“They’re cute little puppies that drive around in cars! I know that sounds weird, but just go with it.”
And go with it, we did. Eve and I bark up a different tree this month and head over to Adventure City to review PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie! This sequel to the 2021 PAW Patrol: The Movie returns to Adventure City after the cat-loving Mayor Humdinger’s arrest, putting the PAW Patrol pups in new peril. It tells the story of Victoria Vance, voiced by Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson, a scientist who desperately wants to prove that she is a legitimate scientist. To do so, she hatches a scheme to use a giant magnet to pull an asteroid with an alien power source to Adventure City. She would then use that strange power to show that she is not, in fact, a mad scientist. The PAW Patrol has to intervene when her machinations go awry, and the asteroid plows down the center of Adventure City’s main street.
PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie was written and directed by Cal Brunker, with additional writing credits to Bob Barlen and Shane Morris. As is standard with animated kids’ movies these days, it has an impressive array of Hollywood A-List cameos, almost all of whom are parents of PAW Patrol age-appropriate children. Score is by Pinar Toprak, who also composed Captain Marvel.
General Reactions
PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie was a cute movie nearly barren of political or social commentary. Overall, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie is a movie that is safe for parents to let their children watch. We encourage parents to watch the film for themselves and with their children since a child’s mind will always have questions. Like many children’s films, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie has sprinkled elements that are for parents than kids. At one point, a reporter looks directly at the camera and says, “They got new powers, new uniforms, and new merchandise. To all the parents out there, I’m sorry.” The film doesn’t take itself too seriously and leans into the campy nature of the premise. Refreshing.
Coming in at a PG instead of a G rating, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie has a great deal of destruction and evil intent on the screen, but it doesn’t show consequences for any of it. Despite a 12-story Mayor Humdinger stomping through town, crushing cars, destroying buildings, and trying to step on the PAW Patrol pups, no one is hurt. Likewise, a meteor gouges Main Street, but the PAW Patrol manages to get everyone to safety. A child watching knows what would happen if Humdinger succeeded in stepping on one of the PAW Patrol pups, and if they dwell on it, it might bother them, even subconsciously.
The inclusion of Humdinger did allow for some sneaky, non-partisan political commentary. After breaking out of prison with the movie’s villain, Victoria Vance, Humdinger stops to wave at some passers-by:
Humdinger: “It’s just so nice to be reunited with my adoring public.”
Citizen 1: “I didn’t vote for you!”
Citizen 2: “Me neither. You were the worst mayor the city’s ever had!”
Humdinger: “This is why I hate free and fair elections.”
I was struck by how the simplicity of the movie’s themes reminded me of Jesus’s parables. The heavy use of stereotypes, even among the main(ish) characters, allowed the story to focus on the lessons of self-esteem and teamwork. While it’s not a direct correlation, it does remind me of what Christ said:
Then the disciples came up and asked him, “Why are you speaking to them in parables?” He answered, “Because the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given for you to know, but it has not been given to them. For whoever has, more will be given to him, and he will have more than enough; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. That is why I speak to them in parables, because looking they do not see, and hearing they do not listen or understand. (Matthew 13:10–13)
The mind of a child is still developing and inexperienced. What they see needs to be processed and compared before they can benefit. It is the same way with new believers. New believers need to grow and learn doctrine and theology over time. We can’t expect new believers to have all they need to know at the moment of conviction. Eve reminds us new believers who are celebrities cannot be expected to be well-knowledged Christians. They need to time to grow in their faith. We can see this in a recent interview by Allie Beth Stuckey with tattoo artist and new Christian Kat Von D of Miami Ink and L.A. Ink fame. During the interview, we see that Kat Von D is still a new Christian, and she has a lot to learn and is eager to do it.
Measuring Yourself Against Others
The stand-out theme for PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie can be found in the oft-repeated phrase, “No pup too small.” The story focuses mainly on Skye, a pup born the runt of her litter and passed over for adoption because of it. As a result, she feels perpetually tiny and weak. Yet when she gets superpowers from the meteor’s crystals, she gains the ability to fly and super strength.
There is also a “c-plot” that involves a pup named Liberty, who can’t figure out her power. All the other pups received superpowers based on their personality, but hers wasn’t so obvious. Trying to figure out her powers, she sought to imitate others rather than look within herself.
Victory Vance was motivated by what people thought of her, too, and when she got power, it was the ability to control electricity.
Scripture cautions us against comparing ourselves to others:
Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else. For each person will have to carry his own load. (Galatians 6:4-5)
It’s much easier to carry your load instead of worrying about carrying others’ loads as well.
For we don’t dare classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. But in measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves to themselves, they lack understanding. We, however, will not boast beyond measure but according to the measure of the area of ministry that God has assigned to us, which reaches even to you. For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we had not reached you, since we have come to you with the Gospel of Christ. We are not boasting beyond measure about other people’s labors. On the contrary, we have the hope that as your faith increases, our area of ministry will be greatly enlarged, so that we may preach the Gospel to the regions beyond you without boasting about what has already been done in someone else’s area of ministry. So let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. For it is not the one commending himself who is approved, but the one the Lord commends. (2 Corinthians 10:12-18)
Paul emphasizes that we all work together under Christ, each with our own skills. The goal is to share the Gospel, and we need to work together with the talents God has given us to do that most effectively.
To drive home the lesson of not comparing ourselves to others, Skye tries to point out to Victoria that she might hurt someone in an exchange later in the movie. Victoria replies, “And why should I care about other people? They never cared about me. No matter how smart I was, they laughed at me and called me a mad scientist. So, I took matters into my own hands. I promised myself I’d never let anyone make me feel small and insignificant ever again!” The pups of the PAW Patrol have learned the lesson, but Victoria Vance has not. That may be the lesson—villains don’t learn their lessons.
Teamwork
The significant conflict in the movie, the loss of the power crystals, is the result of Skye taking a solo mission to rescue a plane in trouble. When she does, the bad guys ambush her. Skye compounds the team’s problems when she “borrows” the rest of the team’s crystals to try and recover the one she lost in the ambush. It isn’t until the PAW Patrol works together, sharing power and responsibility, that they can beat Victoria Vance.
This is a theme we’ve seen before, but it bears repeating. God has designed us to work as a family and a team. God does not intend that we are to prepare the world for His return alone.
We see an example of this interdependence in the story of Israel’s battle against Amalek.
At Rephidim, Amalek came and fought against Israel. Moses said to Joshua, “Select some men for us and go fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with God’s staff in my hand.” Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought against Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. While Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, but whenever he put his hand down, Amalek prevailed. When Moses’s hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat down on it. Then Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down. So Joshua defeated Amalek and his army with the sword. (Exodus 17:8-13)
There is an important lesson here as well. The ultimate secular team to which we all belong is that of our community. The post-Christian age we live in is selfish. It is all about how others make us feel, not how we make others feel. Reminding children about the importance of being part of the community/team is good. PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie drives home the importance of using the talents we have to serve others and not ourselves.
Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God. (1 Peter 4:10)
In the movie’s climactic fight, the pups have one power crystal that they pass back and forth among the team members, allowing each pup to shine when their powers are needed. Every time, the pup knows that one of the other PAW Patrol pups can do what is needed better than they can.
For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one. Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one’s[b] faith; if service, use it in service; if teaching, in teaching; if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12:3-7)
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