Dog lovers gather round! It’s a dream come true for you. Its your favourite cuddly rescue team meets the Justice League! My kids loved it!
In Adventure City, the PAW Patrol pups, led by Ryder, help to protect the citizens, though the smallest team member, Skye, feels like she has been unappreciated since she hopes to prove herself. One day, meteor expert Victoria Vance steals a giant electromagnet from a junkyard owned by Hank and Janet for snatching a magical meteor, but her plan fails when a meteor crash-lands in Adventure City, destroying the headquarters, leading the team to gain a new headquarters, namely the Aircraft Carrier HQ. Skye, who accidentally touched the meteor, discovers that the PAW Patrol pups (sans Liberty, who trains the Junior Patrollers members) can transform into the Mighty Pups with superpowers from the pups’ crystals. It turns into a mini avengers flick from here and my kids loved it so it’s clearly a formula that works.
It’s an all-new fresh cast with some new voices mixed with some returning ones but all in all it’s a star-studded ensemble… McKenna Grace voices Skye who takes center stage this time round. She’s adorable and so virtuous. This is projected well in the voice acting. Taraji P Henson is a the big bad playing Victoria Vance. With her brilliant villainess cackle, she delivers a dedicated villain. Marsai Martin plays Liberty who takes on a bit of a side role so we don’t hear much from her. Ron Pardo returns as Captain Turbot; franchise veteran so fully knows what he’s doing here. The child actors are excellent. Christian Convery, Alan Kim, Brice Gonzalez and Luxton Handspiker, great performances. We get debut performances from North West and Saint West alongside mummy Kim Kardashian which is cool to see the family doing works together. Serena Williams, Kristin Bell, Chris Rock, James Marsden and Lil Ray Howery are a few of the stars to name.
As it’s a feature picture the animation is ramped up to astronomical levels. Its clean, smooth, vibrant and very dynamic.
There’s good use of the bright colours as each character is colour coded with a fresh design on their suits. They emphasise this with a new neon light theme which makes it more alluring. The film sticks to the shows musical jingles and adds in 3 original songs for the official soundtrack. Bryson Tiller, Christina Aguilera and Mckenna Grace perform new smash hits.
I liked the film. It was energetic and spirited. A few adult themes centred around confidence, family and friendship which was still simple for children to digest made for a simple and straight forward story. The added theme of superpowers made it fun but also questionable. For me, if they have these powers then why would they need their vehicles still? Hmm. My kids on the other couldn’t care less. They were happy to see a super powered Skye that can now fly still get into her jet ha-ha. My favourite characters were the newly added pup recruits. Too cute, cuddly and funny. The movie moves away from the innocence of the tv show. There’s a lot more action, destruction, shooting, explosions etc. In other words, if this happens to be your first experience of the Paw Patrol then going to tv shows from this? You’re going to really struggle. Compared to the tv show this movie is on steroids with action. My kids loved the film and I feel if it had the marketing budget of the Super Mario film it would have done a lot better. It’s a really good family movie which will definitely be repeated a few times in my home.
My verdict… it’s a great kids film and adults will enjoy it too. My only problem here is how far it strays from the tv show. Already loyal fans will love it, if you’re new you may struggle as there is no backstory explanations, so you will need to be familiar with these characters already. Recommended watch! Will make for a good cinema trip with the whole family. Looking forward to the 3rd film, just announced.
Who was your favourite character? Did you watch this with kids? Were they as hyped as mine? What next tv show do you want to see translated to the big screen? React and comment below…
