Nearly 12 years after the events of the 2011 Puss in Boots, Puss has reached his ninth life and is faced with the reality of his mortality. As he runs from death, Puss searches for the star that can grant the Last Wish with the plan to extend his life. But, he isn’t the only one with his eye on the prize. Goldilocks and her carnivorous family along with Jack Horner and his gang of nursery rhyme and fable warriors are close on his heels. Will he make it out alive?
You’ll have to watch to find out.
With a Rotten Tomatoes score to rival Paddington 2, I was eager to catch Puss in Boots: The Last Wish in theaters. I expected some immature jokes and cheesy dialogue but was honestly shocked. IMDb user benjaminsykerhill notes that, “I did not expect the sequel to a decent spin-off Dreamworks film from over a decade ago to be one of the most poignant, introspective, genuinely hilarious, and heartwarming films of the year. But here we are,”(IMDb). I can’t help but agree completely. This movie is already raising my expectations for movies. With conversations around found family, trauma, anxiety, the inescapable nature of death, and the importance of friendship and love even when faced with the horrors of mortality, I was emotionally unprepared. Was this a kids' movie? Yes. Did the audience that DreamWorks was catering to take away from how smart, funny, and sweet this movie was? Absolutely not.
The dialogue was fun and engaging without being obnoxious, and the voice actors starring in this movie blew it out of the water. Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Florence Pugh, John Mulaney, Olivia Coleman, and the other incredible actors in this film brought so much life to the characters, making them sympathetic, passionate, and complicated all while perfectly executing complicated plot lines all within 1 hour and 42 minutes.
One aspect of this movie that instantly grabbed my attention was the animation. It seemed to skew away from the traditional DreamWorks Shrek-type illustration, and instead explored new creative ideas. Not only was it extremely colorful, but in action sequences, the frames per second were lowered and the texture was simplified. This gave the fights an almost comic-book feel. It could have come off as lazy but was extremely well executed. There were many untraditional angles that helped to fully capture the perspective of multiple characters.
If any of this sounded remotely interesting, I wholeheartedly recommend that you check our Puss in Boots: The Last Wish before it leaves theaters.
Works Cited
IMDb. “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022).” IMDb, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3915174/. Accessed 22 January 2023.
IMDb. “Reviews: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.” IMDb, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3915174/reviews?ref_=tt_urv. Accessed 23 January 2023.
Rotten Tomatoes. “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.” Rotten Tomatoes, https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/puss_in_boots_the_last_wish. Accessed 22 January 2023.