After some minor big screen stints and continuing with its long-running success on television, PAW Patrol makes a flawless leap to feature-length with PAW Patrol: The Movie – essentially cobbling together four missions into an entertaining movie for families.

People who haven’t watched the show (such as myself) can tell the franchise upgrades its scale for this movie. The team of rescue pups are called from their quaint jurisdiction of Adventure Bay to answer a call in Adventure City involving a selfish mayor (who is more of a cat-person than a dog-person) provoking community peril with his careless behaviour. This includes using a cloud-sucking machine to make the sky sunnier, installing rollercoaster tracks on a subway route, and a fireworks display that escalates into danger quickly. With the pups now stationed in the city, they’re always in attendance and can roll with the unexpected (such as one of their own being kidnapped).

It’s, quite frankly, impressive that Paw Patrol: The Movie works as well as it does. What could’ve been a shameless cash-in is, instead, a well-paced movie that sports wholesome themes, a disciplined sense of humour, and exciting action sequences that don’t ever become too scary or intense for young viewers. PAW Patrol: The Movie is a film that keeps its young demographic at the forefront of its desires and ambitions, but also respects the parents who are in attendance. But instead of acknowledging the adults with tongue-in-cheek jokes and stunt casting (both are still present but disguised well), PAW Patrol: The Movie earns parental approval through its respectful attitude towards kids. Parents who are also really into movies will appreciate the staging of these action sequences, which reminded me of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man series.

PAW Patrol: The Movie is a great pick for families to ease back into the theatre experience. And if kids want to watch the movie on repeat at home, parents may find themselves rewatching it with them.

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Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie