Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie (2026)

​“Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie” stars Carter Young, Hayden Chemberlen, Mckenna Grace, Henry Bolan, Rain Janjua, Lucien Duncan-Reid, William Desrosiers, Nylan Parthipan, and Ron Pardo.  Released on August 14, 2026, the film follows the Paw Patrol as they uncover an island full of dinosaurs.

The film was directed by Cal Brunker, who directed the previous “Paw Patrol” movies, as well as “Escape from Planet Earth” and “The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature”.  It is the third film in the “Paw Patrol” franchise, based on the show’s “Dino Rescue” sub-series.  If there was one thing that could cure the late summer blues, it’s a weekend packed with dino fever, with two similar movies aimed at different audiences.  While older folks can enjoy a more fearsome “Jurassic Park” clone set in the suburbs, families are left with a safer option featuring these prehistoric creatures.  Fortunately for them, our particular group of cuddly yet brave puppies was here to ensure a more fun and harmless experience with the dinosaurs for the younglings.  It bears repeating that “Paw Patrol” is one of Nickelodeon’s most successful franchises to date alongside SpongeBob and will continue to thrive in television for the next decade or so.  Of course, like SpongeBob, “Paw Patrol” is also dominating the big screen through movie adaptations of the regular show and its “Mighty Pups” sub-series.  Unsurprisingly, this trend continues with the team’s latest cinematic mission that takes them from the boisterous Adventure City to a “Jurassic Park”-inspired island.  Was this latest big-screen outing starring the Paw Patrol worth howling for, or does it prove that some children’s shows should remain on the small screen?  Let’s find out.

The story once again centers on a team of search-and-rescue pups known as the Paw Patrol.  Led by Ryder (Bolan), the Paw Patrol embarks on a mission to rescue a family from a boat fire.  However, the team gets caught in a storm that washes them up on a seemingly uninhabited island.  While exploring the island, they made a shocking discovery: the island is actually home to a group of dinosaurs.  Accompanied by a paraplegic pup named Rex (Chamberlain), the pups learn about the island's prehistoric creatures and their ways of life.  Eventually, they come across another nefarious plot by Mayor Humdinger (Pardo), who seeks to mine the island for its diamonds.  This results in the Paw Patrol cooperating with Rex to rescue the dinosaurs and stop Humdinger’s plan, while one of its members, Marshall (Young), confronts his own dilemma.

I still find it crazy that I didn’t get into the “Paw Patrol” craze until its first movie came out during the pandemic.  I mean, I was in my second year of college by the time the show even came out.  While I may not be a huge fan of “Paw Patrol”, I appreciate the films for staying true to the show’s roots despite their cinematic scale.  I found the first film surprisingly decent because of its harmless, charming plot involving the team protecting Adventure City from Humdinger’s terrible ideas.  Despite “The Mighty Movie” falling a tad short from a narrative perspective, it was still an enjoyable piece of children’s entertainment that I wouldn’t mind revisiting at some point.  More importantly, both these movies work pretty well in delighting fans of the source material, mainly younger children, and even newcomers who don’t feel like watching endless hours of the television show.  Despite being beyond the series’s target demographic, I was somehow interested in seeing how this dino-sized adventure would continue its solid theatrical run, even though I wasn’t expecting anything more out of its kid-friendly plot.

Like “The Mighty Movie”, “The Dino Movie” continues the tradition of adapting one of the show’s sub-series as a feature film.  In this case, the film is based on the “Dino Rescue” episodes in season seven, in which the Paw Patrol works on missions in the Dino Wilds.  In short, it’s set in the same universe where the dinosaurs didn’t get killed by a flaming ball of death.  Imagine if that were to happen in our universe.  It also continues to focus on developing one of the group’s members during their assignments, which is one of the strongest aspects of the films.  The first movie focused on Chase’s trauma from Adventure City, and “The Mighty Movie” had Skye (once again voiced by Mckenna Grace for this movie) proving that even small pups can do big things.  For “The Dino Movie”, the story’s main focus is the firefighter puppy Marshall, who confronts his own clumsiness to prove his own worth to the team.  Of course, on an island full of prehistoric animals, it’s not an easy task to flawlessly perform a task without slipping up.

The “Paw Patrol” movies are in no way masterpieces of animation when it comes to storytelling.  However, they’re at their best when they stick with the merits that made the series special for its target audience: fun, charm, and, most importantly, life lessons that kids and even adults can understand and relate to.  “The Dino Movie” is no exception, as it provides exactly what you would expect from a Paw Patrol movie while highlighting its positive messages.  This dino adventure shows Marshall challenging his belief that rescue workers never make mistakes while on duty, thanks to his clumsy behavior.  However, he realizes that everyone makes mistakes, and the important part of being a hero is never giving up, despite imperfections.  It’s moments like this that make me appreciate “Paw Patrol” as a franchise, mainly the movies.  It not only delivers fun rescue missions that can be occasionally intense, but it also takes a safer, kid-friendly approach to its themes that may inspire children to become heroes themselves.  Was the franchise perfect?  No, but its balance of education and entertainment has a specific charm that helped drive its success.  Thirteen years in, and it's still going strong.

In short, “The Dino Movie” is the third big-screen outing for the series that works best as a Paw Patrol movie because of these merits.  However, when you take off the Paw Patrol glasses and identify it as a regular kids movie, it’s another fairly tolerable piece of young-age entertainment that’s more about advertising its brand and nothing else.  For better or worse, “The Dino Movie” showcases another round of rescue missions performed by the pups themselves while dealing with a member’s personal issue.  The plot is straightforward and predictable, especially in how the narrative is structured for Marshall’s dilemma.  If you’ve seen the previous two “Paw Patrol” movies, then you'll be able to connect the dots in “The Dino Movie”.  As the third film in the franchise, you might expect a different structure, especially since the entire scenario takes place on a dinosaur-infested island.  Well, that’s not the case.  Despite the change in location, the narrative elements are basically the same as the previous movies, including the one pup’s personal problem affecting the team’s duties and the flashback involving their first encounter with Ryder.  

This makes sense thematically, especially in how it showcases Marshall’s role on the team.  But after three Paw Patrol movies, these elements are now starting to become too obvious, which doesn’t help the film’s screenplay by Cal Brunker and Bob Barlen.  Like the previous two “Paw Patrol” movies, “The Dino Movie” relies more on its simple concept.  It gets the message across while delighting the target audience with puns and low-level dialogue, rather than offering a more layered approach to its themes and narrative.  If that’s the intent, Brunker and Barlen once again did a pretty good job capturing the heart and spirit of the source material while understanding the target demographic.  But if you’re hoping for it to get a massive upgrade in storytelling, I can only say that the only upgrade you’re getting is the advertisement for the franchise’s set of “Dino Rescue” toys.  But hey, that means more money for Nickelodeon and Spin Master.  Granted, there were a few fun moments that stem from its silly charm, particularly from Rubble (Lucien Duncan-Reid) and Mayor Humdinger.  Other than that, “The Dino Movie” is like the first two films: a 90-minute toy commercial that showcases the pups’ gadgets and vehicles amid a cinematic aura, now with ferocious yet adorable dinosaurs.

As for the cast, they made a respectable effort to inject childlike charisma and likability into their performances.  Most of the members from the show and movies returned to reprise their roles, like Mckenna Grace and Ron Pardo, while others either replaced those who came before or tried to shine in their new characters.  Carter Young marks the latest actor to voice Marshall in the film, and admittedly, he was one of the best parts of the lineup.  While his performance is anything but perfect, Young did a suitable job conveying Marshall’s determination and clumsy persona, adding a blend of humor and heart that the series is known for.  Ron Pardo also continued to shine as Mayor Humdinger, who returns once more to cause trouble for the Paw Patrol.  As usual, Humdinger is delightfully evil, the complete opposite of the heroes’ selfless intentions, yet he has an appealing charm to his nefarious deeds that makes him as entertaining as the protagonists.  Of course, besides the main pups, “The Dino Movie” is full of celebrity guest stars joining in on the adventure, such as Terry Crews, Jennifer Hudson, Fortune Feimster, Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, and even Bill Nye the Science Guy.  While none of them stand out as much as the main cast, they’re still respectable in making their respective characters appealing to children.

Another aspect I’ve enjoyed about the “Paw Patrol” movies is the animation.  While the CGI presentation is as simple as the movies themselves, it captures the scale and cinematic essence worthy of their theatrical treatment, especially the rescue missions.  “The Dino Movie” is no different, with Mikros Image returning once more to deliver the kid-friendly action we’d expect from these heroic canines, as well as the colorful visuals of the environments.  While far from innovative, the animation delivers another burst of vibrancy and appeal that’s gorgeous by design and adorable by children's movie standards.  The rescue missions remain thrilling and entertaining, especially the third act, where the characters rescue the dinosaurs from an active volcano.  Plus, the dinosaur designs are just so cute, especially the baby T-Rex named Rhubarb, making the film a proper introduction to cinematic dinosaurs for small children outside the “Jurassic Park” franchise.  It may not be special in its presentation, but it further proves that no job is too big for Mikros to convey the show’s straightforward concept and environments on a larger, more detailed scale.

Overall, “Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie” performs its duty of providing kid-friendly entertainment to its target audience, even if its story is nothing worth roaring about.  Like its predecessors, this dino adventure is full of adorable charm and colorful vibrancy, along with its positive messages and fun rescue missions.  As a Paw Patrol movie, it’s another strong reminder of why the series remains popular in the modern children’s entertainment space.  However, as a regular kids movie, it’s also a safe, straightforward, and familiar experience that functions as a 90-minute commercial for the IP’s toy line.  While tolerable in the franchise’s first two theatrical outings, this third big-screen mission highlights that it’s starting to run out of new tricks in the storytelling department, despite the heart that stems from it.  But again, I’m not the target audience for these types of movies, even though I got enough enjoyment from seeing puppies interact with dinosaurs in this film.  They’re more geared towards younger kids who watch the series daily, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.  While it fulfilled this assignment easily with its tolerable appeal and messages, its tame execution may make casual viewers want to yelp for help.

C