Created in 2013 by Keith Chapman, the television series PAW Patrol centers on telling uplifting stories in each episode that follow the adventures of Ryder, a tech-savvy young boy with high-tech headquarters and vehicles, who rescues exceptionally intelligent puppies for his search and rescue team. With each new episode, the central team of pups—Chase, Marshall, Skye, Rubble, Rocky, and Zuma—work together to solve problems and support their communities, always treating everyone with kindness, empathy, and compassion.
The pups are back for an adventure that’s both pawsome and roarsome in PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie. The PAW Patrol is far out at sea on their boat when a storm suddenly hits, causing them to crash onto an unknown island. As they venture farther into this strange place, they quickly discover they’re not alone: they have found the only location in the world where dinosaurs still exist. Luckily, they meet Rex, a Bernese Mountain pup who’s been stranded on the island for several years and has since become an expert on all things dino-related. He couldn’t be a more perfect guide to show the pups around Dino Island, where the pups meet all types of dinosaurs, from the T. rex to the Triceratops, Stegosaurus, and Brachiosaurus.
Directed by Cal Brunker from a script by Brunker and Bob Barlen. It stars an impressive ensemble of actors, including Carter Young as Marshall, who spoke to The Koalition about the recording process and becoming Marshall.
Young is no stranger to being inside a recording booth; this SAG-AFTRA actor and voice actor whose work spans television, film, and animation is widely recognized as the voice of Miles Morales/Spin in Disney Jr.’s Spidey and His Amazing Friends. Young began his career in front of the camera at an early age and has grown into one of today’s rising young performers, bringing warmth, humor, and authenticity to every role.
“I just do different vibes for the characters. It’s not the voice I’m doing differently, I think it’s the vibes. In my opinion, it’s all about the vibes because you can do several characters with different vibes, and they all sound different because there’s a different emotional approach to it. I had to make my character very inspiring. That was one of my main thoughts when recording. I said, ‘I have to make Marshall inspiring but funny at the same time.'”
“On a series, you’re expecting the next episode, and there’s more to expect. But with a movie, you get more. The stakes are higher, I’d say. You use your emotion more opposed to a series, where there are going to be more and more episodes. So, in the movie, you give it your all.”
Young, focused on relating to Marshall through the emotions in the script. “I had to relate to times I felt the same way because we all feel these emotions at different times, and I just thought about what made me happy and what made me sad, and thinking about that emotion just applied to the words I was saying. It was a big thing for me being in the booth recording for Marshall.”
Young came to the role of Marshall not only as a fan of the series, which he’d watched since the age of three, but also of his character, who he admits has always been his favorite. “I’ve watched all the episodes several times,” Young shares. “I had all the PAW Patrol toys, clothes, bedsheets—pretty much everything. But I never thought I
would become my favorite character, Marshall, in PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie!”
“I was really excited when I found out I was going to be Marshall. I read for both [Marshall and Chase]. There were two scripts, one for Marshall and one for Chase. I got a callback for Chase, but then I ended up doing Marshall, too. I think it was just meant to be. I related to Marshall more because he’s clumsy and I can be clumsy. I related to Marshall the most because we’re most alike. So, I had to give it my all. I gave it my all, and I did everything I could to make Marshall the best that I could. I relate to Marshall in many ways, but there are a few differences. I just had to set aside the differences and use my imagination. I read the whole script, and I used my imagination to picture what everything would be, and it worked pretty well for me because the movie looks amazing. It’s everything I imagined it would be.”
The vibe for Marshall: he’s clumsy; he’s funny, but he has his moments where he’s brave. “Through the physicality, I use my imagination because all you can do is imagine. It’s not a live-action movie where you can actually physically do something; you have to use your imagination to bring the physicality to life. I was just pretty much playing with my voice to make Marshall match the physicality that he was tumbling. I would go into it with the best of my ability. When it came to recording, it was more of just a solo thing. I recorded several sessions and several other sessions which were just a few lines to pick up on the movie’s plot. But I’d say I really enjoyed the first three sessions the most because [while] I was in the booth for a long time, I was enjoying it because it was my dream. They had drawings of Marshall, the dinosaur and several other drawings. It was just amazing seeing them. I was like, “This is going to be me.”
For fans of the TV series, one of the highlights of the movie is Marshall’s expanded backstory. We see how he joined the PAW Patrol and why Ryder calls him the pup that never gives up. It is this persistence and determination that Young says he, too, never tires of watching. “I’ve always loved Marshall because he’s super clumsy and makes a lot of mistakes, but his bravery makes up for it. I hope people all around the world will love it. Kids love dinosaurs, and seeing dinosaurs with the PAW Patrol makes a great movie. It’s like Jurassic Park, but with the PAW Patrol!”
Marshall’s new best friend in PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie is a hatchling T. rex dinosaur he decides to call Rhubarb, because of his coloring. He’s truly innocent, curious, and acts like a little puppy. So, what if Marshall, who is a puppy, got a puppy? So, Rhubarb has a lot of puppy mannerisms. He wants to play, and we see him shake his tail. It was really fun way for these two to relate to each other.
For Young, “I imagined myself with the baby dinosaur [Rhubarb] and Marshall loves the dinosaur and he’s going out of his way to protect the dinosaur. I just had to set my mind to protecting the dinosaur and caring for the dinosaur because I had to relate to it.”
Additional powerhouse team of pups that make up the PAW Patrol in The Dino Movie are Skye (Mckenna Grace), a fearless cockapoo and aviation expert; Rubble (Lucien Duncan-Reid), a tough bulldog with a heart of gold; Chase (Rain Janjua), a dependable German Shepherd and the leader of the pups; Rocky (William Desrosiers), a mixed breed pup who champions recycling and repair; and Zuma (Nylan Parthipan), a chocolate labrador retriever who is a skilled swimmer and a literal life saver when it comes to water rescues.
While Young didn’t get to collaborate with the other actors, he found a way to connect with the others character through the recording sessions. “We just sort of connected through the movie because Ryder connects with Marshall through the movie because Marshall feels like he messed up. I think we just both gave it our all and it turned out really great. With [Brunker] and [Barlen] we pretty much worked together to make this movie great. Cal was directing me and telling me all about the movie and he gave me lots of information about how the movie was going to be and it helped me bring Marshall to life. It’s such a big movie that my work on it really helped me [as a voice actor] because I did a lot of recording. I learned lots of lots of things. It was just like training but not training at the same time.”
As this fun, feel-good, and uplifting adventure hits theaters, Young can’t wait for fans big and small to sniff out everything that’s in store for this adorable team of top dogs, and all these beautiful environments with gorgeous lighting, special effects, and sound effects.
“When I was watching the movie, I was so focused on what was happening that I sort of forgot that it was me at one point because there were there were parts where I was like, ‘Hey, this is from that session or I remember doing this,’ but it was just such a great movie that I was able to watch it without thinking that it was me. I just enjoyed everything. It’s Marshall. It’s Paw Patrol. So, recording and watching the movie, I was happy throughout the whole thing.”
“I learned a lot from Marshall, and I learned a lot from the movie. There’s lots of lessons that can be taught through Marshall. The number one lesson was to never give up because it was always my dream to be in such a big movie like this. And I just never gave up. There were times where I felt like giving up, but I never gave up.”
For Young, everything about this the filming process was enjoyable which is the exact feeling audiences will have watching The Dino Movie, Marshall’s training and passion for helping others. “I enjoy it because I know that I’m going to make audiences happy, and I know that I’m going to make them laugh and I know that I’m really going to bring the emotion. I’m just happy. It just makes me happy making other people happy because we all have hard times and I think Marshall just brings a big smile to everybody’s face when they see it.”
“Everything was just a big moment for me because it’s one of my it was one of my biggest dreams that I can now say that I accomplished.” Accomplishing this dream has resulted in Young dreaming bigger. “It’s now like, ‘oh, everything else I got by now.’ It feels like I can I can do bigger things. I know that if I can accomplish this, I can accomplish even more.”
To learn more about Young and Marshall, check out the full interview in the video above.
Discover more from The Koalition
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
