New York here is brightly coloured, gleaming and unfeasibly clean. The animation is efficient and nicely textured. There’s not a shred of originality or wit to this film.

Then Sellotape this one joke onto the plot of Toy Story (but replace toys with animals) and you have what seems to be the entire planning meeting, production and end result. Remember that joke from Up, where Dug the Dog got easily distracted by squirrels? Well, imagine that one joke stretched out over 87 minutes, far beyond its natural breaking point. Take The Secret Life of Pets as an example. From time to time, you think, “Hey, I could really go for a McDonalds right now.” Afterwards, you leave feeling physically and spiritually empty.

Illumination Entertainment, the studio behind Minions, can at times be the McDonalds of animation. Watch The Secret Life of Pets online in the UK: Amazon Prime / Apple TV (iTunes) / Prime Video (Buy/Rent) / TalkTalk TV / Rakuten TV / Google Play Cast: Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart

The secret life of pets movie streaming