Since it's founding back in 2007, Illumination Entertainment has brought us the animated joys of Despicable Me, Despicable Me 2 and last year's box office smash Minions. For the animated studio's latest venture, it'll be delving into the world of what our beloved furry friends get up to when we're away at work and school. With the summer release of Universal Pictures' The Secret Life of Pets only a few months away, we've already been treated to a number of different trailers and teasers concerning a whole variety of animals.
The first trailer came out last summer, and offered a window into Toy Story-esque 'they're gone!' moments for various pets. Next came a Christmas-themed teaser depicting a photo shoot, which introduced some of the film's main characters. But it wasn't until the new year came in that we got a focus in on just one in the next teaser looking at a seriously dodgy bunny called Snowball voiced by Kevin Hart (Get Hard). Just a week later we were treated to the second full length trailer that gave away some of the plot surrounding Max the Dog, voiced by Louis C.K. (Trumbo) - soon to be followed by a 30 second Super Bowl slot.
What with Easter Sunday only a few days away, it may come as no surprise that Universal has released another holiday-themed teaser launched on YouTube (see the video above). This one gives us an additional look at the obvious Easter link - Kevin Hart's Snowball the Bunny. The teaser opens with the Universal globe having been amusingly replaced by a spinning pink Easter Egg. The usual deep movie trailer voice then speaks over clips of Snowball, up to mischief, clarifying to the audience that he's basically an anti-Easter Bunny.
For those not familiar, here is the official synopsis for The Secret Life of Pets:
For their fifth fully-animated feature-film collaboration, Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures present The Secret Life of Pets, a comedy about the lives our pets lead after we leave for work or school each day. Comedy superstars Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet and Kevin Hart make their animated feature-film debuts in The Secret Life of Pets, which co-stars Ellie Kemper, Lake Bell, Jenny Slate, Bobby Moynihan, Hannibal Buress and Albert Brooks. Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and his longtime collaborator Janet Healy produce the film directed by Chris Renaud (Despicable Me, Despicable Me 2), co-directed by Yarrow Cheney and written by Brian Lynch and Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio.
Whilst much of the footage is found in the Snowball teaser from back in January, it proves to be a decent seasonal-referential laugh nonetheless. If anything, the juxtaposition of the bunny's cuteness with menace brings either Puss from the Shrek movies, and Conker from the classic N64 game Conker's Bad Fur Day, to mind. Clichéd nonetheless, this contrast of outer appearance with personality usually proves most popular with fans of animated comedies. It's also worth pointing out that we've now seen lots of Max and Snowball, suggesting that they're pretty major to the plot of the movie. Hopefully some more teasers will pop up before the film's release this July, to give us more of an insight into the other "pets" in the movie.
The Secret Life of Pets opens in U.S. theaters on July 8th, 2016.
Source: Universal Pictures