An animated feature about a dog and a cat teaming up to find a way home after getting lost by an airline, this film is a mixed bag. The animation is very much of the moment--the animals look pretty cool but the human beings have a weird rubbery texture that is oddly in vogue. The humour is dorky and the film plays out as a series of set pieces putting the titular pets in danger time after time: will they make it out of the airport, the desert, the abandoned theme park?
What is interesting is the notion of home the film presents. Mom and Dad venture out to bring the missing pets home, while Grandpa stays to look after the kids. The teenagers, Sophie and Gavin, squabble but team up to put out a video on social media slamming the airline for losing their pets, which is one of the high points. Gracie and Pedro also argue but are united in their determination to make it back home, a home they have never seen as their family was moving.
The impediments are structural as well as physical: airline bureaucracy, human foolhardiness, greed. Interestingly, all the other animal species understand them, including a rabbit voiced by Susan Sarandon. Human beings, on the other hand, seem rather inept in their communication.
The voice work is disappointing. The main characters have no chemistry but the A listers are all given cameo roles, including Brooke Shields as a horse and Bill Nighy as some kind of predatory bird that lives on a train. Many plot points like this are bizarre and seem random. A plot point putting them on a bus to Las Vegas with a magic troupe promises much but delivers nothing.
In the end, lessons are learned and peace is restored. Mission accomplished.
Gracie and Pedro will be coming to UK cinemas from 9th August.