Crystals contained inside a meteorite that crashed into Adventureville give superpowers to PAW Patrol puppies. However, scientist Victoria Vance and the deposed Mayor Hellinger try to seize it.
Those who have seen PAW Patrol the Movie already know: the quality of the cinematic adventures of the group of puppies is clearly superior to that of the animated series. There are more textures, details, movement and life in general.
Visually, Super Patrol, the film is as successful as the previous feature film, “but better, with a little something extra”, to quote Ruben. Crystals from a meteorite that give superpowers to canine heroes enable even more ambitious action scenes, brilliantly animated by Montreal studio Mikros Image. Director Cal Brunker inserted a few nods to Ghostbusters, Top Gun, and the superhero genre that will make adults smile.
The stakes in Brunker and Bob Barlen’s script are also higher, as former Mayor Hellinger (Ron Pardo) and “mad scientist” Victoria Vance (Taraji P. Henson) team up to rob the powerful crystals. The depth of this last character pleasantly surprised us for an antagonist in a film intended for a young audience.
While Chase’s loss of confidence was at the heart of the first film, Stella (Mckenna Grace), who feels “small and insignificant,” is at the center of the narrative this time around. The theme of self-esteem is also explored with Liberty (Marsai Martin), who joined the pack in the previous chapter. Being the only one not to have developed superpowers, she inherits custody of a trio of baby dogs from the team’s succession program led by Ryder (Finn Lee-Epp). Parity has still not been achieved within Paw Patrol, but this film at least puts the female characters forward.
Even if the whole thing is more spectacular and well-known actors lend their voices to very secondary characters – Chris Rock only says one sentence – the essence is the same as on TV: cute jokes, moments of tenderness and beautiful life lessons. You can’t change such a popular recipe, but the puppies in the movies grow up and their young admirers will probably be happy to see them grow old with them.
