Paw Patrol: The Movie

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on September 3, 2021.

(G) ★★★½

Director: Cal Brunker

Cast: (voices of) Iain Armitage, Marsai Martin, Ron Pardo, Will Brisbin, Keegan Hedley, Lilly Bartlam, Kingsley Marshall, Callum Shoniker, Shayle Simons, Yara Shahidi, Randall Park, Dax Shepard, Jimmy Kimmel.

"If you bury it deep enough, I'm sure it will be fine."

If you've shelled out money for Paw Patrol "movies" in the past, you've been ripped off. A few times over the last couple of years, the brains behind this insanely popular kids series have basically slapped two or three episodes together and whacked them on the big screen as is. You end up paying full cinema prices for stuff the kids will see on the Nickelodeon channel soon enough, if they haven't seen it already.

Not this time. The Paw Patrol team have made a proper movie with proper cinematic animation - not the short-production-schedule, mass-produced, made-for-kids-TV kind of animation their previous "big screen" efforts have boasted. And it's actually good.

The film sees Ryder (Brisbin) and his team of pups head to the big smoke to do some saving of the day. As usual, they're up against Mayor Humdinger (Pardo), whose ambitions for Adventure City put lives in danger. But can the pups handle life in the city?

With the animation pushed to the next level (and it really does look good), the writers can do the same. More ambitious but fundamentally the same show the kids have always loved, Paw Patrol gets a big-screen update actually worthy of putting on the big screen. The action is dialed up, but so are the emotions and the stakes. 

Much of the film's heart centres on Marshall (Armitage) as he struggles with being back in the place where he was abandoned. The story has great things to say about overcoming fear and doubt, finding inner strength, and about rising above your background and circumstances, with the latter theme amplified by new character Liberty (Martin), who proves her life on the streets can actually be a virtue for the team.

It would have been nice for every character to get an arc instead of just two, but at least we get a good storyline that's smarter than a lot of kids movies. Yes, it's still a "toyetic" adventure with the added irritant of having a soundtrack to sell, but the jokes land and the added theme on the importance of listening to scientists is good too.

At the bare minimum, you would hope the Paw Patrol: The Movie entertains the kids and doesn't bore the parents. That it's actually kinda fun, looks good, and is mildly thoughtful is a very welcome bonus.