Second Chance Productions’ Gracie & Pedro: Pets to the Rescue is an animated road movie for the kiddies that doesn’t pooch the audience on a good time.

Prim-and-proper pup Gracie (voiced by Claire Alan) and feisty feline Pedro (voiced by Cory Doran) embark on their family’s big move to Salt Lake City, but the trip doesn’t go smoothly.  The animals topple off-track in their shared carrier before boarding their plane and end up missing their flight.  Realizing how lost they are and how unpredictable the world really is, the pets agree to work together to get to Salt Lake City.  Along the way, Gracie and Pedro run into mischief, become acquainted with some roadside furry friends, and learn to keep their guards up towards suspicious critters.

Gracie & Pedro: Pets to the Rescue follows a typical “road trip” formula that’s no different for animated family fare, such as the recent hit Migration for instance. The narrative doesn’t have much of a plot but, instead, features mini-adventures or side quests that will, ideally, keep kids entertained.  However, unlike Migration, Gracie & Pedro: Pets to the Rescue feels like a more cohesive example.  Always keeping their eye on the finish line, directors Kevin Donovan and Gottfried Roodt stay loyal to the pets desire to reunite with their family and keep side tangents brief. While this means that the star-studded cast are robbed of screen time (including Susan Surandon, Bill Nighy, Brooke Shields, and Alicia Silverstone), the decision is in favour to tell a good story with snappy humour.

The filmmakers, however, are convinced that the louder and scarier the movie is, the more engaged kids will be.  Unfortunately for them, that isn’t the case.  Because of the fast pace and because of how expectantly simple the film is, young movie goers can only have broad reactions to these sequences; meaning kids will match the intensity of these scenes.  It’s possible that Donovan and Roodt may have been hip to this possible issue, which is why Gracie and Pedro’s adventure is broken up by their worried human counterparts.  If so, this is a good effort that partially solves the problem.  While the animated humans don’t look as good as any of the animals, the children who are trying to brainstorm ways to reunite with their pets are met with encouragement by their parents.  Mom and dad are not portrayed as parental oafs, which is another bonus, and the only real comic relief is assigned to Gramps (voiced, surprisingly, by Al Franken) and pet fish Laurence (voiced, in another surprise, by Danny Trejo).  Gramps and Laurence are funny but, thankfully, are kept at bay from becoming obnoxious.

While not as strong as last year’s charming MVP Butterfly Tale, despite its faults, families should still check out Gracie & Pedro: Pets to the Rescue.

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Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie