Paw Patrol: The Movie – More Than Mere Brand Extension (Early Review)

There’s no denying the phenomena that is Paw Patrol, the animated series about a team of puppies and Ryder, their human boy leader, who are always there to save the day and protect the people of Adventure Bay. On the air for 8 seasons and counting, the series is undoubtedly a fixture in countless households of families with young children who gravitate towards the cute puppies and their exciting adventures. As a result, there is plenty of merchandise out there but when it comes to popular animated series, an extension into feature films is inevitable if only to keep the ball rolling and further leverage the power of the franchise financially. Cue Paw Patrol: The Movie, an animated feature extension of the series that is sure to tap into that already massive fan base and their parents who will take them to the theatre and then buy any of the new merchandise that is due to come from it. To the film’s credit, instead of being mere fluff solely geared towards its aforementioned fan base where it would probably succeed regardless, it goes further in a way that is likely to appeal to viewers young and old.

Paw Patrol: The Movie saw Ryder (Brisbin) and the rest of the Paw Patrol called to Adventure City to stop one of their rivals, the newly-elected Mayor Humdinger (Pardo) and his comically-misguided agenda from destroying the city. While this may be a simple premise on paper and one that the film easily could have rode, it goes much further than that with a surprising amount of depth in terms of characters and themes that will probably be lost upon most younger audiences. But that depth was never really for younger audiences anyway as cute puppies with cutesy voices doing cute things is more than enough for them. In other words, in order for the team to defeat Humdinger, they would need to come together which meant some had to confront their past to move forward. Meanwhile, the team wouldn’t need to face this current threat alone thanks a savvy dachshund named Liberty (Marsai Martin). Though the dynamic of team and watching the many moments where their different personalities played off of each other (though they were all dogs at the end of the day) were fun to watch, the addition of Liberty brought some much needed energy and personality to the table,

Humdinger was a standard, run-of-the-mill. comically-egocentric public figure who so desperately wanted to be loved by the people of Adventure City that he relied on theatrics in an attempt to gain the affection and admiration of the people but his approach was all wrong as for whatever reason, they unsurprisingly always seemed to blow up in his face. However, his motives appeared to go far beyond popularity and may or may not of had something to do with his admiration of cats and severe dislike of dogs. Despite his many failures, Humdinger remained undeterred (with his squad of goons in his corner). At the end of the day, the end result shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise to anyone. Nevertheless, it was still exciting to see the team and their special set of skills at work all the while its character development work comes together in a satisfying way. Ultimately, with a running time clocking in at under 90 minutes, Paw Patrol: The Movie doesn’t run out its welcome.

When it comes to its animation, Paw Patrol: The Movie may not reach the top tier, boasting plenty of bright colors and detail with every pup and their vehicles and abilities, human characters, and environments. Its soundtrack, leaning on a fair share of pop hits, perhaps plays it a little too strong at times but worked more often than not at what it was trying to do. As the material won’t be for everyone, the overly-cutesy, bordering on cheesy, voice acting won’t be for everyone. However for what the film was trying to do, it more than did the trick.

At the end of the day, Paw Patrol: The Movie is more the empty brand extension and will surprise.

still courtesy of Elevation Pictures

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.