FETCH A FALLING STAR

Opening in theaters this weekend:

PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie--"They're cute little pups that drive around in cars. I know it sounds weird, but just go with it." So says a character near the beginning of this second PAW Patrol feature, by way of describing the premise.

More specifically: The little pups live in palatial digs in "Adventure City," where each of them specializes in some form or other, vaguely breed-appropriate, of public safety. Chase the German Shepherd is a police dog; Marshall the Dalmatian is a firefighter; Skye the Cockapoo pilots a rescue helicopter; Bulldog Rubble does construction and demo; Zuma the Lab does water rescues, mutt Rocky handles recycling, and Liberty the Dachshund, introduced in 2021's PAW Patrol: The Movie, has a gift for training the members of the Junior Patrollers, a trio of Pomeranians. Ryder is the human boy who leads the gang.

I'll confess that moment-to-moment, I have some trouble keeping them all straight in my mind; the characters don't, for me, have terribly distinct personalities. But to their intended audience, the pups have been beloved figures since the Canadian TV cartoon, developed by Keith Chapman of Bob the Builder fame, was launched on Nickelodeon in 2013.

If you thought it was weird before, wait until you get a load of Mighty Movie. The story takes a sci-fi/fantasy twist this time that puts it more in the realm of a Marvel or Power Rangers flick than a Boy-and-his-Anthropomorphic-Dogs story. Drawn in from space by a mad scientist villain with a magnet, a meteor crash lands in Adventure City, and fragments from it give the pups superpowers. Some of these seemed counterintuitive to me. Marshall, for instance, gains the power to conjure fire from his paws; shouldn't he command water or flame-retardant foam or something?

Anyway, as with the first feature, The Mighty Movie is not an experience to seek out if you don't have a five-year-old who requires it, but it's not disagreeable to sit through if you do get stuck at it. The dialogue has funny, self-aware touches, including another fourth wall gag about the film's transparent merchandising strategy. The voice cast includes some name players, including Serena Williams, Kristen Bell, James Marsden, Chris Rock and most notably Taraji P. Henson as the rather chic, green-haired mad scientist.

Ron Pardo is also back, as Humdinger, Adventure City's narcissistic former mayor. I thought perhaps the first film was using the character to reference a certain real world public figure; my suspicion was strengthened in Mighty Movie when Humdinger, sensing public hostility toward him, remarks "This is why I hate free and fair elections."

Humdinger's entourage of cats seems intended as further evidence of his villainy. A suggestion: In the spirit of inter-species equity and amity, perhaps in the next PAW Patrol movie a heroic kitty should be introduced to the team. Cats have paws too, after all.

LET SLIP THE RESCUE DOGS

Now in theaters:

PAW Patrol: The Movie--Created by Keith Chapman of Bob the Builder fame, the Canadian TV cartoon PAW Patrol has been around for almost a decade. It's a boy-and-his-dog story, or rather, a boy-and-his-half-dozen-dogs story.  The boy, Ryder, leads a pack of six puppies, each of whom specializes in some branch of public safety, and who, like the Peanuts kids, never seem to age.

Chase, a German Shepherd, does police work; Marshall, a Dalmatian, fights fires. Zuma, a Lab, handles water rescues. Schnauzer Rocky runs a recycling truck and manages the team's environmental concerns, while Rubble the bulldog does construction. The only female member of the initial team, cockapoo Skye, flies the rescue helicopter. They dash around the town of Adventure Bay in souped-up, high-tech emergency vehicles, deploying gadgetry, and generally making themselves useful. And merchandisable.

In this inevitable movie version, the gang moves from bucolic Adventure Bay to the sprawling nearby metropolis of Adventure City, in anticipation of trouble now that their villainous nemesis Humdinger has managed to get himself elected Mayor. Humdinger is a vain, boastful, self-promoting buffoon who's more than willing to endanger the city if it helps his image.

Trouble, it need hardly be said, ensues. In the course of the story, which involves Humdinger's attempts to manipulate the weather so that it doesn't interfere with his public events, we learn that Chase was an abandoned pup in the streets, and he stills suffers PTSD symptoms when he's in the city. The team also gets an assist from an aspiring new member--another female--a dachshund named Liberty.

Look, I'm certainly not suggesting there's an earthly reason for you to go see this thing if you don't have a five-year-old fanatic who demands it. I saw it at a regular commercial showing, not a critics screening, and I'll admit I felt like a weirdo sitting there by myself on a Sunday evening. But if you do end up going, you might be surprised at how relatively painless it is to sit through. The animation is deft and speedy, and there are flickers of mild wit here and there throughout the dialogue, including a good-natured self-deprecating joke about how the team finances its palatial headquarters and equipment.

The cast includes the same sort of generic-sounding kid voices heard on the show as the puppies. But a few celebrities lend their pipes as well, including Jimmy Kimmel, Tyler Perry; even Kim Kardashian. Marsai Martin from the TV show Black-ish vigorously voices the dachshund Liberty.

It should be noted that in the ongoing war between cats and dogs, PAW Patrol: The Movie plants its flag firmly on the side of the dogs, not only because of the canine character of its heroes, but because the villainous Humdinger is attended by an entourage of noxious cats. It's a little surprising that the Feline Anti-Defamation League hasn't complained yet.