With young Ryder and his team of search and rescue dogs first premiering on Nickelodeon over a decade ago, PAW Patrol has grown into an immense and super successful media franchise. Not only has the children’s animated series made an impact in many different areas of pop culture, but it’s also garnered 25 nominations from the Canadian Screen Awards and was recognized by the Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2014 for its main theme song. With the show’s popularity elevating Nick Jr to new heights, the next step forward for the creators behind PAW Patrol was to bring the characters and story elements to the big screen.

Paramount Pictures, Spin Master Entertainment, and Nickelodeon Movies worked together to bring PAW Patrol: The Movie to both theaters and streaming on August 20th, 2021. With audiences both big and small enjoying the first big screen entry about heroic pups in Adventure City, it was only going to be a matter of time before a sequel was announced (after all, the film did bring in almost four times its budget).

Released on September 29th and now available on digital platforms, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie sees our familiar team suddenly gain fantastical superpowers, which our protagonists then use to stop the plans of Mayor Humdinger and mad scientist Victoria Vance (even though she does not like that moniker). Diving into the unique story and also how the soundtrack for The Mighty Movie came together, director Cal Brunker and producer Laura Clunie recently chatted with MovieWeb about PAW Patrol’s second outing at the box office.

Exploring the Origins of The Mighty Movie

Creating weekly content around a specific cast of characters for so long (even in the animated space) could become monotonous and tiresome for those behind the scenes. You have to constantly think of new ways to keep audiences entertained. But Brunker and Clunie explained how that notion was easily dispelled with The Mighty Movie:

A superhero movie with big effects, high stakes, and lots of excitement — there really aren’t that many movies out there [like that] for a younger audience like ours. We think the Mighty Movie is special for that and stands apart from everything that happens in the series and from the first movie.

Clunie added to this sentiment by framing the PAW Patrol brand through this new cinematic endeavor. “It’s special to have a preschool brand that resonates so widely globally — it’s so popular across the world — to have a movie that preschoolers can go to is really special as well.” They both agreed that this quickly became an opportunity to showcase the characters in a way that was far beyond anything that can be done on TV.

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Diving into the decision behind implementing superpowers into The Mighty Movie, Clunie elaborated on a past production of the core show becoming a primary influence: “We did do ‘mighty’ as a theme in an episode in the show, and it ended up resonating super well with our audience, so we knew that they were interested in that. It gave us a lot of leverage for ourselves to tell a bigger story; it gives [the younger audience] that superhero experience that’s just a little bit safer for them to watch.”

Brunker took even more of a step back and talked about the origins behind making PAW Patrol movies in general, and how it connects to this new film:

Well, we always start off on these movies thinking what is going to be a ‘must go to the theater’ for our audience, a kind of spectacle that people love seeing in a group together. . . It was a chance for us to blaze a new trail, and having this big theatrical feel with the pups was really exciting.

Superhero Pups and Super Designed Suits
Paramount Pictures

Not only fully immersed in the superhero genre for the first time, The Mighty Movie also focuses on Skye, who is the smallest pup on the team, making the most difference when Adventure City needs it. Speaking on her courage, determination, and all around inspiring character arc, Clunie described in detail how the seven-year-old cockapoo’s story came to be:

“We’re always thinking of a message that little kids will really connect with and that will feel important to their lives. It just felt like Skye’s story was right for the taking because this kind of feeling connects with a lot of preschoolers who feel small in the world. . . It also resonates with grown-ups who tend to remember those moments of feeling insignificant and maybe not having as much confidence as we want.”

Brunker also spoke about Skye’s development in the film, comparing it to the idea of one individual making a huge impact, and that this notion seamlessly applies to all ages.

Related: The Best Dog Movies of All Time

A visual difference that can be seen between The Mighty Movie and the other renditions of PAW Patrol is the new upgrades on all the pups’ iconic outfits. With Brunker explaining that literal illumination really helped to emphasize these new designs, he elaborated on the creative process. “First thing we wanted to do was have a really new look. Anytime you can play with lighting, that’s always going to be a great theatrical thing to do. We worked with our design team, our movie’s team, and our toy design team at Spin Master. All of us put our heads together and came up with something really fresh and exciting for the pups. The energy from their suits flows into their vehicles, so it ends up being one kind of connected and formed idea.”

The efforts put in by all the various groups was well worth it — the detail and lighting techniques seen in the movie will impress both younger and older audiences.

A Soundtrack to Remember
Paramount Pictures

An underrated aspect of PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie that might go amiss by moviegoers is the original songs that play throughout the feature, with tracks that are performed by artists like Bryson Tiller, McKenna Grace, and Christina Aguilera. Both Brunker and Clunie gave insight into these collaborative processes. “When we’re talking about these songs, we’re always talking to the artist from an emotional storytelling standpoint first. Take Christina Aguilera’s song — it’s this really intense moment about Skye’s backstory, and she has this really heart-wrenching performance,” said Brunker, adding:

Bryson Tiller’s song is this kind of pump-up moment where we see the pups using their powers for the first time. McKenna and Blackbear’s song rolls in the end credits and is a feel good song to finish out the movie.

Talking about Grace McKenna and her multiple additions to the movie (in terms of bringing to life one of the pups as well as contributing her voice to the soundtrack), Clunie then opened up about the addictive essence of that specific track. “She brought us that song when she was working with us, voicing the character of Skye. It was just too irresistible not to put it in the movie.”

If you have young kids or are a fan of the franchise, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie will be pretty irresistible, too. The film is now available on digital platforms like Google Play, Prime Video, Apple TV, and YouTube, and is releasing onto Blu-ray and DVD on December 12th.

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