Since 2013, Adventure Bay has been protected by the Paw Patrol, stars of the hit series of the same name.
Led by their handler (in every sense), the youngster Ryder, this six-strong cast of powerful pups are the heroes the humble city deserves, but not the ones it needs right now.
To that end, the team have taken to the seas in their highly-advanced aircraft carrier, determined to help whoever they can, wherever they can. As always ‘No job is too big; no pup is too small’.
The pups’ third big-screen caper begins with a cameo voice appearance from Snoop Dogg, of all people, which knocked me sideways having gone in blind to any promotion. As you’d expect, his character is a silk-wearing, gold-toting all-round ‘cool dude’ with Paris Hilton as his blonde bombshell wife and a chronically-online, influencer son. Almost inexplicably, their yacht catches fire leaving them in need of rescue – especially their cat, Mr Fluffybutts – and it’s up to the pups to answer their SOS. Marshall, the team’s dedicated firefighter – a clumsy Dalmatian – is particularly involved and finds himself longing to be able to step up and get things done properly for once…
‘Is that a dinosaur? I thought those things were extinct!’
Once everyone’s safe and dry, both Snoop and Hilton, along with their obnoxious offspring, are hauled away back to the mainland, which did feel like an early win for the movie. Had they stuck around, things would’ve been a much tougher watch – not mentally challenging; just straight-up challenging. The pups continue on, however, and manage to drift so far off course that they wind up crashing into an island chock full of dinosaurs. There are surely worse things out in the fog – unlike Matt Damon, they’ve seemed to keep themselves in Poseidon’s good books – but Dino Island is a new frontier for them all the same.
Though their first encounter with these big lizards (no feathers here – which might peeve the more scientific parents in the audience) puts them on the back paw, they soon meet up a castaway pup without the use of his hind legs. He’s called Rex (because of course he is) and he’s managed to put together a treetop metropolis for himself in just two and half years, all without the use of opposable thumbs. Some might marvel at the impossible intellect of this wunderkind, but Ryder and co are more focused on the prehistoric giants roaming around, which is fair, and before long, the whole team are at odds with the swarm of outside influences – both good and bad – coming in to study the island’s residents.
Your mileage may vary with Paw Patrol as an adult, but if you’ve been a parent to young kids at any point in the last decade or so, you’ll probably be all too familiar with the Ryder and the gang. I know I am – their exploits played on repeat in the house when my younger sister was even smaller than she is now. They were grating at first – as is the case with a lot of kids’ TV – but after a while, when the child in your house shows no sign of relenting, you just kind of have to steer into the skid and enjoy it for what it is.
Given that, I do have a higher tolerance for pup-related adventures than the average bloke in his early twenties. As such, I expected this to be ninety minutes of passable noise, gadgets and rescues to please the young-uns. To the film’s credit, though, director and co-writer Cal Brunker has, with fellow writer Bob Barlen, offered something more for kids and parents to enjoy rather than simply resting on the laurels of a tried and tested animated hit. Rather than just looking like television stuck up on the big screen for more money, the animation looks substantially richer and the tropical island (kept warm since prehistory by lava vents strong enough to fend off the worst of the Ice Age, somehow) is fittingly colourful and bright for the film’s target audience.
Each film in the series so far has focused in on one member of the team for a protagonist rather than trying to pull of an ensemble every time. This trick works well, not least because the Pups are a changeable unit – you have the core six, but then you have a few outliers who sometimes count and sometimes don’t, like Pete Best or George Martin as the fifth Beatle – but because it actually gives you something tangible to cling onto amidst all the crashing, sweeping dinosaur action.
This time around, the man (or dog) of the moment really is Marshall, the aforementioned firefighter. No longer content with just being the clumsy one of the bunch, he’s incredibly hard on himself for his mistakes and has a genuine arc through the movie that feels rather impressive given the surrounding elements of an out-and-out flick for really young kids. At first, it’s laughable to hear a Dalmatian beat himself up for his failings – I think he’d be a big fan of The Smiths – but these things take time, and by the end I’d been rather carried along by his journey and his relationship with a young T-Rex with his his own point to prove.
It’s not Pixar and it’s not breaking new ground or lifting its leg to mark its territory in the genre, but in a year where The Super Mario Galaxy Movie made a fortune for itself by slapping a bunch of incongruous set-pieces together and calling it a day, there really is something to be said for a simple, character-focused story that solidly pays off on its first act promises.
If you have a Paw Patrol fan in your house, then this really is mandatory viewing, but I’m sure you knew that from the very first trailer. Kids love these dogs’ adventures and kids (and adults – I’m adults) go crazy for dinosaurs, too, so you can imagine the possibilities for fun and action when the two combine to make Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie. It’ll charm the little ones, for sure, but I was rather surprised to find something in there to keep me invested, too.
BBFC: Rated U for very mild threat, language.
Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie is in cinemas on 5 August
