Given extra oomph by a new song from the Backstreet Boys, the film has plenty of colour and energy, but there’s something depressing about watching yet another well-worn franchise trying to extract...more mileage from ideas it has peddled so often before.

[It] couldn’t be more satisfyingly designed for its intended audience, precisely at the age when it is especially reassuring to have fantasy films about children (human and canine) who are brave, dedicated helpers and problem-solvers.

Yup, the kids are going to lap it up. Parents, you will too.

Exciting and cute enough to hold kids’ attention while mercifully maintaining its avoidance of annoying pop culture references that would make it more frustrating to adults, not less.