Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie

Voices of: Kristen Bell, James Marsden, Finn Lee-Epp, Luxton Handspiker, Mckenna Grace, Christian Corrao, Marsai Martin, Callum Shoniker, Christian Convery, Taraji P. Henson, Lil Rel Howery, Nylan Parthipan, Ron Pardo, Chris Rock, Kim Kardashian
Directed by: Cal Brunker
Rating: G
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Action
2023

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A meteor crashes into Adventure City, giving the Paw Patrol superpowers.

Review:

Tim: I was surprised that I enjoyed the original Paw Patrol movie. It wasn't high cinema, but it took the concept of the television show and dove deeper into one of the characters, giving him more backstory and complexity. All in all, it was a solid children's movie that I enjoyed watching with my kids. Two years later, we get the sequel. It follows mostly the same formula, but it's less effective this time around. Sure, Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie is decent, no doubt about it. Unfortunately, it's a clear step backwards from the original.

Now, I love that this movie chose to focus its attention on Skye. Chase was the "lead" of the previous movie and it made a ton of sense to focus on the only girl dog. It just felt that her story wasn't as interesting or involved as Chase's backstory. In the first film, it felt like Chase was presented with real obstacles stemming from some traumatic events from his youth. In this film, Skye is sad because she's little. I love that these movies are focusing on one pup at a time, but Skye really got shortchanged in the backstory department. Her time to shine felt dialed in. This movie felt much more like it was going through the motions. The formula was established in the original and this movie followed it closely, albeit with much lower quality. Her story doesn't have enough nuance. Now, I recognize I'm complaining about the writing in a film designed for very young viewers, but I think it's fair. The first film showed that a better story can be done, which is why the movie was good. Without that real emotional component, the whole thing feels much harder to take seriously.

I also completely understand the focus on the Mighty Pups- that was a big part of the show. It felt redundant here, though. We see it all happen for the first time, even though it's been established in the television show already. Fine, not a huge deal, but it wasn't as effective as it could have been. I did like the way they incorporated Liberty into the story. Her subplot might not be great, but it felt more substantial than Skye's. After introducing Liberty in the last film, this movie did well to give her a bit more to do. I'll just mention a similar complaint I had with the show- the pups get uneven screen time. Zuma was always my favorite, but never gets much to do. At one point, I didn't even recognize Rocky, he always get shortchanged, too. Again, minor things.

The voice cast was fine. It changed a lot from the first film, I'm imagining the original actors aged out of the parts? I wouldn't say the replacements were especially noticeable. I did like the casting of Mckenna Grace as Skye. She's a good actress and did well voicing this character. I like Kristen Bell and James Marsden, but they didn't really make a big impressive. Neither did Chris Rock. Lil Rel Howery is always recognizable, but he had a small role. Taraji P. Henson did well as the film's villain. As a whole, I suppose the cast was fine.

All in all, what can you say about this movie? Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie will be a hit with kids and fans of the series. My kids both enjoyed the film- they saw it in theaters with their mom. I was tied up, so I watched it on streaming with my five year-old daughter later. She enjoyed it the second time. For adults, this one is fine- there's worse animated movies out there. However, if you're playing attention, this movie is a clear step back from the original. It's not the action- that is ramped up in this film (a bit too much, to be honest). It's the character development that is a bit lacking. It's a shame, because Skye deserved better than she got. Still, this is a decent movie, so you can draw some comfort from that.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Paw Patrol: The Movie