Paw Patrol: Ready, Race, Rescue!

Yeah, Paw Patrol nowadays has been having a bit of an identity crisis nowadays. Starting off as just six pups rescuing animals while helping their friends in the city of Adventure Bay, suddenly, starting in season four, they started to add gimmicks like Mission PAW and Sea Patrol in order to keep the show going and get new ideas to keep selling toys. With Mighty Pups, a movie released in 2018 that would be used again in episodes starting in season six, it became very clear that the gimmicks were basically going to be the show's life support. Ready, Race, Rescue! is a TV movie that introduces yet another gimmick to keep the show alive: racing.

So, the story is the Adventure Bay 500 is in town, and the Paw Patrol built a track for the race. However, when The Whoosh, a racer who the pups and Ryder are volunteering to be his pit crew, gets injured by a cheap tactic done by a rival racer known as the Cheetah (who happens to be Mayor Humdinger's cousin, no less), Whoosh chooses Marshall to take his place, training the clumsy pup to take on Cheetah in an Around-The-World Road Rally.

Yeah, it's clear to see the movie is nothing more than a short film meant to start a new gimmick that the show will use for future episodes. While it did teach a good lesson, it basically showed the series is beginning to have an identity crisis. Also, a cheating racer called the Cheetah? Not very original since it sounds like they took it from a joke book. While kids may enjoy it, fans of the series may want to steer clear if gimmicks are not their thing.