Film Review: PAW PATROL: THE DINO MOVIE (2026): Marshall is Back and On an Island with Some Cute Dinosaurs for Yet Another Sweet Tale

PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie Review

PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie (2026) Film Review, a movie directed by Cal Brunker, written by Bob Barlen, Keith Chapman and Cal Brunker and starring Mckenna Grace, Carter Young, Hayden Chamberlen, Rain Janjua, Fortune Feimster, Terry Crews, Jameela Jamil, Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, Jennifer Hudson, Ron Pardo, Bill Nye, Meredith MacNeill, Nylan Parthipan, Lucien Duncan-Reid, William Desrosiers and Darius Rathe.

Certain family movies have built-in audiences and PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie is definitely one of them. Besides the cute pups featured in the movie, there are now dinosaurs mixed into the action as well in order to win over almost every 4 or 5-year old kid on planet Earth. It has been about three years since the last PAW Patrol movie came out and some of the magic from that last film is recaptured in the new animated picture.

PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie from filmmaker Cal Brunker will play best with fans of the little Dalmatian called Marshall (voice of Carter Young) who is, admittedly, the star of the show. Marshall is the leader of the group known collectively as the PAW Patrol. Marshall is not the leader because he is the best, but because he never gives up and keeps getting up after he has fallen down. This concept is interwoven throughout several key scenes in this new animated movie which is the third big screen adventure in the franchise.

As the film opens, a family is barbecuing on a boat. When the grill falls over and the ship catches fire, the boat begins to go up in flames. Fluffy Butt, the dog, is almost lost in the fire, but our heroes manage to save Fluffy Butt, just in the nick of time. As a storm approaches, our PAW Patrol soon ends up stranded on an island where they meet a dog who is physically disabled, but super friendly called Rex (Hayden Chamberlen). Rex tells our PAW Patrol that the dinosaurs are pretty friendly, even if one of them gets cranky when it wakes up from its nap.

All is well for the time being as our doggies soon try to find a way off the island. Their plans are dampened when Mr. Mayor Humdinger (Ron Pardo) gets out of jail and teams up with his kitty cats to try to find diamonds that are located somewhere on the island where the dogs are stranded. Humdinger tries to go straight and get a real job at first, but he turns out to still be as greedy as ever so the story once again now has its central villain.

Rhubarb is the cute little dinosaur showcased in the movie who disappears as our pups start a search party to try to locate Rhubarb later in the film. While the other pups want to rest and wait until morning to find Rhubarb, Marshall goes out in the middle of night and gets into serious hot water while trying to find his new dino friend.

Dinosaurs and dog characters are a good mix to get the kids’ attention these days. A catchy soundtrack full of pop songs will help move the action along this time around as well. Mckenna Grace returns as Skye and drives around in order to save our heroes from the wrath of the evil Humdinger whose quest for diamonds will lead him to put dynamite in the volcanoes and cause such a big problem on the island that only a pup as determined as Marshall could possibly save the day.

This film gets bogged down at times by not enough action in the midsection before the picture picks up steam again and delivers an inspired conclusion. Though some of the jokes at the end involving poo and the bad guys here don’t go over as well as they could have, the movie is basically clean, good-natured fun for the whole family.

PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie has a big heart which works in its favor. You’ll either love this movie or want to skip it altogether. There is some impressive animation where the dinosaurs are concerned and the pups are ever so charming with Marshall getting more screen time than anyone else in the movie. In supporting turns, Paris Hilton and Snoop Dogg provide voices for human characters who are hardly in the film, but are, nonetheless, humorous distractions.

Marshall is a hero for the record books as far as young kids are concerned. Though this film doesn’t focus on other PAW Patrol team members the same way it does Marshall, the message the film has for its young viewers is that teamwork makes the dream work, even if the movie doesn’t come right out and say exactly that. It’s clearly understood that is the overall message of the picture.

Humdinger is, as always, a frustrating villain who can remind one of the Monopoly man if he were an evil character intent on destroying the lives of the PAW Patrol pups. It’s safe to say, though, that PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie is harmless fun, for better or worse. Marshall is so darn cute and Rex is a cool new addition to the cast who gets inducted into the PAW Patrol as a member by the time the movie reaches its sweet conclusion.

Rating: 7/10

Leave your thoughts on this PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie review and the film below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons.

Readers seeking more film reviews can visit our Movie Review Page, our Movie Review Twitter Page, and our Movie Review Facebook Page.

Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Mobile App, Google News, Apple News, Feedly, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Reddit, Telegram, Mastodon, Flipboard, Bluesky, and Threads.