The Pet Detective Movie Review
The Pet Detective: A Dreary Farce in the Guise of a Thriller
Despite its promise of humour-laced thrills, The Pet Detective turns into a chaotic and uninspired comedy that squanders its talented cast on a flimsy, directionless script.At first glance, debutant writer-director Praneesh Vijayan's The Pet Detective seems to blend mystery and humour, but the film quickly loses its footing, fumbling both tone and storytelling. What begins as a quirky thriller soon devolves into a tedious farce, weighed down by a slipshod screenplay and a tepid directorial approach that never manages to engage the audience.
Sharafudheen stars as Tony Jose Alula, a carefree private investigator running his agency, Alula International, more out of whim than purpose. In a laughably absurd flashback, we're told that his father, the legendary detective Jose Alula (Renji Panicker), went into hiding in Mexico after crossing paths with a drug cartel don, Peter Sambai. Tony's romantic life isn't any better - his girlfriend Kaikeyi (Anupama Parameswaran) insists he prove his worth with some heroic act, while Sub Inspector Rajath Menon (Vinay Forrt), a bumbling cop with comic pretensions, also vies for her affection. Rajath's exaggerated antics add to the film's chaos rather than its humour.
When Tony takes up the case of a missing girl last seen with a jar of expensive ornamental fish, the story attempts to build intrigue. But instead of suspense, the film unleashes confusion - with multiple parties chasing after the fish, including Mangalore-based don Yaqat Ali (Vinayakan), whose entry promises menace but results in mockery. Elsewhere, a subplot involving a henpecked husband (Vijayaraghavan) and his overbearing wife (Praseetha Menon) could have offered depth, yet poor writing drains any emotional or comic potential.
The film's structure is a jumble of disconnected events and forced humour. Sharafudheen's performance lacks spark, and even the usually dependable Vinayakan and Vijayaraghavan are let down by shallow characterization. Anupama Parameswaran's role is little more than ornamental, mirroring the film's titular fish. Supporting characters like Thingal Thomas (Shyam Mohan) and Sannop (Jomon Jyothir) contribute nothing of value, serving merely as space fillers.
The dialogues, mostly intended to elicit laughs, feel contrived and disconnected from the narrative flow. Ironically, the protagonist detective solves problems without doing any real detecting - a fitting metaphor for a film that refuses to put in the effort. The plot keeps oscillating between a missing girl, an overpriced fish, and a murder mystery, but none of these threads are developed with conviction. Even the inclusion of the Mexican underworld feels like an afterthought, tossed in for flavour but ending up tasteless.
By the time the 118-minute runtime limps to its conclusion - inside a noisy water theme park no less - the story has lost all coherence. The villain's abrupt transformation into a clownish figure exemplifies the film's inability to take itself seriously or deliver meaningful entertainment.
Ultimately, The Pet Detective is a mishmash of ideas, comic misfires, and tonal inconsistencies. What could have been a clever, quirky caper ends up as a weary slog that neither amuses nor intrigues - a cinematic case that's better left unsolved.
