I guess I should begin by letting you know that I have not watched a single episode of PAW Patrol, sure I had heard of it, but when it premiered I was way past the time of Preschool shows (at least regularly) but I did ironically have a friend my age that was a big fan so maybe there's something there for the Beyond 6 crowd. All that is to say that I went into this completely blind, so let’s begin
Background
In 2017 it was confirmed that the company that owns the PAW Patrol brand, Spin Master (your suspicions are correct that it is indeed a toy company), was considering whether to extend the PAW Patrol franchise into feature films. Animation tests were conducted to see how the characters would look on the big screen. Development of the film was confirmed on February 21, 2020, with Cal Brunker as the director (his credits include Escape from Planet Earth and The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature- not the greatest resume to say the least).
Plot
The PAW Patrol's arch-rival, Mayor Humdinger (Ron Pardo), who hates dogs, becomes mayor of Adventure City. A dachshund named Liberty (Marsai Martin) calls the team. So it is up to the leader, Ryder (Will Brisbin); Chase, a police dog (Iain Armitage); Marshall, a firefighter dog (Kingsley Marshall); Skye, an air dog (Lilly Bartlam); Rubble, a construction dog; Rocky, a recycling dog, and Zuma an aquatic rescue dog, to save the day.
Opinion
To start off, the animation looks pretty good with some very good texture. Although I have not watched a full episode of the show, what I have seen looks half rendered, which makes this movie a major step up. The story, as you would probably guess for a little kid's movie, is very predictable. However, to the movie’s credit, the execution is surprisingly decent and it walks the fine line on introducing newcomers to the characters while not making it feel tedious for the old fans (at least that is what I am assuming as I am a newcomer to the series). The characters are pretty likable and Mayor Humdinger is a pretty entertaining villain. However, Chase’s character arc, while not entirely bad, needed to be fleshed out more. Overall, it is a pretty passable film. I am completely in the wrong demographic for this movie, but if you have a child 5 or under they will probably enjoy this just fine.
I give this movie two and a half out of five stars. On a side note, is it just me or does Mayor Humdinger look like a young version of the Monopoly guy?
Goodnight and Bee Happy™
Mr. Bee
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