This barely feature-length spin-off from the TV cartoon takes our gang to the racetrack and sends them skidding into tedium
They sure do churn em out. Here’s another episode of Nickelodeon’s animated TV show about a team of rescue dogs, jazzed up and padded out into a 48-minute cinema package. As a parent of a toddler, I’m not immune to Paw Patrol pester power. But I find the cinema outings soulless and depressing: three-year-olds disappearing into gawping trances, parents into the glow of their phones.
The new film feels like a cut-price knockoff of Pixar’s Cars, with a dull plot about a rally tournament where the star driver is a flashy but nice kid called the Whoosh (voiced by Joseph Motiki) and the Paw Patrol gang’s job is to crew the pitstop during the race. The villain is mega-sneaky racing driver Cheetah (Addison Holley), who introduces yet another irritatingly repetitive Paw Patrol catchphrase: “If you can’t beat ’em, cheat ’em!” When the Whoosh crashes out after being nobbled by Cheetah, firefighter pup Marshall (Lukas Engel) must take his place behind the wheel.