'Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie' may not work hard, but it works
Paramount
Is it wrong to rip off “Jurassic Park” when young “Paw Patrol” fans haven’t seen it? Yes. Is it worth getting upset about that? No, it isn’t. “Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie” is exciting and cute enough to hold kids’ attention while mercifully maintaining its avoidance of annoying pop culture references that would make it more frustrating to adults, not less. For parents the movie is just fine, including some nice messages and time for a short nap without missing anything narratively that can’t be intuited when you wake.
After a rescue at sea leads them to a previously unidentified island containing living dinosaurs, the titular heroes find a baby T. rex dubbed Rhubarb, a dog named Rex (Hayden Chamberlen) and, of course, wind up needing to stop Mayor Humdinger (Ron Pardo) from a self-serving plan indifferent to all the reasons it’s going to end up like all the others.
“The Dino Movie” centers fire pup Marshall (Carter Young) in a way that doesn’t quite make sense canonically but does lead to an effective throughline about persistence without succumbing to the glut of characters sometimes sparked by this ensemble. Meanwhile, Rhubarb and Rex make for likable additions, and, uh, up to you if you enjoy the several moments so obviously pulled from “Jurassic Park” or if you want to reach out to Steven Spielberg and ask how litigious he’s feeling.
Yet at a time when kids’ movies are few and far between, “Paw Patrol” isn’t as bad as some may think. The feature-length efforts all have been animated quite well, and anything this innocuous that can make your kid laugh, focus, and want to see it again has earned at least a modest endorsement.
B-
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