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Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie Review
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures
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Directed By: Cal Brunker
Written By: Cal Brunker, Bob Barlen, and Shane Morris; Based on the television series created by Keith Chapman
Runtime: 95 minutes
MPA Rating: Rated PG for mild action/peril.
Mckenna Grace – Skye
Finn Lee-Epp – Ryder
Christian Convery – Chase
Christian Corrao – Marshall
Marsai Martin – Liberty
Luxton Handspiker – Rubble
Callum Shoniker – Rocky
Taraji P. Henson – Victoria Vance
Ron Pardo – Mayor Humdinger
Lil Rel Howery – Sam Stringer
Kristen Bell – Janet
James Marsden – Hank
Kim Roberts – Mayor Goodway
Kim Kardashian – Delores
The pups of Paw Patrol are back for a brand-new theatrical movie. While the new CG-animated feature is by no means a masterpiece, it does what it needs to do well in providing a wholesome, entertaining family adventure movie about furry heroes who always stick together.
Set in a world where pups can talk and converse with humans, the Paw Patrol is an elite rescue squad made up of hyper-intelligent dogs, who are both capable of human speech and the ability to operate high-tech, complex machinery, despite their lack of opposable thumbs. Young Ryder (Lee-Epp), the sole human of the group, acts as the group’s leader and caretaker of his furry friends. In their latest adventure, a mad scientist named Victoria Vance (Henson) absconds an electromagnet to build a machine to draw a meteorite with a mysterious power source to Earth. The meteorite smashes through the Paw Patrol’s base of operations in Adventure City, but luckily no one is hurt. After the Paw Patrol takes the strange meteorite back to their aircraft carrier, it cracks open, revealing otherworldly crystals, which grant the pups unique superpowers.
Meanwhile, after Victoria Vance is arrested and thrown in jail for her crimes, she finds an unlikely ally with the sinister Mayor Humdinger (Pardo) and his kittens, who agree to team up to bring more of the meteorites to Earth to get powers of their own and strike back at the Paw Patrol. With their newfound powers, the Paw Patrol renames themselves into the Mighty Pups, and they will have their work cut out for them to best both Humdinger and Vance.
The Mighty Movie largely centers around Skye (Grace). Skye struggles with an inferiority complex as the runt of her litter. She’s always desperate to prove herself despite being the smallest of the group. Paw Patrol is a very young-skewing movie, but Skye’s character arc is both heartfelt and nicely executed, and Grace’s genuine performance provides a strong emotional anchor that drives the movie’s overall narrative.
While all the characters are relatively likable, the dialogue is largely very simple and basic. The film does get overly cutesy at times, but that is to be expected in a movie like Paw Patrol. Even when a character tries to voice a cheesy one-liner, another character will pipe in and say how cool the one-liner was, which deadens the moment.
Also, while Skye has a strong character arc, most of the other pups who get superpowers are left in the cold. Liberty receives something resembling a subplot because she’s not able to figure out her new superpower. As a result, she’s assigned to stay at the base to train and watch over the new junior recruits. In translating the television series to the theatrical format, the movie features aesthetically pleasing, detailed animation. It’s a solid-looking animated movie, full of bright colors, and it will surely bedazzle young moviegoers and keep them entertained.
For an animated family movie aimed at small kids, The Mighty Movie features nice animation, impressive visuals, and an engaging story that fans of the show are sure to enjoy. While it’s a story clearly meant to engage younger viewers, Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie provides wholesome family entertainment with a good message for kids, fur babies, and pet parents alike.
