Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie Review

PAW Patrol is one of the biggest franchises currently for younger children. The heroic pups have earned a second feature film and this time they gain superpowers.

The citizens of Adventure City are excited to see a meteor shower, but the PAW Patrol is called into action when a meteor heads toward the city. Within the meteor are crystals that bestow powers on the puppies, and they rename themselves the ‘Mighty Pups.’ However, the mad scientist Vee Vance (Taraji P. Henson) wants the crystals and the superpowers for herself.

PAW Patrol has been a license to print money. There have been TV shows, films, live events, video games, and tons of merchandise. It’s easy to see the appeal since the series is about cute puppies who are rescue workers. Parents of young children will have experienced them at some point over the past decade. The film even made a joke about the new merchandise that the parents will have to buy. So, any review of PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie needs to have this target audience in mind. The children in the cinema I was in, including my five-year-old nephew, enjoyed the film and many displayed the appropriate reactions.

PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie has what someone would expect from a PAW Patrol movie where the puppies go around saving people and are a positive influence on children. The previous film the PAW Patrol was like the Thunderbirds because they went around saving people with their vehicles and equipment, the sequel showed the PAW Patrol as a superhero team like the Avengers or Justice League. There were scenes and sequences that were designed to sell toys: the film opened with the PAW Patrol using an aircraft carrier as their base. This merchandising extended to the new outfits the PAW Patrol were given.

PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie was more than simply selling toys, it wanted to set out important messages. The film showed the benefits of teamwork, that they worked better together and if a character were selfish then their actions would backfire. It wanted to celebrate the virtues of selflessness and bravery.

Skye was given the most focus in this film. She was the smallest member of the group and she suffered from a crisis of confidence. Skye remained the small size as the rest of the pack was growing. Skye was a late bloomer which many people could relate to. I was a late bloomer, and I could sympathise with her. Skye was a stand-in for any person with a disadvantage since she said she had to work even harder to prove herself. Skye also had a similar backstory to Chase from the first film since she was left alone until Ryder saved her. She was given the greatest arc in the movie. The North American version cast Mckenna Grace, a rising star best known for leading Ghostbusters: Afterlife. The production aimed to give the character’s journey emotional weight and felt they needed an up-and-coming actor. The UK version of the film kept the British voice actor from the TV series, and she did a decent job, but American actors were still credited in the British version.

Liberty was the other character given a character journey. She was the newest member of the PAW Patrol so she was still figuring out her role within the group. The PAW Patrol’s powers were related to their role in the group: Skye was the pilot so she could fight, Marshall the fire dog could shoot fireballs, and Zuma performed water-based rescues so he had the power to turn into water. Liberty had to act as the babysitter to the Junior Patrol and became a drill sergeant.

The superhero narrative gave PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie a more cohesive story. It was a standard superhero story where a group of characters get superpowers, become a team so they can save people, and stop a baddy. This storyline, combined with Skye’s personal journey was done well enough and the children enjoyed the heroic moment at the end. It was fun when the puppies showed off their powers when fighting a villain.

PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie was made with a lower budget than animated films from the animation giants (i.e. Pixar, Dreamworks, and Illumination) but it still looked impressive. There were some great details like Skye’s fur spiking when she discovered the crystals and plenty of action that looked good on the big screenplay. The film did get some bigger names for the voices. Mckenna Grace has already been mentioned and Henson was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for an Oscar. James Marsden and Kristen Bell had a small role and some famous names had cameos. Many of these actors probably worked on the film for their kids.

As an adult, I chuckled a few times during the film. There was a self-aware joke near the beginning of the film I enjoyed and there were other jokes like when two characters were preparing to look down a toilet.

PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie was a perfectly fine film for young children and the adults accompanying them. It was a little derivative, but it was harmless fun and had enough emotional beats to get audiences invested.

PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie also came with a Dora the Explorer short, Dora and the Fantastical Creatures. Like the feature presentation it was made with a young audience in mind and attempted to get some audience interaction. It was bright and colourful with some nice visuals and jokes. The use of Albrijes will bring back memories of Pixar’s Coco. Dora the Explorer might not be as inventive or emotional as Disney or Pixar shorts, but it does the job and it brings the famous girl into the realm of 3D animation.