Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Rating

Director

Joel Crawford, Januel Mercado

Screenplay

Paul Fisher, Tommy Swerdlow, Tom Wheeler

Length

1h 42m

Starring

Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Harvey Guillen, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, Samson Kayo, John Mulaney, Wagner Moura, Da’Vine Joy Randolph

MPAA Rating

PG

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Review

The pump has been primed for a return to the Shrek universe with a lively sequel to 2011’s Puss in Boots. Are there sufficient numbers of fairy tales that haven’t already been mined for laughs in the four Shrek movies? Yes.

It took over a decade for DreamWorks Animation to return to the franchise that built it. Shrek flamed out after four films, but its the spin-off Puss in Boots that spawned this latest incarnation. Bringing back stars Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek as the titular Puss in Boots and Kitty Softpaws respectively, we learn that Puss has squandered his nine lives by living recklessly and only now that he’s on his last life does it begin to sink in just how risky his lives and attitude have been. After seeking refuge with a cat lady and meeting the overly sweet therapy dog Perrito (Harvey Guillén), he learns of a fabled fallen star that will grant one last wish to the person who gets there first.

He’s not alone in his quest as Goldi (Florence Pugh) and the three bears (Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, Samson Kayo), Kitty, and Big Jack Horner (John Mulaney) are also after the star. All deliver strong vocal performances, creating a rich aural tapestry against which the mostly strong animation can stand out. The narrative is densely packed, but easy to follow and filled with the kind of laughs that once made Shrek, Shrek 2, and Puss in Boots such highlights in their respective years of release. Guillén is the standout in this cast.

The film’s biggest issues come down to the choice of animation techniques for fight sequences, which makes the events feel a little choppy and overly stylized, like we’ve shifted from a traditional computer animated film to a 2D Japanese anime picture. Those sequences are brief and the amazing animation that surrounds them offsets a lot of those concerns. It’s surprising that a character that has been shelved for so long (in spite of the Netflix series) could still prove to be so delightful after all this time. In a sea of imitators and the fading of luminaries Disney and Pixar, it’s nice to see some studios still trying to reach for the stars.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears provides the characters and a few sight gags for this film alongside the nursery rhyme Little Jack Horner. All of them get fleshed-out treatments that feel more like a part of the Shrek universe than the stand alone, Zorro-inspired Puss in Boots series. Yet, it feels like a natural extension with The Last Wish and that’s enough to keep the franchise buoyant for the foreseeable future.

Review Written

May 2, 2023