When I first saw the trailer for this movie, I was quite interested. It looked like a very cute and fun movie that would be a very easy watch, with some occasional moments of heart and sweetness here and there, but nothing too significant either. And yeah, in some ways, it does match what I was expecting... but it also goes way harder than it needs to, and I really appreciate that.
On the surface, the movie may seem like disposable fun, but underneath, is a movie with such a sweet and heartfelt story that makes you really care about it's characters. Much of that is down to how adorable the character designs themselves are, but also because they each have likable, memorable, and all-around pleasant personalities, with the animation giving a lot of expression and life that makes you want to take in every bit of them, as well as great voice acting. So when something bad is happening to them or opens up about themselves (Like Jackie, the mother figure of our heroes, gets taken away after a misunderstanding with Chaz's son, or when Maddie sings her mother's lullaby to her new family), you really start to feel for them, and the movie allows for many emotional moments to unfold, that not only serve the nuanced message of not judging people solely by their appearance, but also gives the characters depth, and motivation for why they do what they do.
It's hard to fully describe, but I think to illustrate my point, I should talk about the "villains." When the trailer first came out, the villains, Chaz and Chazzy, seemed like just a bunch of two-dimensional and goofy antagonists that don't have any real care for animals. But as it turns out, Chaz is not some malicious force that only exists to make life harder for our heroes, but a person that is merely only doing his job, despite the fact that he's exploiting the animals being much more dangerous than they actually are. Something worth noting is his relationship with Maddie, the protagonist of the movie. He's raised her for as long as she was born, and Maddie loves him unconditionally. So when she finds out she's being exploited for how supposedly dangerous she is, she is heartbroken over how her own master could do this to her. But again, this isn't malicious on Chaz's part, he just doesn't see the animals for more than what they are. But he also has a very touching relationship with his son, who I thought was just gonna be a dumb, funny sidekick character that just tags along with the villain. But it turns out that him and his father have a very touching and sweet relationship. It shows that Chaz is far from two-dimensional or evil, and despite the fact that he's lied to his own son about the life he's lived, he still very much cares about him, and he's still not exactly incompetent at his job either.
Another thing worthy of note is the humour. It's just so funny. It's very witty, with plenty of absurd scenarios, and has a lot of energy. Again, I can't quite nail down exactly why it's so funny, but still, it just manages to make the movie so much more entertaining, and it comes just when it needs to.
All and all, this movie is considerably better than I was honestly expecting. I was expecting, at the very least, a cute and fun little movie, but also not exactly great either. But it went above and beyond that. Although it's story has been told in numerous different ways in the past and is generally quite predictable, that doesn't make the ride any less emotional or engaging. I genuinely hope this movie gets nominated for Best Animated Feature, because lord knows it deserves it in my opinion.
