Original-Cin Q&A: Paw Patrol Director Cal Brunker Discusses Pups, Pipsqueaks, and Celebs

By Bonnie Laufer

If you have little ones at home then you know all about Paw Patrol. The outrageously successful Canadian computer-animated children's television series was created by Keith Chapman and is produced by Spin Master Entertainment.

The series focuses on a young boy named Ryder who leads a crew of search-and-rescue dogs that call themselves the Paw Patrol. They work together on missions to protect the shoreside community of Adventure Bay and surrounding areas. Each dog has a specific set of skills based on emergency services professions, such as a firefighter, a police officer, and an aviation pilot.

They all reside in dog houses that transform into customized vehicles or "pupmobiles," for their missions. They are also equipped with backpacks called "pup packs'' that contain tools that relate to the pups' jobs.

The pups are now ready for their big-screen debut with Paw Patrol: The Movie and there is no doubt that there will be more films to follow.

Our Bonnie Laufer spoke with the film’s director Cal Brunker.

To watch Bonnie’s interview with Lilly Bartlam who voices the rescue pup, Skye on both the show and in the movie click here.

Original-Cin: My kids grew up in the Barney era, so we missed the whole Paw Patrol craze. How Paw Patrol-savvy were you going into this?

CAL BRUNKER: I have a three- and a six-year-old so I was certified Paw Patrol aficionado when I joined the team. I think even when they started to move forward on actually making a movie, they spoke to different people to get their take on it. I had quite a strong emotional connection to it through my son and daughter so that really informed my approach to how I thought we could translate this kind of beloved property to the big screen.

O-C: So you have two big fans in your household who probably have their favorite pups. Did they try to persuade you to focus on the puppies that they liked best?

BRUNKER: My daughter really loves Skye the cockapoo Air Pup (voiced by Lily Bartlam, interview above). So yeah, the whole Spinmaster team certainly made sure every pup had their moment because everybody's got a favorite. But for me and my daughter, her connection to Skye was really quite powerful. We have some really big moments in the movie and I was excited to show her how awesome Skye was going to be but we also made sure every pup was highlighted so no fan will be disappointed.

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O-C: There are some wonderful young actors who lend their voices to the key Paw Patrol gang, but for the film there are a number of pretty big celebs who were keen to come on board, from Tyler Perry to Kim Kardashian as a poodle, Jimmy Kimmel and many more. What was that like when you found out that you were going to have this team to work with?

BRUNKER: Paw Patrol has got a wonderful thing going for it and that a lot of these actors have kids who are big fans of the show. So it makes that conversation a lot easier when they were approached to do the film. For instance, I wasn't on the phone, but I think the conversation with Tyler Perry went something like they called to ask him if he wanted to be in Paw Patrol. He probably looked down at his son and said, ‘Should Daddy do Paw Patrol and his kid likely said, Of course!’

So, it allowed us to have connections to talent that would normally be really difficult to get to do animated voices. Jimmy Kimmel joked about it a lot on his show and he's got a little one. That really ended up being a gift for us because we got to work with a really wonderful cast who brought so much to it and they've been incredibly supportive of the movie.

O-C: What do you think is the enduring success of Paw Patrol?

BRUNKER: When I watch my kids watch the show, it just gives them pure joy. I think it's because there's a real clear definition of who the good characters are and what the right thing to do is. It's really clear and I think the whole show and certainly my approach to the movie was to try and do something really uncynical. I wanted to try and tell a great story and have genuine emotion and not be sarcastic or smarmy. It's really an open positive experience and I think that's why it's lasted so long.

O-C: I remember when my kids were little, some of the stuff I had to endure and watch with them was pretty painful and I'm sure you feel the same way as a dad. So how do you keep that balance making it entertaining for the kids but also making it enjoyable for the whole family and not just little kids.

BRUNKER: That was certainly our number one priority when we started the film. We wanted to make sure that we created a great experience for the young current viewers, but we want to make a full family that parents get something out of. It all really started with the emotional story at the center of this.

We knew there were going to be these big action rescues, that was a given. But we wanted to try and tell a strong emotional character story. The two characters that have the strongest emotional story in the movie are Liberty and Chase. In fact, Liberty is a new pup who I am sure kids will adore, and Chase ends up struggling with his own fears and spends a lot of the film trying to figure out how to solve that problem. Once we had the framework of a nice emotional story then we could start building in comedic moments and some of the big set pieces.

O-C: When you have such great talent, especially a comedian like Jimmy Kimmel, how much improvisation do you allow?

BRUNKER: Well, it's always allowed. That's the beauty with animation as we can try anything. We can try it as many ways as an actor is willing to try. So we go in and usually we want to get what we've written but we're always open to their take. That's the reason they're in the movie is because they're funny and they've got their own ideas. Usually what ends up happening is, after the first time we record with them we see what works. Then we go back and we write more, we or we just let them riff and the characters kind of evolved like that.

O-C: You started making the film just prior to COVID hitting and then you had to alter everything having all of the animators work from home and the actors voicing from their homes as well. What kind of challenges did that cause or was it seamless?

BRUNKER: It was terrifying at first in terms of just the logistically of the film. I mean, it was scary for all the other reasons, too of course, but speaking just of the film, we had 350 artists who are used to having meetings together and suddenly we had to figure out everything in a matter of days. How to take a full studio and spread it out to everybody's homes and keep everything working.

At one point over the lockdown, we had to go into an empty studio just to pick up some of our things. We could see that all of the computer monitors in the studio were alive with people working remotely. You could see the computer mice moving and pointers grabbing things, there were hundreds of ghost driven computers by all of our artists at their homes. It was quite a strange sight. But they found a way to make it work and it became the way of the world.

O-C: Getting the main song sung by Adam Levine must have been a nice added bonus?

BRUNKER: Yeah, Adam Levine agreeing to do the original song was a dream come true. He was our first choice and boy, it's a great dance song. My kids won't stop dancing to it.

O-C: Do you ever get tired of the Paw Patrol opening song?

BRUNKER: Given that I've watched this movie about 6,000 times I've heard it a lot. I still love it because it brings my kids so much joy, so in all honesty, it's never grated on me.

Paw Patrol: The Movie. Directed by Cal Brunker. With Iain Armitage, Will Brisbin, Ron Pardo, Marsai Martin, Yara Shahidi, and Kim Kardashian. In theatres August 20.