Weekend Watch - PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating and review. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers (and a surprisingly large number of my wife’s friends), is the latest animated film about every child’s favorite group of crime fighting pups: PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie. The film is the sequel to 2021’s commercially successful PAW Patrol: The Movie, the first theatrical spin-off of the widely popular Nick Jr. show about a team of dogs who work with a boy to keep their town safe from a wide array of disasters, utilizing large vehicles in pursuit of this goal. Notable additions to the usual voice cast of the film include McKenna Grace taking over to voice the pup Skye, Taraji P. Henson voicing the new villain Victoria Vance, and Lil Rel Howery voicing Adventure City’s news anchor Sam Stringer. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: D without young children, B+ with young children; there’s really only one brief scene that makes this film feel like it’s paying any attention to the adults in the crowd, but the small children that permeated the audience were having a fantastic time.

Review:

                Anyone vaguely familiar with the PAW Patrol franchise probably gets the gist of what this film is about – there’s dogs, they have big vehicles, their boss(?) is an unexplainably independently wealthy child, they want to protect people from bad things happening – and if you’ve seen any marketing for this specific film, you probably know the rest – the dogs get super powers from a meteor and have to stop a mad scientist from stealing their powers and using them to destroy Adventure City. Nothing in this film feels overly original (or makes a ton of sense), but it delivers what the young fans of the franchise come to the theater to see – dogs in cool cars and outfits getting superpowers and doing even more than they usually can thanks to those new powers. The sense of delight and fun was palpable in the theater even if the actual film didn’t give me much in terms of content – the kid next to us in a Chase costume was having a spectacular time, and it was just endearing enough to keep me having a good time.

                The Mighty Movie is not entirely devoid of moments with a bit more depth than the television show typically showcases. This story focuses on the character of Skye – the smallest of the pups who flies a helicopter and, now, a plane as well – and her desire to prove herself as just as good as the rest of the crew despite her smaller stature. Her backstory as the runt of the litter who willed herself to being adopted by Ryder features in a flashback reminiscent of the flashback montages in Pixar films like Cars or Toy Story 2, complete with an emotional song and different color palette. It’s that moment that keeps this film feeling like it almost considered a broader audience than just the kids, but it quickly returns to the fast-paced, less-than-logical action sequences that the crowds came to see.

                While adults in the audience – especially those without young children – won’t find a lot in this film for them, it still delivers some emotional moments and plenty of the kid-friendly action that audiences come to this type of film to see, pleasing the kids in the audience as it should. Don’t expect groundbreaking animation like the Spider-Verse films or innovative stories like TMNT or Nimona, but just come in looking for a good kid-friendly romp, and you shouldn’t be overly disappointed.

Weekend Watch - Lightyear

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where we take a look at a new film or show that is out right now and give you a brief review and recommendation as to whether it necessitates watching. This week, we’ll be taking a look at Pixar’s latest outing based on existing I.P. Lightyear. It stars Chris Evans as the titular Buzz Lightyear and is apparently the film the toy in Toy Story is a product of. Let’s jump into it.

Letter Grade: B-/C+; it’s a solid kid’s sci-fi film, but not quite the fare of your typical Pixar

Should you Watch This Film? If you absolutely need something in theaters and have already seen Top Gun and Everything Everywhere All at Once and Doctor Strange and maybe even The Bad Guys, this is a solid other option, especially if you have kids.

Why?

                As a children’s film, sci-fi film, and action film, Lightyear is passable, bringing decent comedy, solid voice acting, and an interesting world to the big screen. Unfortunately, Lightyear fails to live up to the hype that most of its Pixar predecessors have created. Its simple messaging about the importance of teamwork overshadows its more complex and less overtly delivered message about letting go of the past and challenging the status quo in favor of progress. In doing so, Lightyear becomes much more akin to the Cars sequels or Brave or even The Good Dinosaur but perhaps also even less ambitious and more cash-grabby. Lightyear’s entertainment value is high enough to warrant watching, delivering a solid combination of laughs, suspense, action, and human connection that kept me watching it for its duration. At the same time, its simplicity and lack of ambition left me disappointed with Pixar. When I look at Pixar’s other offerings of the last couple of years – Onward, Soul, Luca, and Turning Red – I see films that champion unique causes and characters and stories from all over the globe and from all walks of life. I see films that connected with the children and adults in the audience in meaningful and emotional ways. With Lightyear, I felt none of that and left somewhat disappointed. That being said, I do not believe that the film is deserving of its currently incredibly low 5.0 IMDB score that it currently has. That is due primarily to bombing from certain circles that were unhappy with Buzz’s original commander being a lesbian, which a completely ridiculous reason to review bomb any film, but it’s happening right now so… Don’t go into Lightyear expecting Ratatouille or Coco, and you most likely will not be disappointed. I have little doubt that the children in your life will really have a good time with this one, and you won’t be completely frustrated with the time that you have spent watching this film. Check it out if you want, or wait for the Disney+ release in a couple of months if you’d rather.