Attack of the animated movie trailers

Posted Thursday, January 28, 2016 at 4:33 PM Central

by John Couture

With last night's trailer drop for The Angry Birds Movie, the two trailers below bring the total number of family-friendly animated trailers released in the last 24 hours up to three. That's a pretty big number and made me scratch my head for a minute until I looked at this week's new releases at the theater.

Kung Fu Panda 3 is hitting the megaplexes this weekend and that means that it is time to unleash proper looks at the animated films of 2016. I know that my kids are finally getting to the prime age for this fare, so I have to be careful when I watch them or else I'm going to spend the better part of the next six months watching animated films in theaters.

There's nothing wrong with that per se, but we all know that not all animated films are created equal. The first film up today is one that we had previously gotten a teaser trailer for when Minions debuted last Summer. At the time, my daughter was smitten with The Secret Life of Pets and I have to say that today's first full-length offering will do little to abate her enthusiasm.

The story reminds me a bit of Bolt (can you tell that I've been watching a lot of films with my kids lately?), but that's OK. I have faith in writer Brian Lynch who also penned Minions and the jokes look to be fresh even if the story is a bit tired.

While I was excited about The Secret Life of Pets, I was less moved by the first look at Trolls. Sure, it's Dreamworks, so this so-so trailer gets a pass, but if the next trailer doesn't move me then the film might be in hot water come November.

What do you think? The Secret Life of Pets hits theaters on July 8, while Trolls makes its debut on November 4.