Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie is exactly the sort of family film that understands its target audience perfectly: colourful puppies, dinosaurs, explosions and absolutely no requirement that anyone think too hard before teatime. It is bright, energetic and cheerfully ridiculous, which ticks all the boxes for a three-year-old to sit through!
Movie Heaven
The film gets straight into the action, with Ryder and his team rescuing a family before being blown off course to an island inhabited by dinosaurs. Naturally, the correct response to discovering a previously unknown prehistoric ecosystem is to send several puppies directly into it.
The animation is colourful and lively, while the rescue sequences provide plenty of movement without becoming genuinely frightening. A particularly entertaining sequence involving lava, rescue vehicles and stranded scientists demonstrates that the filmmakers know how to manufacture a bit of excitement.
Rex is also a welcome addition. A disabled Bernese Mountain Dog who uses a wheeled walker, he is voiced by an actor with a disability, and the film treats both Rex and his disability with genuine respect. He is presented as capable, useful and heroic without making his condition the entire point of his character. Fair play.
Movie Hell
The plot is hardly going to trouble the Booker Prize judges. There are dinosaurs, diamonds, a villain who immediately resumes being villainous and enough convenient coincidences to keep the story moving briskly towards the next toy-shaped product opportunity.
The humour can be painfully obvious, and the dialogue occasionally feels as though it was assembled by people who have spent considerable time studying what children find funny. The dinosaurs also conveniently ignore several million years of zoological accuracy, but accuracy has apparently been placed on the same shelf as subtlety.
Final Judgement
Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie is silly, colourful and surprisingly wholesome in places. Adults may occasionally stare into the middle distance while questioning their life choices, but children are unlikely to share those concerns. A cheerful prehistoric adventure that delivers exactly what young Paw Patrol fans want.
