Certificate: PG (mild violence, threat, scary scenes, language, rude humour). Running Time: 102 mins. UK Distributor: Universal Pictures
WHO’S IN IT?
Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek Pinault, Harvey Guillén, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, Samson Kayo, John Mulaney, Wagner Moura, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Anthony Mendez, Kevin McCann, Betsy Sodaro, Artemis Pebdani, Conrad Vernon, Cody Cameron
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Joel Crawford (director), Paul Fisher and Tommy Swerdlow (writers), Mark Swift (producer), Heitor Pereda (composer), James Ryan (editor)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Puss in Boots (Banderas) searches for a fabled star that can grant him back his lost lives…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH?
Even though it’s been more than ten years since we last saw Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, and the rest of the fairy tale inhabitants of Far, Far Away, they’ve never truly left our minds and imaginations. The beloved animated franchise has spawned a massive online cult following in recent years, with the ogre’s adventures being turned into memes, YouTube re-edits, and racy fan-fiction galore, all of which keeps the DreamWorks brand alive and well beyond merely rewatching the films themselves. The online Shrek community has grown so large, that some have become quite hopeful for official confirmation that a long-mooted fifth entry will finally, after years of stalled development, be put into production.
However, that still may well be a long way off, if the gap between 2011’s Puss in Boots and its new sequel, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, is anything to go by. While the original Shrek spin-off did fairly well with both critics and audiences, even scoring an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, development for a theatrical sequel took its fair time, with the script undergoing constant rewrites, directors coming and going, and even an alternate title was put forward – at one point, it was known as the much wordier Puss in Boots 2: Nine Lives and 40 Thieves – before it even got close to seeing the light of day.
All of that time has significantly paid off, though, for Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a rather great family adventure, which not only reintroduces audiences to this hilarious fairy tale world, but expands upon it and dares to do new and exciting things that both challenge and respect its audience members of varying ages.
Taking place some time after the events of the Shrek films, the swashbuckling outlaw cat Puss in Boots (voiced, as ever, by Antonio Banderas) has become a notable heroic figure throughout the land, known for his fearless, if somewhat reckless, endeavours. However, Puss soon discovers that his recklessness has caused him to use up eight of his nine lives, compelling him to hang up his cloak, sword, and his signature boots, and “retire” in a cattery. Shortly after, Puss learns of a fabled star that has the power to grant anyone a single wish, and hoping to reclaim his past lives he sets out to find it – but he must fend off against a group of criminals who also want their hands on the star, including the crime family of Goldilocks (Florence Pugh) and the Three Bears (Ray Winstone, Olivia Colman and Samson Kayo), the ruthless Big Jack Horner (John Mulaney), and most terrifyingly of all a mysterious wolf (Wagner Moura) who has his eyes set purely on Puss. Assisting our heroic cat on his mission is former lover Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek Pinault) and an optimistic therapy dog named Perrito (Harvey Guillén), who help teach Puss a valuable lesson that he might not necessarily need a wishing star to learn.
Similar to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, as well as DreamWorks’ previous animated film The Bad Guys, this movie has an animation style that’s almost like you’re watching a graphic novel – or, more appropriately in this case, a fairy tale picture book – come to life. While the graphics and textures are undoubtedly CGI, the colours in both the foreground and background have a sharpness to them that feel like they were painted directly onto the page, while in some action sequences the frame rate will be slowed down, giving the illusion that you’re seeing a bunch of hand-drawn illustrations in motion. It’s a nifty style, and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish uses it well, not just to visually set itself apart from all previous entries in the Shrek franchise, but to properly replicate the feeling of being read a fairy tale for the first time, where you’re drawn in by the visuals that help tell the stories we all know and love.
The film’s animation is undoubtedly wonderful, but the key component to Puss in Boots: The Last Wish working as shockingly well as it does is the writing. This is a movie where the story is simple but never insultingly so, where each main character has a primary purpose, and where its themes about mortality and facing one’s fears are woven deeply into the fabric of its narrative, all without taking away the sheer impact of the comedy and the drama. It is a very funny movie, perhaps the funniest in this series since Shrek 2, but it is also an extremely heartfelt one as well, because it handles the themes smartly and with a great deal of thought that a lot of other writers would neglect or not spend as much time thinking about.
It does great work with its characters, who are all extremely likeable and fun to watch but are also given extra depth and weight that really makes you care about their goals and aspirations; even the main villain, John Mulaney’s Big Jack Horner, gets a lot of mileage out of being unapologetically evil, much to the hilarious horror of his cricket conscience, and he’s all the more enjoyable because of it. Special mention, though, has to go to Wagner Moura’s mysterious wolf character, who is legitimately scary and intimidating in every single one of his scenes, and makes for a fantastic adversary that, once again, ties in greatly to the film’s overriding message, especially when he eventually reveals who he actually is.
Full of laughs, adventure, tender drama, thought-provoking themes and messages, and even a tiny bit of nightmare-inducing horror, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is much more than just a visual treat. It is a family film that satisfies each member of the family, giving them everything they could possibly want from a Puss in Boots movie while leaving things open for plenty more adventures in the future. Even if it takes another few years before they finally make that fifth Shrek movie, this will more than do to keep alive our hunger for this funny, incredibly well fleshed-out fairy tale world.
SO, TO SUM UP…
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is an outstanding sequel to the original Shrek spin-off, which boasts some impressively stylish animation that sets itself apart from other entries in the franchise, but it is in its writing, filled with fun storytelling, fleshed-out characters that are hugely likeable, and thought-provoking themes about mortality and facing one’s fears, where the real happily ever after is found.
