“PAW Patrol… are they still a thing?” asks Mayor Humdinger, the villain of “PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie” — a rare moment of irony in a film otherwise unfashionably devoid of it. That lack of second degree should by rights be charming, in a film landscape where fourth walls are constantly being torn to the ground, but that would be counting without the unsettlingly upbeat pups at the film’s centre, the scourge of parents to pre-schoolers around the world. That demographic will surely produce strong box-office takings for this new installment, which represents something of a step up in ambition for the franchise.
A précis for the uninitiated may be in order before tending to the film itself: The PAW Patrol is a highly trained brigade of six/seven anthropomorphic puppies, each kitted out with colour-coded outfits, gadgets and a vehicle of their own, who go around solving problems and fighting crimes. Think Power Rangers done doggy-style.
As the film begins, the relentlessly chipper puppies — including such apparently interchangeable characters as Chase (voiced by Rain Janjua), a German Shepherd who wears blue, or Rocky (William Desrosiers), a mixed breed who wears green — are patrolling the high seas with their ten-year-old handler Ryder (Henry Bolan), for reasons unexplained. Having put out a fire on board a yacht belonging to a family of TikTokers whom anybody else would have left to their fate, the dogs find themselves caught in a storm that sends them off course, towards an island where dinosaurs still roam free.
