I saw PAW Patrol Dino Rescue, yep, 7/10

Published on 8 August 2026

Would you believe it, I went to see PAW Patrol at the cinema. I was tagging along with a mum and her charming almost-5-year-old son, so rest assured, I didn't plonk myself down all alone in the middle of the strollers. And on the way out I figured there was a blog post in this, because PAW Patrol, honestly, is an absolutely wild thing.

If you don't have any kids in your life, let's recap: it's a Canadian animated series launched in 2013, puppies who chain together rescue missions aboard oversized vehicles, and it's been the most-watched programme for 2-to-5-year-olds for more than ten years, broadcast in over 170 countries. Every kid on the planet knows the name of every single pup. Every one of them. Even me (okay, not really, still don't).

The origin of this UFO is improbable. The series wasn't born at a film studio, it was commissioned by Spin Master, a Canadian toy manufacturer, from the creator of Bob the Builder. The cartoon was designed from the very start to sell toys. If, like me, you were born in the late 70s, you know this playbook by heart: it's exactly what happened with He-Man or the Transformers, toys first, a story afterwards.

And it works on a scale that's hard to wrap your head around. Over 10 billion dollars in merchandise sold since 2014, more than a billion a year, and in some years the little patrol has sold more toys than Star Wars or Frozen. Read that sentence again.

The funniest bit is this thing that gets said at one point in the 2021 film: at one moment, the characters calmly explain that they've got loads of cash to build their vehicles, thanks to merchandise sales. The joke is fully owned. The cartoon's heroes know exactly where their money comes from, and they say so to the kids. It's dizzying.

Dino Rescue, then, the series' third film, released in early August and once again directed by Cal Brunker. This time a storm washes the patrol up on a tropical island populated by dinosaurs, where they meet Rex, a pup (on wheels, because he's disabled) who has lived there for years and knows everything about dinos, and the villain Mr. Hellinger shows up to dig mines, which of course wakes up the local volcano. So much for the plot, which isn't exactly mind-blowing.

I gave it 7/10. It's got pace, it's very pretty, there are two or three genuinely well-done rescue sequences, and I wasn't bored. But I'd seen the 2021 film, and I'd given that a better 8/10, because yes, it's a cut above: more epic, more impressive, more urban too with its rescues in the middle of the city that quickly bring Marvel to mind. Dino Rescue plays the exotic-island card, it's cute, it's a change of scenery, but it's less impressive.

So, got a kid aged 3 to 6 on hand? Go for it, they'll be happy, and you'll have a good time too. Don't have one? The 2021 film will do the job just fine on a lazy evening, and so you don't completely miss out on the phenomenon.

By Paingout