Amusing antics and a lively pace make this follow-up to
the 2016 original, helmed by returning director Chris Renaud, an entertaining
cartoon for kids. The most prominent of the three storylines involves a fretful
terrier (voice of Patton Oswalt) who learns to be more courageous when his
owners take him and his mutt sidekick (voice of Eric Stonestreet) on a visit to
a relative's farm and they befriend the fearless alpha canine (voice of
Harrison Ford) who presides there. Back home in New York City, the Pomeranian
(voice of Jenny Slate) who has set her cap for the terrier loses the favorite
toy he entrusted to her keeping and must brave an apartment full of fearsome
felines to retrieve it while an eccentric bunny (voice of Kevin Hart) and a
good-hearted Shih Tzu (voice of Tiffany Haddish) plot to free a gentle tiger
from its captivity in an abusive circus. Although the potty humor of the first
film has been toned down, Brian Lynch's script, as co-directed by Jonathan Del
Val, includes situations of mayhem and danger that could frighten little ones.
Older children and their parents, by contrast, will find this a congenial
adventure.
Watch out for: Cruelty to
animals, much cartoonish violence, scenes of peril, a few scatological jokes
and a couple of crass terms.
Rated: A-II, adults and
adolescents; MPAA: PG
© Arlington Catholic Herald 2019