PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie
• a review of PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 1 September 2026.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

The PAW Patrol is out on duty, rescuing a family from their burning boat, when they are caught up in a treacherous storm. Their boat is washed ashore on an island still inhabited by dinosaurs. These dinosaurs are friendly (mostly), however, their first encounter is with a large, aggressive dinosaur who terrifies them. The dinosaur chases them and is about to attack when an even larger T-Rex dinosaur scares it away. The PAW Patrol discovers this T-Rex is a friend of a little dog called Rex who has been living on the island for the last two years. Rex takes them to his tree house with the help of a friendly Brontosaurus. After the initial scare, the dinosaurs are all friendly, even the first one, eventually.

Meanwhile, the villain Humdinger (voice of Ron Pardo) has just been released from prison and is determined to set out on a new path. That is, until he sees a news story on television about the Dino Island, which he notes is full of diamonds. He collects a team and sets sail with his greedy eye on the prize of a huge fortune. Unfortunately, the diamonds are hard to extricate, which means they have to be blasted off the rock with dynamite. This causes the underlying volcano to erupt, creating havoc and devastation on the island. The PAW Patrol have to use all their wits to try and save the dinosaurs and a group of scientists who are there to study them.

Animated adventure; Dinosaurs; Animals and people in peril; Search and Rescue.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

• A cat jumps onto a barbeque, burning its foot and squealing in pain. The cat spreads the fire throughout the boat.
• The boat explodes (after everyone is rescued).
• Marshall falls off the edge of a cliff, down a rocky bank, landing heavily.
• A dinosaur chases after Ryder and the pups, crashing through the jungle. Marshall trips on a rock and is about to be attacked when another dinosaur intervenes.
• Humdinger’s female accomplice drives the jeep into a brontosaurus’s legs several times to get it to move out of the way. The brontosaurus falls down a chasm in the rocks and is stuck there.
• Humdinger crashes his car into one of the scientist’s cars. She gets out and confronts him with a blow torch.
• Humdinger and his crew attack the diamond rock face with power tools and blow torches, and eventually blast it with dynamite. A loud explosion ensues, with lava and fire spitting out from the now active volcano.
• The dinosaurs all stampede across the island in fright. Two female scientists get thrown into the air, with one landing on the back of a dinosaur and the other hanging on to the tail of another.
• A large dinosaur’s foot is seen coming down on Marshall.
• Marshall falls from a height and is caught in a net.
• After the volcano erupts, it throws out balls of fire across the island. Mudslides occur, trapping some of the scientists. The jungle catches on fire.
• When the volcano erupts there is a lot of shaking of the earth. The stampeding dinosaurs crash through the site where the scientists are working and trample everything underfoot.
• Humdinger threatens Marshall with a blow torch.

In addition, some violence is comic, such as:

• One of Humdinger’s accomplices is a woman who falls off a crate and does the splits.
• A small dinosaur pecks several times at one of the pup’s cheeks.
• The bad woman is caught in a trap and hangs upside-down.
• Humdinger is seen with his pants on fire.
• Humdinger’s punishment is to clean up the dinosaur poo. He slips in it and a dollop lands on his head.

Material that may scare or disturb children

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

• There are many different dinosaurs on the island, mostly they are friendly but some do roar loudly and have big teeth. The T-Rex is particularly scary and frightening to the pups.
• Scary scenes of storms, thunder and lightning, and the jungle at night with scary-looking trees and noises. Also when the jungle catches alight.
• Marshall lands right in front of a sleeping dinosaur whose large green eyes open at the disturbance. The dinosaur opens its mouth wide, revealing large teeth.
• Rex has wheels for his back legs but it doesn’t impede him at all.
• In Rex’s tree house, large green eyes appear in the window.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

• The family aboard the boat are trapped by the fire with no way out.
• The family’s cat is left on the boat but is eventually rescued.
• Marshall is the main pup featured in this movie and he is often in dangerous situations. He jumps aboard the boat while it is on fire, looking for the cat. Marshall finds the cat but they are trapped by falling beams and embers. They have to jump through the porthole to escape.
• The PAW Patrol’s boat, captained by Ryder, (the boy in charge) is caught in a terrifying storm with high waves, thunder and lightning. The pups slide all over the boat.
• Marshall befriends a young T-Rex and names him Rhubarb. Rhubarb falls into a rapid river and Marshall has to jump in to save him. They both go fast down the river and a long drop waterfall.
• The trapped brontosaurus roars in pain. Marshall tries to rescue it with his fire truck but a log jams in the turbine, pulling the truck into the chasm too.
• Marshall is injured in the stampede and the screen goes blank momentarily. Marshall is seen waking up in a dazed condition and learns his friend Rhubarb is missing.
• Marshall has a flashback to when he trained to be a member of the PAW Patrol and how he failed the climbing test. He went back at night and tried and tried again until he succeeded.
• Marshall goes into the jungle at night to find Rhubarb. He’s scared by the noises and the scary-looking surroundings.
• Humdinger’s female accomplice is a scary-looking woman. She is seen sharpening a long knife.
• Rivers of lava flow down the mountainside and trap everyone inside a cave but the lava keeps rising.
• The final scene sees Marshall trying to rescue everyone in the cave but he is prevented by a river of molten lava. Marshall’s truck starts to sink as the ground underneath him starts to crack up. He has to jump out and climb to the top of a mountain to unleash a water reservoir. He falls down the side of the volcano and is seen lying on a ledge, covered in black soot.

• Nothing further noted.

Product placement

• None noted.

Sexual references

• None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

• None noted.

Use of substances

• None noted.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• The cat’s name is Fluffy Butt.
• Some name calling, such as:
  • Stinking
  • Cretin
  • Weakling.

In a nutshell

PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie is an animated adventure movie with lots of good messages for children. The dinosaurs are mostly friendly and in a gentle place until the volcanic eruption, which causes much destruction and chaos. The intensity and level of threat faced by the doggy heroes make the film unsuitable for children under 6, and parental guidance is recommended for 6 to 7-year-olds.

The main messages from this movie are to never give up and that it’s ok to make mistakes as that is how we learn.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• Determination
• Perseverance
• Heroism
• Forgiveness, and of yourself
• ‘Everyone makes mistakes when they’re learning something new’.
• Not to focus on mistakes but the good things you have done.
• ‘You don’t have to be perfect, just give it all you’ve got’.
• Finding your inner courage
• ‘Once you’ve set your mind to something, there’s nothing you can’t do’.
• Kindness
• Resourcefulness
• Teamwork
• Friendship
• Loyalty
• Helping others
• Selflessness.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

• On release from prison, Humdinger was determined to be a new man – no more cheating, lying or ‘get rich quick’ schemes. He was quickly lured back to the dark side, determined to get his hands on the diamonds. Parents could discuss the capability of people to reform and/or whether once you become a bad person how hard it is to return to being good.
• Bad choices lead to bad consequences and it’s better to think about what you are doing before it’s too late.