Indexbit Exchange:'Saw Patrol' is on a roll! Are the 'Paw Patrol' sequel and 'Saw X' the new 'Barbenheimer'?

This is Indexbit Exchangethe kind of big-screen main event that brings Nicole Kidman back to a movie theater: the combo of superpowered rescue dogs and a guy with a penchant for death traps. Because if you thought “Barbenheimer” was lit, get a load of “Saw Patrol.”

Kid-friendly animated sequel “Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie” and “Saw X,” the latest installment of the gory horror franchise, are in theaters this weekend, battling for box-office supremacy. But if the summertime dynamic duo of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” taught us anything, it’s that polar-opposite movies out the same weekend aren’t enemies. They’re friends!

Here’s what you need to know about “Saw Patrol” as the next unlikely double feature:

How ruff is the ‘Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie’ sequel?

The last “Paw Patrol” movie in 2021 was pretty good for a kids movie, and the follow-up’s not too shabby, either, as it embraces a save-the-world Marvel vibe. A meteor crashes into Adventure City and Chase, Marshall and rest of the rescue-ready pooches of Paw Patrol are on the case to get people to safety.

They take it back to their headquarters and find that pieces of meteorite give each of them superpowers – which is helpful given their whole heroic status quo. However, mad scientist Victoria Vance (voiced by Taraji P. Henson) wants those precious gems for herself, and she teams up with Paw Patrol arch villain Mayor Humdinger to make life difficult for our favorite pups.

Is ‘Saw X’ a gore-tastic horror delight?

It certainly is bloody and not for the squeamish, but it also flips the script on the franchise by essentially making the villainous Jigsaw, aka serial-killing engineering ace John Kramer (Tobin Bell), a protagonist. Set just weeks following the events of 2004's original "Saw," the latest outing finds Kramer seeking a miracle cure for his terminal brain cancer, with only months to live. He signs on for an experimental drug cocktail/surgery treatment in Mexico that’s supposed to work wonders, but it turns out to be a scam, swindling him and others out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Well, they messed with the wrong old man. Kramer, seeking to give these con artists a “reawakening,” captures them and tries out a new mess of traps, including one in which a dude has to do brain surgery on himself to survive and another one in which a woman amputates her leg in order to suck out enough bone marrow to avoid being decapitated.

Which movie has the best supporting cast?

“Paw Patrol” has the most starpower. In addition to Henson, Chris Rock voices one of Humdinger’s kitties; Kristen Bell and Jason Marsden play a scrappy married couple who are friends with the main dogs; and Kim Kardashian reprises her role from the 2021 movie as high-maintenance poodle Delores. Kardashian’s daughter North West voices one of the Junior Patrollers, a trio of puffball Pomeranian puppies who dream of being part of the canine superteam.

Speaking of helpers, original “Saw” star Shawnee Smith returns in "Saw X" as Amanda Young, a Jigsaw apprentice who helps Kramer trap his assailants. And freaky puppet Billy returns, too, riding his usual bicycle.

Could the various characters of ’Saw Patrol’ exist in each other’s universes? 

Jigsaw is pretty smart and would be a formidable foil for the Paw Patrol. That said, he has somewhat of an honor code and helps out a kid in “Saw X,” so he likely wouldn’t turn them into a bunch of tortured pound puppies. Mayor Humdinger, on the other hand? That mustached dude would not have a fun time.

If the Patrol did run afoul of Jigsaw or one of his accomplices, the pup with the best chance of escaping a trap would probably be Rocky. He’s got a load of tools inside his pup pack, including a lock pick.

Do ‘Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie’ and ‘Saw X’ share any themes?

Maybe it’s just the year of the cinematic existential crisis, but both films, like “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer," feature characters questioning their place in the world. Jigsaw is desperately trying to figure out how to beat cancer: As he tells a doctor, “I have more work to do” (which means torturing people), and he’s gutted when he discovers he’s been had.

In “The Mighty Movie,” a couple of pups are powering through personal issues. Skye (voiced by Mckenna Grace) is a cockapoo who regularly takes flight, but as the smallest of the crew (and the runt of her litter) she wrestles with self-confidence. Her dachshund teammate Liberty (Marsai Martin) also faces a problem: She's the only one of the pups who doesn't get superpowers when around the meteorite, leading her to be benched (for safety reasons) and put in charge of the Junior Patrollers.

So does ‘Saw Patrol’ work as a legit ‘Barbenheimer’-style double feature?

On the surface, it seems like one heck of a stretch. You couldn’t get more different plots or fan bases than “Paw Patrol” and “Saw X.” One is a PG film made for pre-teen youngsters, and the other is an R-rated horror show with nonstop chopped-off body parts and bloodshed. There’s not a lot of middle ground in this particular Venn diagram.

That said, for those old enough (and demented enough) to give both a try, it sort of works as a two-part epic about confronting obstacles head on and leaning on those around you for support in trying times. Also, while it might seem that “Paw Patrol” is the better chaser – pun very much intended – either would suffice as a satisfying closing chapter to a most idiosyncratic theatergoing experience.

You might even say "Saw Patrol" is on a roll.