PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie

image for PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie

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Not suitable under 5; parental guidance to 7 (violence, themes, scary scenes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie
  • a review of PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 25 September 2023.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 5 Not suitable due to violence, themes and scary scenes.
Children aged 5–7 Parental guidance recommended due to violence, themes and scary scenes.
Children aged 8 and over Ok for this age group.

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.

Name of movie: PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild themes and animated violence, some scenes may scare young children.
Length: 93 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Ryder’s (voice of Finn Lee-Epp) band of superhero pups, including Skye (voice of Mckenna Grace), Chase (voice of Christian Convery) Marshall (voice of Christian Corrao) and Liberty (voice of Marsai Martin), are busy doing what they do best: protecting the citizens of Adventure City. When a mad, meteor-obsessed scientist called Victoria Vance (voice of Taraji P. Henson) steals a magnet to help her machine bring meteors to Earth, things get out of hand and PAW Patrol Headquarters is destroyed. Skye soon discovers that the meteor contains remarkable crystals that give her super strength as well as the ability to fly and the other pups gain individual superpowers too, all except Liberty who can’t seem to work out what hers is. Meanwhile, Victoria is taken to jail where she encounters former Mayor Humdinger (voice of Ron Pardo) and the two hatch a plot to break out and steal the crystals to gain ultimate power for themselves. When Skye’s crystal is stolen, she struggles with feelings of inadequacy and takes matters into her own hands to get her crystal back, losing more than she ever imagined in the process. Will the pups be able to work together to foil Victoria’s evil plot or will Adventure City pay the price for her selfish ways? Will Liberty ever find her superpower? And will Skye, the smallest pup, ever find a way to make a big difference?

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Feeling insignificant and small; Animal abandonment; Selfishness.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • Victoria steals a large machine with a 10-ton electric magnet from a wrecking yard, rolling over cars, destroying property and causing numerous explosions in the process.
  • Victoria locks a couple in their office while fires burn around them. They are saved by the PAW Patrol.
  • Water cannons blast out of a fire truck, hitting the fire and putting it out, while Skye water bombs a trailer where a couple is briefly trapped.
  • A lock is broken off a door and hits one of the pups in the head. He says that he is Ok as he always wears a hard hat.
  • One character says: “If she had picked me up, I would have hit her”.
  • Victoria attempts to pull a meteor out of the sky with a machine she has invented. The machine struggles to maintain the pull, catches fire and breaks down, having only altered the course of the meteor which is now heading straight for Adventure City.
  • A meteor hits PAW Patrol headquarters and nearly kills Skye. Ryder pushes her out of the way just in time.
  • PAW Patrol headquarters is completely destroyed and much of the city is damaged.
  • A runaway car nearly crushes an old man and a dog.
  • Three puppies blast backwards off a treadmill and knock into Liberty.
  • Victoria smacks into Humdinger.
  • Victoria purposefully damages a train.
  • Victoria steals Skye’s crystal and leaves her on a burning plane. She and Humdinger fly to safety as Skye struggles to crash-land the plane and in the process, nearly hits Chase.
  • Victoria slaps Humdinger.
  • Victoria uses her newfound power to control electricity to send powerful charges towards Humdinger.
  • Skye chases Victoria, trying to get her crystal back, and Victoria traps her in a force-field, taking the rest of the crystals away.
  • Humdinger turns into a giant and nearly crushes Chase. He is actively attempting to step on and destroy all of the PAW Patrol. He nearly crushes a poodle and repeatedly tries to crush Liberty. He destroys an ice cream van and has the PAW Patrol cornered before he is taken by surprise and knocked into a building. Marshall goes to retrieve the crystal from Humdinger but is captured and held in Humdinger’s hand. He uses his superpowers to burn the mayor so he can escape.
  • Marshall blasts fireballs at Victoria.
  • A PAW Patrol member save 3 puppies when Victoria tries to crush them with her vehicle.
  • Chase is hit and flies backwards off a cliff. Liberty helps him get back onto solid ground.
  • The PAW Patrol destroys Victoria’s magnetic machine but not before she manages to change the course of countless meteors and direct them all towards Adventure City.
  • Skye blasts meteors out of the sky until her jet is hit and she must leave it.
  • Skye uses her superpowers to fly directly at the meteors, punching them each in turn so that they individually explode into smaller, harmless pieces.
  • The last meteor appears to be even bigger than the city itself. Skye blasts into it, against the advice of Ryder who just wants her to be safe, and she falls unconscious into the water.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

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:

  • Some children in this age group may also be distressed by the scenes listed below.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

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:

  • Skye retells her birth story and how she was the runt of the litter, unable to get her share of food, never picked by potential families, left in a drafty winter barn, forgotten and alone. She nearly perishes in the snow but is found and cared for by Ryder.
  • When Skye tackles the largest meteor, the odds are not in her favour. She races towards it anyway, intent on saving the city, and blasts the meteor apart but she falls unconscious into the water and it looks like she is dead. She lands on the bottom of the sea and a cloud of sand rises up around her immobile form. She does not move. Eventually the crystals bring her back to shore and she awakens but some children may still find the scene upsetting.
  • There are numerous scenes where the pups are in danger: nearly hit by a plane; crushed by giants or meteors; trapped in a burning plane; flung off cliffs; blasted with electrical impulses; etc. Some children may be distressed by the repeated peril.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Prior to the commencement of the feature, there is a commercial for merchandise, specifically for the PAW Patrol vehicles, that the pups use throughout the film.
  • There is a comment in the film saying that with new powers come new merchandise and a dog hat with fluffy ears is showcased.

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:

  • Mangy mutts.

In a nutshell

PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie, a sequel to PAW Patrol: The Movie, is an animated adventure, suitable for all but the youngest of viewers. Featuring lots of action and positive messages about the importance of family and doing the right thing, the film will be best enjoyed by children aged 5 to 8 as well as fans of the popular franchise.

The main messages from this movie are to always do what is right; to stop at nothing to keep the world safe; and that even the smallest pup can make the biggest difference.

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

  • Teamwork
  • Sharing
  • Persistence
  • Courage
  • Patience.

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

  • Trying to do everything on your own.
  • Going off without telling others what you are up to.
  • Thinking only of yourself and not the damage you are causing.
  • Believing you are insignificant or unable to make a difference.