(+++) UP, UP AND ARF!

PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie—The Official Storybook. By Frank Berrios. Illustrated by MJ Illustrations. Random House. $12.99.

PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie—Official Activity Book. Golden Books. $7.99.

     Nickelodeon’s PAW Patrol has been around for a decade now – the first episode aired on August 12, 2013 – and shows no signs of slowing down as a series, a merchandising powerhouse, or, for that matter, a movie franchise. PAW Patrol: The Movie came out in 2021 and has now spawned a sequel called PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie, which is designed 100% for kids who already know the TV show and first movie (since there is no backstory at all) and which turns the super-heroic pups into (what else?) superheroes.

     PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie also grows the pup brigade even further than it has expanded over the years on TV, by introducing three hyper-adorable Junior Patrollers called Nano, Mini, and Tot. Undifferentiated by personality, they are shown to be different through the colors they wear: blue-eyed Nano wears a blue cap and scarf, green-eyed Mini has a yellow-green cap and scarf, and brown-eyed Tot sports a reddish-brown cap and scarf. The cry of “no pup is too small!” is central to the new movie, relating both to the Junior Patrollers and to Skye, the smallest PAW Patrol member and therefore, inevitably, the one who delivers the final blow to the evil machinations of mad scientist (actually more like “angry scientist”) Vee and cat-loving Mayor Humdinger.

     The smallness focus actually leads to by far the funniest element of PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie, in which Mayor Humdinger becomes a threatening giant who can only be stopped when the Junior Patrollers zoom up his nose. Yay, but also yuck.

     Anyway, super fans of the superpowered PAW Patrol – whose members gain their superheroic abilities thanks to a magical meteor that produces shards that enhance each pup’s existing abilities – will have a great time reliving the movie’s thoroughly silly adventures with The Official Storybook, a hardcover souvenir book that re-tells the tale of the film in language simple enough for PAW Patrol fans to grasp easily, and with illustrations that are taken from film scenes and show all the suitably heroic deeds being done and the suitably dastardly plans being undone. Conveniently, “the crystal core of the meteorite split into seven shards,” just the right number for the entire PAW Patrol to use; but inconveniently, the shards expand the powers of bad guys as well as good guys, which is why Vee and Humdinger are able to become temporary threats to the PAW Patrol’s wonderfulness.

     Incidentally, the PAW Patrol is renamed the Mighty Pups after the shards elicit those powers: “it’s like these crystals amplify something about you.” And kids who would enjoy interacting with the Mighty Pups, to the extent that is possible in real life, will have fun with the Official Activity Book based on the new movie. The book is a typical activity-book-style compilation of big, bright drawings of the Adventure City heroes, chances to draw or color the characters, games to play (simple mazes, connect-the-dots), and two pages of self-adhesive stickers showing all the characters in their gigantic-eyed, ever-smiling adorableness. There is also a blank page to “draw yourself as a mighty hero,” and there is a rather clever matching game in which extreme close-ups of pup portions need to be connected correctly to each character. PAW Patrol leader Ryder is 10 years old, so presumably the storybook, activity book and movies are all intended for kids of around that age – but the pups are clearly drawn to appeal to much younger children, and the games and activities are easy enough for kids ages 4-8 to engage in and enjoy. So is the new movie. Whatever age a PAW Patrol fan may be, though, those who find PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie so much fun that they want to keep being reminded of it will have a good time with either or both of these movie tie-in books.