in his place” end in failure.
However, Max is not one of those who are used to just giving up. Using blackmail, he forces Duke to submit to himself. But this brilliant idea turns into a disaster: during a walk, Duke breaks the leash and lures Max to the trash heap and at the same time falls into his own trap.
Stray cats remove Max and Duke's collars, without which the animal control service mistakes them for street dogs.
In this situation, Duke shows his true “face” for the first time, he is scared and depressed, not a trace of his self-confidence remains.
But the “brothers” do not end up in the shelter.
The car is hijacked by a gang of cute but crazy rabbit Snowball (Kevin Hart). Him and him the team is obsessed with the idea of revenge on people, who treated them cruelly, and gladly accept recruits into their ranks. But Max and Duke are alien to their way of thinking. By deception, they escape from Snowball and take a ferry, without knowing it, to Brooklyn.
And in the house in Manhattan, life goes on as usual. No one notices the absence of Max and Duke. Only little Gidget, suspecting something was wrong, persuades her four-legged neighbors to go in search of their missing friends. This motley group will have to plunge into the world of the big city, find friends, avoid the machinations of Snowball and return home before their owners arrive.
Facts about the film
The Illumination company is known throughout the world for the cartoons “Despicable Me”, “Despicable Me-2” and “Minions”.
The idea of the cartoon “The Secret Life of Pets” is very unusual and interesting: everyone is curious to know what pets do in the absence of their owners.
The plot is simple and quite predictable, but this is its main charm, because the target audience is children. It raises topics such as friendship and mutual understanding, mutual assistance and devotion, the victory of good over evil, and shows how important love and care are for all pets without exception.
The humor is kind and cheerful, without jokes “below the belt”, which makes the cartoon accessible for viewing by the whole family.
The characters are recognizable and everyone has their place.
The bright picture is the main advantage of this cartoon. Attention to detail, carefully drawn characters and a true depiction of the atmosphere of New York streets will not leave anyone indifferent.
Video: The Secret Life of Pets - watch the trailer
Oct 23, 2016 Irina
So, if you are reading this article, then you are probably interested in WHAT breeds of dogs are presented in the popular summer-autumn 2016 cartoon “The Secret Life of Pets”.
When watching this cartoon, I doubted the identification of some breeds, because many of them are unlike their prototypes. Maybe the project manager doesn’t understand breeds...or the animation team are only breeders of dachshunds and basset hounds...I don’t know. In general, you will read below what I think about it.
For example, the dachshund Buddy was perfectly modeled: the short legs were reduced even more, the long nose was increased, and the result was a funny cartoon dachshund:
No one gave the dachshund long legs or changed the shape of the ears, the only thing is that the color is a little wrong, but these are minor things, it’s a cartoon after all.
Everyone who sees a dachshund accurately identifies the breed - dachshund! Smooth-haired standard dachshund, black and tan color.
Poodle Leonard is another dog whose breed there is no doubt about - exactly the Great White Poodle or, as it is also called, the Royal Poodle.
And so the problems begin...
Gidget is a Pomeranian. Hmm? The HUGE eyes confuse me. Oranges, if you didn’t know, have very small eyes, almost beady.
Enlarging the large fluffy fur is good (but why only on the head?), making the already tiny paws smaller is also cartoonish, but the eyes...why change them? 
Next, the main characters are Max and his huge new roommate Duke. On the official website of the film and on Wikipedia, the data differs: sometimes they write that Max is a Jack Russell terrier, sometimes he’s just a house dog. About Duke - that he is a tramp or a Newfoundland. So guess for yourself.
The confusion is quite justified: Russells are not thin-legged dogs at all, and it was necessary to make a funny character with a broad chest and muscular paws, brave and lively, rather than a skinny whiner.
The Newfoundland in Duke is also unrecognizable; it’s more likely that Duke is a “door terrier”. Photos of real dogs below: 
Personally, in my opinion, it is worth enhancing the outstanding features of cartoon characters, and not spoiling the characters beyond recognition by changing narrow to wide, short to long, and so on. For example, if a dachshund is made short with long legs and erect ears, who will recognize it as a dachshund?
After the incredible box office success of the two parts Despicable Me and Minions, which brought a total of $2.7 billion to Illumination Entertainment, it would be strange for the creators (Chris Renaud and Christopher Meledandri) not to try their luck and invest in the development of an original animated film project. After all, viewers, as a rule, love everything new. You don’t have to go far: Disney’s “Zootopia,” one of the most inventive cartoons of the last few years, is collecting crazy amounts of money and receiving rave reviews, while the fourth continuation of the outdated “Ice Age” franchise is failing miserably at the American box office. being trampled by critics (11% positive reviews on the opinion aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 3.9 points out of 10). Whatever one may say, you won’t be satisfied with minions alone. Actually, this is how the yellow-skinned minions of “evil” were replaced by cute and fluffy animals of all stripes, from dogs and cats to rabbits and guinea pigs. Too easy? No matter how it is!
The quiet, measured life of a dog named Max changes dramatically after his owner Katie brings home another dog, the furry Newfoundland (diver) Duke. A serious struggle ensues between four-legged pets for the right to be called their owner’s favorite. Max uses all his wits to get rid of the annoying guest as quickly as possible, and Duke, using brute force, tries to intimidate him. Captivated by the ensuing confrontation, Max and Duke foolishly lose their collars during an everyday walk, after which they fall into the hands of stray dog catchers. They are rescued by the rabbit Snowball, who leads a squad of abandoned animals who were unlucky with their owners. Max and Duke will have to learn to work as a team if they want to return home safe and sound. Meanwhile, Max's friends become aware of Max's disappearance and decide to organize a rescue operation.
Still from the cartoon “The Secret Life of Pets”
Despite the plot bursting with an overabundance of genre clichés, “The Secret Life of Pets” turned out to be a very exciting and colorful animated film, which, like “Minions” and “Despicable Me,” gives viewers new colorful and, most importantly, diverse characters. This is certainly a bright and lively spectacle, not without a sense of style. The authors of the project did a great job on the design of the picture, which is emphasized in almost every frame. The New York high-rise building is impressive in its detail (not to mention the Big Apple itself), and the depiction of the cartoon characters is brought to near perfection. Rich animation coupled with visuals rich in content allow you to enjoy every minute of the action taking place on the screen. Regardless of what tricks the script of “The Secret Life...” sometimes manages to pull off, literally bursting at the seams.
Still from the cartoon “The Secret Life of Pets”
A dynamic narrative, reduced to five-minute runs up and down, violates the integrity of the perception of the cartoon. At a certain point in the plot, our attention is suddenly switched from a crazy chase through city neighborhoods and sewers to the personal drama of one of the main characters in the film. That is, before the viewer has time to catch his breath after a long action scene, they immediately slip him a tragedy with all that it entails. The situation is similar with the ridiculous romantic line between Max and his Pomeranian neighbor Gidget, sewn into the main story. Moreover, the creators do not see the need to delve into the so-called sentimental segments, devoting the lion's share of screen time to demonstrating the strong visual qualities of the film. An animated blockbuster, after all. This flickering out of the blue results in a somewhat crumpled finale, the loveliness of which nevertheless makes the soul warmer.
Still from the cartoon “The Secret Life of Pets”
The Secret Life of Pets is not shy about overt borrowing. The journey of Max and Duke is a typical friendly trip (“buddy movie”), the task of which is to bring together heroes who do not like each other. The opening is reminiscent of the first Toy Story, in which Buzz and Woody, who were still rivals with each other, found themselves far from home and were looking for a way to get back, while at the same time trying to improve their relationship. So it’s unlikely that Illumination Entertainment’s new cartoon will be called completely original.
Still from the cartoon “The Secret Life of Pets”
With what, and with the characters in “The Secret Life...” there is complete order. As they say, for all tastes and colors. Here you have a sociopathic rabbit, a charming Spitz girl who knows a lot about martial arts, a hawk with manic tendencies, and a stately poodle who secretly listens to hard rock music from her owner! Each of the characters is unique in their own way, and the comical situations in which they find themselves as the plot develops give them even more charm. No wonder such famous American comedians as Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Jenny Slate, Albert Brooks and Ellie Kemper took part in the voice acting of the film. Witty gags flow from the screen like a river, but, as in the case of “Minions” (by the way, before the sessions of “The Secret Life of Pets” a short cartoon is shown with the participation of these yellow-faced pranksters), a certain redundancy is felt. Colorful humor is, of course, good. Especially when the delightful musical compositions of Oscar-winner Alexander Depla (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”) are played in the background. But in everything you need to know when to stop.
Still from the cartoon “The Secret Life of Pets”
And no matter how tortured the cartoon script may seem, replete with all sorts of genre cliches, bright characters, rich visuals and excellent animation do their job. “The Secret Life of Pets” cannot be called the second “Zootopia” of this year, since, unlike the work of the Walt Disney studio, it did not make any innovative breakthrough. Otherwise, this is an easy and non-committal summer movie that will appeal not only to children, but also to adults.
Children watch the new cartoon from the Universal film company with joy. After all, it is, firstly, about pets and, secondly, about adventures? Do you think your beloved dogs, cats and birds do nothing but eat and sleep when you are not at home? No matter how it is! They, like you, meet their neighborhood friends at parties, dance and have fun. Of course, they find themselves in various dangerous situations, but love and friendship always help them. Max and Duke, the main characters of the film, encounter the rabbit Snowball and his guard of stray animals. But know that everything will end well!
Watch The Secret Life of Pets with your kids!
This cartoon is a joint production between Japan and the USA. Directed by Yarrow Cheney and Chris Renaud.
The budget for the cartoon was $75,000,000.
The premiere of the film in Ukraine is scheduled for August 4.
It is announced to viewers like this:
"Cartoon story about the terra" by Max, whose life is turned upside down when his ruler has another lover - the mongrel Duke. poke, That cute rabbit Snowball collects a whole army of abandoned animals to take revenge on the lucky domestic animals and their masters."
Trailer 3, dubbed in Ukrainian:
Of course, what would a trip to the cinema be without popcorn? We were lucky to have a large bucket that could be filled for only four dollars.
But at the entrance to the cinema we forgot about the popcorn, as we were greeted by a cute little puppy. You would have thought that this was one of the heroes of the film. He was a hero: he raised money for cancer patients.
He suggested that we help sick people and animals.
Friendship and help are always concrete. So we put the money in a big jar at the entrance to the cinema. And now a photo as a reminder.
You need to purchase tickets. They are very inexpensive ($5), since the cinema makes sure that children have a fun and useful holiday. During non-holiday times, a ticket costs 10-15 dollars.
Now you can fill the bucket with popcorn.
But where is the place where it smells so delicious?
No, not here.
And they just relax here.
Now the smell is in our bucket. It's huge! Enough for the whole family for a week. And it only cost $4!
Here is our hall. We settle into good seats and...start watching.
Of course, everything takes place in New York. Where else is there such an amazing combination of sparkling skyscrapers and natural beauty? This film has a very harmonious combination of different colors with which the city is “painted” with its old and new buildings, streets, transport, parks and squares. Their color scheme throughout the film creates an appropriate mood - of course, as children need, mostly joyful and optimistic.
Among the skyscrapers of New York, a rectangle of greenery is not a fiction of directors, but really the truth - this is Central Park, we were there, a review about it by.
We are happy to see how pets live in a big and beautiful city.
There, in city apartments, people live with their favorite pets. They walk with them in the morning, feed them various goodies, pet them and talk to them. It's good when you have a home and you are loved! Dog Max is happy.
“Here She is and She loves me very much.” But Max won’t always think this way. Everything will change when the dog Duke, picked up on the street, comes to the house. Duke begins to behave unfriendly towards Max and, as a result, both find themselves on a street full of dangers. Dogs, cats, rabbits and other animals live there, hidden from people. Their life is completely different - no one cares about them. Naturally, their life principles are different. Two worlds collide - the world of care and love with the world of abandonment, resentment, anger. Almost everything is the same as in people's lives.
And it's girl Gidget! She loves Max. Gidget gathers his friends and they go together to look for him. And love gives them strength.
Everything ends very well. They find and save not only their friends, but also help other animals.
Even an evil rabbit acquires a kind and loving “mistress”. Of course, love makes him kinder.
People and animals live in a big house in a big city. That's how good they are together!
Some have a falcon as a friend, some have a dog, some have a cat or a parrot... They are all happy with mutual love.
And Max and Duke now live together.
Behind every window of a large house that glows in the evenings live happy friends - people and animals.
It would be nice if it were like this everywhere and always.
Everything depends on ourselves.
Below are some stills from the film.
Here is an evil rabbit - the leader of a street "gang".
And this is the beautiful Gidget, who not only loves to watch films about love, but also loves Max herself. It just seems that she is small and weak. In fact, love does wonders!
And here is the whole team, rushing to the rescue.
A few more shots: You shouldn’t think that domestic animals are very obedient. When people go to work, they know how to entertain themselves.
Oh, this huge soft cat!
Opponents.
Well, who is stronger?
Max, Duke and She.
Toys from this cartoon have already appeared in stores. The children started collecting them.
There are small plastic ones and larger ones.
As well as soft toys, also in two sizes.
This is what they look like up close.
These photos were taken in the store.
Children recognize the film's characters on food packages for cats and dogs, on packs of breakfast cereals or cookies, on T-shirts or school backpacks... They discuss the film with friends or parents and learn the first rules of life. Happy viewing everyone! Enjoy interesting adventures that end well!
Toy characters from this cartoon have already appeared on the McDonald's chain in Happy Meal formulations and are simply freely available. Read the review about them
Next up is the next wonderful animated film, Zootopia! It is more complex in plot and meaning; it is one of those that are watched several times by both children and their parents. Like Frozen or Inside Out. Look out for a short review of this film one of these days. We have already managed to watch it several times and would like to recommend it to friends.
P.S.
A little extra for those who want a little more. When the important hours came (a few days like today), I noticed that at the Tourist Hotel, at the Livoberezhna metro station, in the great flowerbed between the gas-filled streets, homeless dogs were just sleeping on the ground. Homeless children were sleeping on the other side of the flower bed. Mostly boys and one girl in the middle. Rokiv so ten. The stinks were singing at the bandits from the hotel, as every hour they came out to them - all wearing long black coats.
At the Darnytsia metro station, the trade in live speeches exploded. It was not the Varangians who were selling. The aunt, inquisitive and rosy-faced, sat silently and marveled at the thin, thin boy. How many times has it been important for me to say this? She was about 8-9 in height, but her head and appearance showed that the older child was simply neglected and could not form her body normally. I walked up and sensed a dialogue:
- How long does it take to wear warm pants? My clothes are already cold and I need warmth (the cotton was as chilly as summer, and it was windy winter outside).
- 2 hryvnia! - the aunt said.
- I don’t have any.
- Then go and see. Walk around here!
- And if I have 2 hryvnia, will you sell me warm pants? - as if naively feeding the boy like a child.
“I’ll sell,” muttered the aunt into nowhere.
“And let me say,” after chewing the cotton, not noting her rudeness, simply and naively, “is it true that it is so holy if eggs are poached and it’s called Great Day?”
- Is it true.
- And I would like to bachiti! It seems that they are baking Easter cake and scrambling eggs and the children are playing with them... But I didn’t learn anything... I would like to read it! And... mother's book.
- ...
Until this hour stand before your eyes these terrible pictures of a child’s life in the great place. The worst ones are that I couldn’t buy pants for that guy. At that time I only had a penny to work with and I didn’t have a coin in my pockets. The women were not paid at all for two years of life. Where are these children now and what happens to them?
The cartoon can be safely reduced in rating from “6” to “0+”, according to the level of humor and simplicity of the plot. Our kind, naive children will endure everything. The “best animated premiere” of the year turned out to be an inflated bubble. This is one of those films where all the best was in the trailer.
However, the cartoon showed impressive box office receipts and was a successful commercial product. Mysteries interest everyone, almost everyone has pets - that’s the answer. It’s a rare person who doesn’t want to know what their pet is doing in his absence. The viewer was caught having a childhood dream.
All normal people talk to their pets. This is impossible to resist, which is why we domesticated them - to talk and care, so as not to be left alone and to receive loyalty and affection in return. And what is their answer - that’s where there is room for imagination!
Soviet children have long been aware of what pets do, using the example of the parrot Kesha: he was looking for a better life, suffered from boredom and tried to raise a collective farm. Nobody is looking for a better life here - the food here is already good, but evil, envious forces that have not received the owner’s love want to ruin the lives of pets.
The Secret Life of Pets takes place, unfortunately, anywhere but at home. The animals stayed at home for about five minutes - this is the most interesting thing; the rest of the time they traveled around the city and under the city in search of the way home.
Unfortunately, it’s also impossible to call the heroes charismatic and bright. Perhaps the cat Chloe, the thug Duke and the hawk Tiberius (no more, no less). The main character Max, who looks like a Jack Russell terrier, does not evoke emotions - he is flat.
The main characters, Max and Duke, did not share the owner, or rather, Max did not like that mistress Katie brought home another foundling. The foundling Duke was also not satisfied with the supporting role, and during an afternoon walk he tried to get rid of his competitor.
From this moment on, the street misadventures of the forced brothers begin, where in a day they go through all the sewers of New York, rob a sausage factory and save their skins as best they can. Actually, that's the whole plot. Personal confrontation turns into a struggle against a common enemy - Snowy the rabbit and his gang. Snowball is the leader of the abandoned ones, for whom there were no owners, who live in the sewers and fiercely hate people. In appearance, Snowball is a pure angel, for contrast, but this does not make it funnier, it only causes bewilderment.
A good local joke - in the original, Snowball is voiced by a comedic African-American actor with a fiercely brutal appearance.
In the cartoon there are two dozen characters simultaneously playing on the field, not counting two more - secondary tattered cats and other extras. That's a lot! The poodle is a fan of SOAD, the glutton Chloe, the basset Pops the dog in law, the stupid pug Mel, the glamorous blonde spitz Gidget, also stupid, the dachshund, the guinea pig Norman, who lost his apartment, and also a turtle, a bird, a fish...
Surprisingly, there were no Pekingese, Doberman, German Shepherd and a number of other recognizable profiles.
What other interesting things could the filmmakers tell us? Everyone remembers the joke that pets look like their owners. The foundling Max lives in the loft of a kind, lonely girl, Katie. There's obviously a "third wheel" here, but Katie brought Duke in - perhaps as a harbinger of the second person, for symmetry.
A rock-loving royal poodle lives in a Victorian-style apartment with some boring guy. The heavy-duty cat Chloe, who steals food from the refrigerator, lives with a kind, lonely aunt, and the bird lives with a tattooed jock.
A blonde Spitz is having lunch at the table with her owners, a childless couple. Hawk Tiberius belongs to a dandelion grandfather whose tastes betray a former intelligence officer. The lame and weak-sighted “authority” Pops lives with a man who looks like a modest teacher. Obviously, these contrasts should also cause laughter. Alas.
In the end, friendship and love won, and even Snowball the rabbit had a happy fate. But history is silent about what happened to the lizard, boar, bulldog and tattered cats.
The cartoon contains far from a new moral: we are responsible for those we have tamed. When bringing your four-legged friend home, make sure that no one in the family has allergies and everyone gets along in character.
"The Secret Life of Pets" is far from the best story on the stated topic. “Volt” and even “Kesh the Parrot” were much more interesting. The long-running series “Tom and Jerry” was filmed exhaustively on this topic.
After watching, be ready to go to the pet store with your child.
