Spoilers for all PAW Patrol seasons until season 8 will be unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
Taking place during the eighth season of the series, Ryder and his pups leave Adventure Bay to face their arch-rival, Mayor Humdinger, who becomes mayor of the nearby Adventure City and wreaks havoc. Along the way, they meet a dachshund named Liberty and Chase faces his past.
A Spin Master Entertainment production, the film was released by Elevation Pictures in Canada and Paramount Pictures & Nickelodeon Movies elsewhere on August 20, 2021, with a simultaneous theatrical and streaming plan, on Paramount+ (free for subscribers). A sequel, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie, was released on September 29, 2023 as part of the franchise's 10th anniversary.
Previews: Official Trailer
This film contains examples of:
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: The movie holds no punches and makes Chase go through several traumatic experiences, including going back to the city where he was abandoned and left to fend for himself. In the show, the most traumatizing experience Chase is subjected to is going to the dentist.
- Adaptational Badass:
- In the finale, Skye destroys the cloud catcher by ramming it with her new aircraft and uses a drone to stop Humdinger from fleeing.
- In the series proper, the sort of situation Chase finds himself in during the climax, deprived of his gear and alone atop a wrecked building, generally would force him to try to get help or wait for backup. Here, after a moment's hesitation and remembering Ryder's supportive words, Chase leaps across the gap and is able to summon enough strength to free Ryder from the rock that trapped him.
- Adaptational Comic Relief: While the pups are often silly in one form or another, Rubble really stands out as the comic relief of the team in the film as opposed to the series.
- Adaptational Intelligence: Rubble is the only one who understands what Kendra the meteorologist is saying, even though in a season 4 episode of the series proper ("Pups Save a Blimp") he's shown not to be particularly familiar with the terminology.
- Adaptational Karma: Mayor Humdinger doesn't get to slink away back to Foggy Bottom this time.
- Adaptational Wimp: The Kitten Catastrophe Crew are not equipped in their usual Evil Counterpart gear and are reduced to being Mayor Humdinger's housecats, rather than being rivals to the PAW Patrol.
- And the Adventure Continues: The film ends with the PAW Patrol investigating the waterfront in Adventure City.
- Animation Bump: The film's animation takes a far more realistic approach than the series. In a jarring example, Cap'n Turbot (who has cartoony black-dot eyes in the show) has realistic, detailed eyes. All the humans get an extra finger added to their hands, too.
- Armor-Piercing Question: While having a minor falling out with Ryder, Chase asks this question (which hurt Ryder's feelings because his own member lost all his trust in him):Chase: What kind of leader gives up on someone the second things get hard?!
- Ascended Fangirl: Liberty, an unabashed admirer of the Patrol, is initiated in the climax.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Mayor Humdinger's plans for Adventure City fall into this, and since it will inevitably cause trouble, Liberty calls the PAW Patrol to keep him in check.
- Big Damn Movie: The rescue missions for the PAW Patrol in Adventure City are a lot more serious than any mission they've faced in Adventure Bay.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: A mild example. When Skye questions how they can afford a new headquarters, Ryder says it was through the sales of PAW Patrol merchandise, as he holds up a T-shirt with one of the common stock arts (of Marshall, Chase and Rubble, but edited so Skye replaces Rubble) seen on the packaging of said merchandise and other marketing materials.
- Black and Nerdy: Kendra Wilson, inventor of the cloud catcher is African American scientist.
- Bumbling Henchmen Duo: Butch and Ruben, Humdinger's main enforcers, who are slightly more competent than their boss.
- Captured on Purpose: Liberty lets herself be caught by Butch and Ruben so they'll take her to where Chase and the other dogs are, with the rest of the team following.
- Continuity Nod:
- Viewers whose first exposure to PAW Patrol is the movie may find it odd that the new member's vehicle number is 22 instead of 08, right after Zuma who is number 07. Longtime fans who know exactly who and what numbers 08 to 21 are may find it heartwarming that the series has come so far that number 22 is introduced right on the big screen.
- When Marty Muckraker's wig accidentally flies off and lands on Rubble's head, the bulldog takes a liking to it. In the show itself, Rubble has shown a fondness for wearing wigs on occasion.
- Creator Provincialism: The opening rescue involves rescuing a trucker who is transporting canadian maple syrup. PAW Patrol is made in Toronto.
- Dark Horse Victory: The only reason Humdinger got elected as Adventure City's new mayor was because he was the only candidate in the running after his more favored opponent suddenly dropped out, with Humdinger secretly implying that he had something to do with it. The audience for his swearing in don't hesitate to lampshade it.
- Darker and Edgier: Downplayed. While still kid-friendly, PAW Patrol: The Movie is possibly the most suspenseful entry in the series to date, with the people the team saves being in legitimately life-threatening situations, as well as Ryder being in mortal danger.
- There's one scene that could have definitely made the film live up to this trope. A storyboard can be seen on YouTube for a deleted nightmare sequence featuring Chase failing to save window-washers and falling. Odds are that the main reason the scene was removed from the final cut of the film was because it would have been too dark for preschoolers; hence the need to keep the G rating.
- There's one scene that could have definitely made the film live up to this trope. A storyboard can be seen on
- Demoted to Extra: Francois, Katie, Mr. Porter, and the farmers appear (without speaking) for just one scene, clapping after Chase's rescue in the beginning of the movie.
- See Spotlight-Stealing Squad: due to the movie having Chase, Liberty and Ryder as central characters, Marshall, Skye, Rocky, Zuma and Rubble get demoted to secondary roles. They're even mentioned as last during the closing credits.
- Death Glare: Zuma, Rocky, and Skye are seen giving one to Mayor Humdinger as Chase places him under arrest for the numerous felonies he committed. It is presumed Ryder, Marshall, Rubble, and Liberty were doing the same thing off-camera as Ryder is seen with his arms crossed, indicating he was just as ticked off as the pups were over Humdinger's criminal actions against Adventure City.
- Disaster Dominoes: How Gus the trucker gets stuck on bridge. First, he drops his ice drink over a bump and it spills onto his shirt, making him pay no attention to the road where baby sea turtle is walking on. When he finally notices him, he brakes so hard that his truck almost goes over the bridge.
- Easily Elected: The movie starts with Mayor Humdinger having just won the role of, ironically, mayor for Adventure City. This is a man so utterly incompetent that merely hearing he had become mayor motivated the Paw Patrol to relocate to Adventure City in preparation for the numerous inevitable disasters he would cause. Regardless of Humdinger forcing his electoral opponent to drop out, his previous criminal activities should have disqualified him from running.
- Egopolis: Humdinger took the tallest existing tower in Adventure City and named it "Humdinger Heights", annexing a top hat-shaped office on top it so that everyone will "look up to him".
- Expy: Delores seems similar to Georgette. See below in Shout-Out for Liberty.
- Face Your Fears: During the climax, Chase finally overcomes his insecurities in order to save Ryder.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: If you look closely in the opening of the movie, Adventure Bay has two churches.
- Friendly, Playful Dolphin: One shows up in the closing credits, playing with Zuma.
- Furry Reminder: During the suit-up sequence, Rubble behaves as an actual dog might while being dressed, growling at the mechanical hands until he's distracted with a treat.
- Fat and Skinny: Butch and Ruben, Humdinger's assistants / bodyguards.
- Hated by All: After Humdinger becomes the new mayor of Adventure City, he immediately gains hatred of citizens due to his selfishness. Even Marty Muckcraker lampshades that Humdinger is "recently disgraced".
- Heroic BSoD: Chase gets these throughout the movie as Adventure City has too many painful memories for him. When it became too much for him, especially when he calls Ryder out by accusing him of breaking his trust and giving up on him when things get hard (which also hurts Ryder's feelings), he runs away in the process, feeling like he'll never overcome his fears.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Chase reveals that he's always been worried people would see him as what he thinks he is - a scared little pup - instead of a hero.
- Humiliation Conga: Humdinger suffers this in the latter half of the movie, being humiliated by the PAW Patrol five times in one day.
- Ignored Expert: Kendra Wilson, inventor of the cloud catcher, warns Humdinger that it wasn't meant to work non-stop, and that it could become dangerous if it passes its maximum capacity. Humdinger doesn't listen, and has his flunkies escort her out of his sight. When she tries to talk sense into him again, he not only continues to ignore her, but destroys the cloud catcher's remote control, leaving no way to stop it when it goes haywire.
- Insistent Terminology: Humdinger agrees to let Ryder rescue him, but insists on calling it an "assisted exit".
- Instant Expert: Similar to the later seasons in the show, the pups have no problems with their new vehicles and equipment. Subverted with Liberty who gets confused when her scooter stretches, and finally when it launches, she gets terrified and how fast it really is.
- It's All About Me: Humdinger only cares about making himself beloved, rather than what Adventure City needs.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Humdinger is finally arrested for all the trouble he caused in Adventure City.
- Lampshade Hanging:
- A truck driver named Gus, who's new to the area, questions the absurdity of puppies being the emergency services, as a nod to what many parents have been asking when watching the show with their kids.
- The frequent use of catchphrases is noted when Liberty is looking for Chase in the "repurposed" obedience center.
Liberty: Anybody here seen a German Shepard? About yay high, always saying "Chase is on the case"? - Laser-Guided Karma: After gleefully going along with Humdinger's orders to lock up every dog in Adventure City, Butch and Ruben are chased by every last one of those dogs.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:Skye: [remarking on the new Lookout] How can we afford this place?
Ryder: [holding up a T-shirt] Officially licensed PAW Patrol merchandise. These things sell like hot cakes! - Lethally Stupid: Humdinger's knack for being this has been taken to new levels here, especially in regards to his ideas for "improving" on Adventure City. He causes a huge fireworks display to almost burn down the city because he thought it was going too slow and wanted a bigger spectacle, sticks a triple loop-the-loop in the middle of the subway that traps dozens of people and almost crashes down on itself, and causes a superstorm with the cloud catcher after repeatedly ignoring Kendra's warnings and destroying the remote control for the sake of keeping the weather sunny. Fortunately, Liberty had the sense to call the PAW Patrol to come to the city before any of that happened in order to keep him in check and minimize the damage.
- Literal-Minded: Rubble. When Liberty says they need to "pound the pavement" and "leave no stone unturned" in their search for Chase, Rubble takes this too literally, saying he has a tool that can help both times. Even Liberty asked someone to explain the whole thing to Rubble again.
- Loud Sleeper Gag: In one scene, the boy pups snore so loudly that it visibly annoys Skye. One can't help but feel sorry for Skye for the lack of personal space.
- Lovable Coward:
- Marshall jumps in fear after holographic map of Adventure City shows up in place where he is standing.
Rocky and Rubble: Marshall!
Marshall: Next time, warn me before you stick a building up my nose!- When the Ryder and pups look at the massive storm created by cloud catcher, the lightning strokes, resulting in Rubble hiding behind Skye and Liberty.
Skye: Rubble!
Rubble: What? Lightning is frightening!- Chase turns out to be one, after his bad memories start to haunt him again.
- Montage: The team's journey to Adventure City is interspersed with many scenes of the pups having fun.
- No Ontological Inertia: Is an explosion of a meteorological device strong enough to erase, in a matter of seconds, weeks worth of accumulated storm clouds that covered the skies of an entire city? Only Skye knows.
- Not Helping Your Case: Truck driver Gus's reaction when Chase points out he's not a dog, he's a puppy.Gus: A baby dog? That's even worse!
- Oh, Crap!: After her recruitment into the PAW Patrol, Liberty realizes just how fast her new set of wheels will really go. Her reaction upon being launched is completely justified.
- Origins Episode: The film reveals Chase's past to the audience; he was abandoned as a puppy in Adventure City until he was found by Ryder, becoming the first member of the Patrol.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Rubble, who gets more comedic and goofy moments than even Marshall does.
- Properly Paranoid: Liberty calls the PAW Patrol to Adventure City out of fear that Humdinger's plans will end up destroying it. Sure enough, she's proven right starting with the botched fireworks show the following night.
- Ramming Always Works: How Skye ultimately deals with the cloud catcher. Let's hope Ryder has some insurance to repair her helicopter.
- Riding into the Sunset: Ryder and Chase do this at the end of closing credits, riding together on Ryder's quad (despite the fact that actual sunset doesn't appear).
- Running Gag: Butch always has a spare top hat ready to put on Mayor Humdinger's chrome dome every time the purple-clad politician ends up being hatless.
- Save the Villain: As per usual, Ryder has to save Mayor Humdinger from another one of his own schemes. This time, however, Ryder drops his professionalism just for a little bit and expresses how satisfying it is to drop Humdinger down an elevator shaft at a very high speed.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Humdinger's response to whenever his events go sideways.
- Series Continuity Error: The Adventure Bay bridge, which normally links the Lookout with the rest of the town in the series, now leads out of Adventure Bay, and the Lookout is moved to an undisclosed location.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Kendra Wilson, the meteorologist, is prone to using a lot of weather-related jargon, with Rubble, surprisingly, being the only one who can keep up, despite taking Liberty's words "pound the pavement" and "leave no stone unturned" too literally earlier. On the bright side, at least someone gets what Kendra is saying.Rubble: It's a super bad storm. Come on guys, keep up.
Kendra: Finally, somebody gets me. - Ship Tease: Chase gets this with two female pups.
- First is Skye who comforts him after he isn't able to rescue people from the subway due to his panic attack.
- Later with Liberty, after she gets herself captured on purpose, in order to end up where he's held captive. She tells him that even heroes get afraid sometimes, but it doesn't stop them and they move on, despite their fears, which lifts his spirit.
- Shoot the Television: After watching a report on how the PAW Patrol fixed the fireworks debacle, Humdinger throws his shoe into the screen.
- Shout-Out: In its fully armored state, Chase's new police cruiser channels some Batmobile vibes.
- The sea turtles from the opening scene look similar to turtle Sammy.
- Combined with Expy: Liberty being a street smart, sarcastic stray dog, who's known and liked by people makes her similar to Dodger or Tramp.
- Smart Ball: Rubble fetches it at one point in response to Kendra's Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness.
- Social Media Before Reason: While Zuma is rescuing a family trapped in a car underwater, the teenage daughter decides this is the perfect time to take a selfie, which her father reluctantly takes part in. Her mother, on the other hand, is not amused.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Downplayed - the film is about the PAW Patrol and all the members get to have screen-time because the plot focuses on the pups stopping Mayor Humdinger from wreaking havoc across Adventure City, but the central theme is about Chase getting over his fears and Liberty joining the team.
- Stupidest Thing I've Ever Heard: When Humdinger unveils his "loop-the-loop" subway construction, Marty Muckraker bluntly tells him that it is "the dumbest idea anyone has ever had". He turns out to be right because the PAW Patrol had to recuse them when they get stuck on the dangerous ride.Ryder: Can't believe Humdinger thought this was a good idea.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- After years of operating in a bayside town with little traffic, the PAW Patrol immediately find themselves stuck in a Big Honking Traffic Jam due to Adventure City being much more densely-populated than Adventure Bay.
- See above for Lampshade Hanging when it comes to scene where Gus reacts to Chase.
- Tagline: "Our Fate is in Their Paws".
- Technology Porn: The sequences of pups getting to their new vehicles are lot longer than in the original show, with massive emphasizes on the vehicles features.
- Theme Tune: The film's theme song "Good Mood", performed by Adam Levine, explains why you can appreciate the things that you do and the challenges that you face.
- Theme Tune Cameo: The series' theme pops up several times throughout the film.
- Too Dumb to Live: Humdinger and his kittens opt to take shelter from the superstorm in Humdinger Heights, an extremely tall and flimsy tower smack-dab in the middle of it. Fortunately for them, Ryder manages to get them out before the place completely falls apart.
- Tranquil Fury: During an argument with Ryder, Chase didn't even raise his voice when he angrily accuses Ryder for putting him to the sidelines when things gets too challenging.
- Transforming Vehicle: Naturally, with new, cooler vehicles come new, cooler transformations.
- Ungrateful Bastard: When the PAW Patrol show up to clear up the mess caused by his fireworks, Humdinger is more concerned about them stealing his "glory" than fixing the damage he caused.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Due to Paw Patrol always successing at their rescues, Captain Turbot has this reaction after seeing that Gus the trucker needs rescuing.
- [Verb] This!: We get this gem before Skye's Ramming Always Works moment that ultimately deals with the Cloud Catcher.Skye: Okay, Cloud Catcher! Catch this!
- Weather Manipulation: The cloud catcher, true to its name, draws clouds into itself, keeping the skies clear. Unfortunately, events lead to it going haywire and creating a massive superstorm when the device exceeds its maximum capacity, with no way to bring it down due to Humdinger destroying the remote.
- Wham Shot / Wham Line: When Liberty takes Ryder to Carmen's grocery store in hopes to find Chase, Carmen after seeing Chase missing poster tells them to hang Chase's photo on a wall that is filled with posters about missing dogs.Carmen: If you want, you can put his picture up on the wall. (camera pans to show a board full of "Missing dog" posters)
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: Humdinger's response to Marty Muckraker regarding the danger of the subway loop-the-loop:Humdinger: I'm an unqualified, elected official! (chuckles) What's the worst that could happen?
- What the Hell, Hero?: A heartbroken Chase calls Ryder out, accusing him of betraying his trust by taking him to Adventure City, the site of his trauma and giving up on him when things get difficult.Chase: I'll be fine. I-I just need...Ryder: You're not fine. You need to take a break. We'll take care of the rescues for a while.Chase: What? No, that's not fair.Ryder: I'm sorry, Chase. I know it's hard, but it's the way it's got to be.(A heartbroken Chase backs away from Ryder.)Chase: (angrily) I didn't even want to come to Adventure City! I trusted you! You said everything would be fine, but it's not! What kind of leader gives up on someone the second things get hard?!
(Ryder's feelings get hurt after hearing these words.)
Ryder: Chase... (Chase runs away.) Chase, wait! - Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: When they get to their new base, Skye actually asks how they can afford the building and all the cool tech inside it. Ryder tells her it's from sales of The Merch in-universe, lampshading how the franchise is Merchandise-Driven.Skye: How can we afford this place?Ryder: Officially licensed PAW Patrol merchandise. These things sell like hot cakes!
- Wimp Fight: Whenever Butch and Ruben disagree, they initiate an embarrassing slap fight.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!:
- Ryder has this reaction when he and the team are caught in a traffic jam (it was rush hour at that time) while trying to reach the firework display.
Ryder: PAW Patrol is on a rollllll...are you kidding me?! Come on, this is ridiculous!- Ryder also has this reaction in regards to Humdinger's idea to put a loop-the-loop in the middle of Adventure City's subway.
