If you happen find yourself at “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie,” it is more than likely you’re already familiar with the denizens of Adventure City, and have already quelled any lingering concerns about the fact that this accident-prone hamlet is protected by a private platoon of puppies, piloting an alarming array of heavy machinery, led by only a small child named Ryder (Finn Lee-Epp).
If you happen to have little to no familiarity with the “PAW Patrol” universe, like this critic, the canine-based quirks of Adventure City are initially alarming. Ryder and the puppies have their own aircraft carrier?! And a skyscraper?! Where is this funding coming from? It can’t all be from merch sales. Also, are the dogs cops?
But the tone of the “PAW Patrol” world is so pleasant and guileless that it’s easy to accept their unique way of life. Sure, the PAW Patrol could easily take over Adventure City and turn it into their own autocracy with the armada of planes, trucks and all-terrain vehicles they wield with their tiny paws, not to mention the absolute subservience they’ve instilled in the citizenry, but that’s another movie entirely, and they have far too many kooky villains to vanquish.
They’re like furry, adorable little Batmen, Adventure City their Gotham, the mysterious Ryder a Bruce Wayne of sorts, except there are no secret identities with which to tangle, just megalomaniacal mayors and colorful mad scientists, such as their latest foe, Victoria Vance (Taraji P. Henson), cut from the Riddler’s cloth. She steals an electromagnet from the junkyard in order to snag a meteor out of the sky during a shower, for vaguely nefarious power-mad reasons.
