Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw is a 1988 American animated musical adventure film based on the Tonka toy line and the Hanna-Barbera television series of the same name, which aired around the same time. It was directed by Pierre DeCelles, and stars the voices of Brennan Howard, B.J. Ward and Tony Longo. This was the only animated feature film produced by Carolco Pictures as well as the first animated film distributed by TriStar Pictures.
The Legend of Big Paw was the final theatrically released animated feature from the late 1980s to promote a major toy line, a common trend in the American cartoon industry of the time. The film was panned by critics and audiences alike and was a major box office bomb, grossing only $586,938 against a $6 million budget.
Plot
On the way to the museum with his niece and nephew, Whopper tells them about the origin of Puppy Power, the ability of humankind to communicate with the Pound Puppies and Purries.
In the Dark Ages (specifically the 950s AD), a boy named Arthur and his dog Digalot came across a stone which contained both the mythical sword Excalibur and the magical Bone of Scone. While Arthur pulled the sword from the stone, Digalot pulled the Bone of Scone from the stone, and soon afterward Arthur and Digalot discovered that they could now understand one another. Sir McNasty, the Black Knight, who had witnessed the withdrawals and Arthur's coronation as King of England, planned to conquer the world by retrieving the Bone. However, it was kept hidden by the giant guardian, Big Paw.
In the 1950s, the Bone of Scone is in a museum in an unnamed American city. Pound owners Tammy and Jeff hold a press conference to announce that the pound will be holding an adoption bazaar in commemoration of the Bone's thousand-year anniversary. Marvin McNasty, a descendant of Sir McNasty, arrives at the pound, wishing to adopt some puppies. Whopper discovers McNasty's true intentions: McNasty will use his Mean Machine to transform the puppies into vicious guard dogs, steal the Bone of Scone, and use its power and his canine army to conquer the world. Whopper attempts to warn his friends, but their leader, Cooler, a descendant of Diaglot, does not believe him. Whopper then follows McNasty's henchmen as they attempt to steal the Bone of Scone, but they accidentally break it in two; this results in the loss of Puppy Power. Whopper takes one half of the Bone with him back to the pound, only for the henchmen to kidnap him and Collette and take the half of the Bone. Cooler and the rest of the Pound Puppies head out to rescue them and retrieve the stolen half.
Collette and Whopper escape from McNasty's lab, and briefly reunite with the rest of the Puppies. However, McNasty's henchmen recapture them. The Puppies give chase, but nearly all of them end up in a rat-infested cave, hanging on a rope, before the Purries pull them up to safety. The Puppies and Purries continue looking for their friends. When they get caught in a patch of mire, they are saved by the legendary Big Paw, who agrees to help them.
When the Puppies try to enter McNasty's house, they are captured and transformed into guard dogs, save for Cooler, who escapes by posing as a Purry, as McNasty is allergic to cats. Big Paw brings him and the Purries back to town to stop the evil trio, who have taken over the pound and dug their way into the museum where the villains glue the Bone back together, restoring Puppy Power. Big Paw and Cooler arrive, and the rest of the Puppies are turned back to normal when they hear the words "I love you". McNasty and his henchmen try to escape with the Bone, but Big Paw and Cooler chase them back to the museum, where the Mean Machine turns the villains into good men. Big Paw and Nose Marie retrieve the Bone of Scone.
Whopper and his niece and nephew find themselves in the museum. The Bone of Scone has returned for another visit, and Whopper introduces Big Paw as a surprise for the young ones, who did not believe before that he was real.