Up until recently, I had never watched a movie considered part of the Shrek franchise aside from the original Shrek. I liked the first movie well enough, but never felt the need to continue with any of the sequels or spinoffs. That hasn’t stopped people from trying to make idle chit-chat about the hilarity of Shrek 2 at random social gatherings, which has left me at a loss for words every time. Nonetheless, I heard a lot of positive buzz about Puss in Boots: The Last Wish from various content creators this year. After an intense few weeks, and many back-to-back horror movie sessions, I needed something to cheer me up. I decided to give it a try, even though I lacked any additional background to the character of Puss in Boots.

Pros

Animation has a unique look to it, especially during the action scenes
Very vibrant and colorful
Decent storytelling with lots of setup and payoff throughout the film with both jokes and action sequences
Western-style presentation is a nice touch
Some subtle and not-subtle details in the background and foreground adds to the themes and tone of the story
Multiple character arcs are handled well, including an antagonist’s
A few decent adult jokes scattered throughout

Cons

Some jokes are either low-hanging fruit or just not very funny
“Straight Up” is a phrase that ruins a line of dialogue for me
Not really a con, but you could make a drinking game out of the time number of times someone says “Puss in Boots”

Plot & Thoughts

Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas), who was introduced into the Shrekverse in Shrek 2, is a swashbuckling hero. He’s been on numerous adventures, acting as a Zorro to the people by antagonizing the nobles in various towns and giving the poor a reason to celebrate, while also slaying monsters and having a good time. Unfortunately for him and his party lifestyle, he’s been careless over the years and has lost eight of his nine lives. He’s not too worried about it until a mysterious stranger attacks him in a bar and easily defeats him. Narrowly avoiding death, Puss goes into retirement to protect his last life. But the call to adventure comes to his doorstep once again with the potential opportunity to find a fallen wishing star, which will grant him any wish he wants. So, he sets out with his new compatriot Perrito (Harvey Guillen) to get a map to the star and hopefully get his nine lives back. Unfortunately, something as powerful as a wishing star is desired by many other interested parties, and Puss has to compete with his spurned friend Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), the Goldilocks and Three Bears crime family, and Big Jack Horner (John Mulvany) for the star.

I think a big reason this movie got so much positive buzz from content creators was that it has enough details in its background, foreground, and tightly-written dialogue to elicit intelligent discussions about a beautiful movie with some positive messages. It’s a family-friendly animated film without the usual political agendas forced into every corner of the story, bogging down the characters like so many Disney or Pixar films have done for the past few years. I’m sure there are plenty of parents out there who just want to take their kids to a movie without having to worry about some Hollywood agenda attempting to brainwash their children into believing something with which the parents don’t agree. I don’t have kids, so I don’t really have a dog in the race other than I just want decent storytelling in all films, including those aimed at children. In that regard, I think Puss in Boots: The Last Wish delivers quite well.

There are multiple character arcs in The Last Wish that are set up and paid off successfully, which managed to add a lot of depth to characters that aren’t even human. The arc of Puss is the main focus, obviously, with him being forced to face real fear for the first time in his life. He has to realize that his attachment to his own legend that he’s built over the years has blinded him to what is really important and how to appreciate the life he has left. Kitty Softpaws is a lady who has been burned by too many people over the years and has to learn to rely on someone else for a change in order to succeed. And I won’t spoil the details as it is set up throughout the film, but Goldilocks and her bear family have their own arc as well, despite being antagonists to the two cats. The foil of all these characters, Perrito, is perhaps the most endearing. He stays consistent throughout the movie and manages to win you over just like the other characters with his cheesy, overly positive attitude, while perhaps having the darkest origin story of a character in a Shrek-adjacent movie. When all the different storylines come together in the final act, it’s a satisfying conclusion for each of them, even if one gets let off easy.

Perhaps the most striking thing you’ll notice in the film is the animation. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a bright, vibrant, and colorful film with a lot of movement and dynamic perspectives. There’s plenty of detail with the clothing and textures that look on par with Pixar’s animation (when they were still good). There’s also a lot of attention put into how everything is framed to make the colors and characters pop that much more. The film wisely uses colors to set the mood a lot of the time, with red being prominent as either the primary or contrasting color when the mysterious Lobo is closing in on Puss.

When the action starts, the animation gets even more interesting. All the movement gets stilted in a way that resembles how stop-motion animation can flow really well, but you can still notice how the movement is done frame by frame. What the Dreamworks animators are doing here manages to slow down the action enough for our eyes to keep track of everything that is happening without making the action feel any slower. It’s a curious technique that I’d like to know how the animators accomplished, because I wouldn’t be surprised if we see it in other animated movies going forward.

The only real criticism I have is in some of the comedy. Dreamworks is known for having the smart-ass style of sardonic humor in their movies, as all the heroes on the DVD box art have the same smirk and raised eyebrow look that memes have exposed and mocked over the years. There’s still some of that here, but I would say this movie is far more about the action than the humor. Some bits in certain scenes, like the doctor/barber in particular, just didn’t have enough to make the joke work. There were still plenty of jokes funny enough to get me to laugh out loud, like all the instances in which the anthropomorphized animals still act like the animals they’re supposed to be, but I still found the original Shrek far funnier.

TL;DR

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a refreshingly pleasant animated film that manages to demonstrate that a movie can be entertaining for all ages so long as the filmmakers understand the core fundamentals of storytelling. The animation is vibrantly enticing to keep your attention, with some solid action sequences and imagery to showcase its style, flair, and themes. There are plenty of funny moments, as well as heartfelt ones, with a solid, positive message tying everything together. It’s a fun and easily recommendable movie for all ages and happens to be my favorite of the Dreamworks animated films I’ve seen.

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