Puss in Boots: The Last Wish: The world's favourite fearless hero

Puss in Boots the Last Wish Review

If there is one area of media and film that has seen a resurgence in something new and innovative in recent memory that a lot more are starting to see (though some naysayers it is not) it would be Animation. I want preface that Animation is Cinema and not just something for kids (Looking at you with your crappy comment Amy Schumer). We have seen many of huge companies come along with some form of changing industry with Disney bringing it to the mainstream, Pixar introducing us to the world of CGI, Illumination showing you can over advertise and still make so much money (I mean that was essentially the 2015 Minions Movie), Aardman showing you can still use Stop Motion as a very engaging and enjoyable product and every other studio that has some success and failures in their catalogue. But today we are looking at the younger, somewhat hyper and cruder younger sibling to Disney with Dreamworks animation who brought us some of the most well known series or films like How to Train your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar and of course Shrek. But they have had their questionable ones like Shark Tale, Home, Abominable and the fever dream that is The Boss Baby. But it is with the worlds favourite Ogre that we are focusing on some aspect of today as we are talking about a certain character introduced in the franchise and that is with Puss in Boots as today we are talking about his new movie that is a sequel to the original 2011 film as well as the Shrek Movies, Puss in Boots the Last wish. But I have to ask, is it good? Well for a film that no one was really expecting a sequel for, this film went all out and is probably one of Dreamworks best if not one of the best animated films of recent memory and I am going to express all of my love for this movie with you today.

A Story that spans 9 lifetimes

Now Like any form of media, it would have its own form of a tale and Puss in Boots would also be a part of that tale itself if providing its own story for the journey to take us on for everyone's favourite swashbuckling feline. Now the last time we saw Puss in film was with his original story that saw him team up with his own friend of Humpty Dumpty and other Feline counterpart of Kitty Softpaws to steal magic beans from Jack and Jill and use them for a giant beanstalk to find the magic goose and their golden eggs and it is full of twists, turns, betrayals and fairytale adventures and the story was alright for an ok film originally. Now when this sequel was announced most were not that super interested for a Puss in Boots follow up and people were more interested in the character being involved with the Ogre and the talking Donkey instead, but then the story came along and people saw it and realized that they may have taken it for granted. Now the pot on this film is as follows:

"Puss has discovered that his passion for adventure has taken his toll as he has burnt through Eight of his Nine Lives and he soon sets out on an epic journey to find the Mythical wishing star to restore his lives back with other villains and hunters hot on his tail"

Now when you hear that plot, it does not sound the most original or initially that exciting but when you give it the time to look into the film and see how they present the story and how it plays out, it becomes a lot more engaging and grounded and even very exciting and how they present it here is so very well done. Sure it may be a slight bit of time before the concept of the adventure begins (well the concept of the wishing star is about 20-25 mins in) but to say the start is also not fast paced and action packed is giving this film a disservice as the entire plot is great overall.

Story Score: 9-10

A cast of thieves and hunters

Now we have quite the array of characters and while honestly I could say 1 or 2 are more labelled as Side Characters, to me they have as much of a presence as our main characters that they would all get their focus so lets talk on them and how the film develops them (with some even better then their original appearance)

Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas)

so we start with the main feline himself and that of course is with Puss. Now throughout the series of the Shrek films and in the 1st solo film, we have known him as just the famous fearless hero who laughs in the face of death and will stand up to the challenge that he may face and do what's right in his own eyes. But now it is a bit more of a reverse method throughout most of his film as while yes he does still have that cocky over the top ego at the beginning with the way he is introduced in the film and the first big action set piece with the giant in the populated town. But after he loses his 8th life from the battle and has a confrontation with a certain character, he soon realizes that maybe his adventurous days as a hero are over and may need to hang up the cape, hat and boots for good. This soon finds a chance to get his lives back when he learns of the wishing star and makes it his duty to obtain that wish while dealing with a crime family, a over the top sadistic man with a goal of being a powerful being as well as the lingering worry of Death looming over him at all times and may discover himself and what it means to really live along the way. Now what I love about Puss's Character development of this film is that we see him in a more vulnerable side, we always see the likes of him being fearless, cocky and acting as the hero but we see the side of him that is afraid, we learn more of him through this story of maybe when he had his lives that he laughed in the face of death but now that he is down to his last life and any false move could be his final moments, he's afraid, he's scared, he shows genuine fear throughout this film which is first seen from his encounter in the tavern early in the film that he is not indestructible, he's not one that will live forever cause someday that time will run out. He learns this from the journey to the star and from the advice of Kitty and Perrito and I have to praise how a certain scene is presented in this film and felt genuine and done right (but I will get to that scene much later in this review). But in all purpose, while I love seeing the classic form of Puss, seeing him show real fear and emotion makes him feel more real (even if he is a animated cat).

Kitty Soft Paws (Salma Hayek Pinult)

Now for the only other character that has returned from the first solo Puss film, Kitty soft paws actually feels a lot more like a proper genuine character with a more developed side in this film then I felt she did in the original film, where in that one she felt like a bit too similar to Puss in that one and was just a bit more of a focus of a love interest as well, so not much was really given to her in terms of development. Kitty is after the same thing as everyone else in this film and that is with the Wishing star as we get re-introduced to her when Puss obtains the map to the Star and throughout this film we do get more of a look into her personality from how they show her inner worries, her sense of not trusting anyone but herself and of her relationship with Puss in-between these 2 films and it feels more like a development that she has more of a characters to her then she did in the original and she does get some good moments throughout and I am sure with how the film ends and teases what's more to come then I hope we can see her continue to be a really great character.

Perrito the Therapy Dog (Harvey Guillen)

Now we move onto the start of the new characters introduced to this film and we start with Perrito. Now we are introduced to this character in the cat Retirement Home that Puss goes to after his confrontation in the Tavern and he has disguised himself as a Cat to blend in. Now Perrito's dream is to be a therapy dog and he tries his best to be just that where he helps to be one for Puss and to some extent Kitty and the other characters when they cross paths and to some it can be seen as helpful or reasonable (especially in one scene that I want to talk on later on). Now initially myself and many other were thinking this character was going to try to be the comic relief and will come off as an annoying addition but surprisingly it was not that at all and in fact he is one of my favourite characters to come out of this film and the series and in some sense of being adorable, good hearted and actually pretty funny (there is moments in this film where they just drop swears but its censored out by bars and Tone and for some reason having that in a kids movie makes it much funnier for some reason). Its also the case that they make him have the most traumatic backstory about his family trying to get rid of him and he finds it hilarious while showing the other characters are in shock and disbelief but for what its worth they way they handled this precious pooch is really well done.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears Crime Family (Florecnce Pugh, Ray Winstone, Olivia Colman, Samson Kayo)(Separate between Goldilocks on her own and 3 bears as one)

So technically this consists of 4 characters with the focus of Goldilocks, Father Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear and each have their own unique aesthetic to it for their focus. The motive for this group with their own wish is to obtain the wish to have the successful crime business in the world and do it as a family method (although Goldi may have some of her own methods of what she wants for a wish). Now out of all of them that gets a major focus and development is with Goldilocks as the 3 bears don't get much of a major development except for maybe Baby bear (and a little bit with Mama bear) and most of the tropes are really them using the whole ordeal of the gimmicks of the Goldilocks and the Three Bears story (the too hot, cold, Just right gimmick) and I am sure that to be fair this film has the 3 different types of villain (and I will get to them with the rest of these characters and review). If there is one thing I really do like is the concept style of Goldilocks and how you can tell her focus with her character and how it changes overtime or how she has traits of all of the bears (But I will get to that in the next section as it is more for that). but overall they are some decent characters, they would be the slightly weakest of the cast and would be the villains with personal flaws but I think it works well with working against all the other characters and villains.

Jack Horner (John Mulaney)

Now for a character that was not much of a focus in the advertising but ended up being such an excellent character and probably one of the funniest and that is with the beeg boi of Big Jack Horner. Now if you know the nursery rhyme of Jack Horner, it involved plums and pies and how a good little boy he was and in this he was tired as not being seen as a threat (and also getting upstaged by a certain talking puppet) which is why he wants the wish for himself to become the most powerful person in the universe. Now he is quite the collector of magical objects from Fairy Godmother's wand, the potion and cake from Alice in Wonderland, the magic carpet, Merlins magic hat and so much more but he wants more and will stop at nothing until he gets what he wants. Now some villains have a motive, some villains have a flaw, some may have a reason for his motives that make a lot of sense, but for Big Jack, he is just evil for evil sake and for the Lol's, and honestly when was the last time you have seen a villain that is evil for no reason but just to be evil? I thought so and I am all for hoping to see more of this character in some form in the future.

Jiminy Cricket (Kevin McCann)

Now here is more of a smaller minor character in this film that plays off to the absolute unhinged nature of Big Jack Horner and that is with the magical talking cricket that I don't believe his name is Jiminy. He becomes introduced in the film when Jack and his bakers dozen arrive in the enchanted dark forest and used to fight through the Pocket full of Posies and soon becomes the conscience for Jack to show that their is good in everyone. But he is stuck with Big Jack Horner, a character who is evil for evil sake and he has got his work cut out for him to the point where he literally snaps and he does provide some form of great commentary and comedic prowess against old Plum Thumb and even if his role is smaller then others I liked it.

Welll that seems to be all the characters but I feel that I am missing someo-

The Wolf (Wagner Moura)

*a ominous whistle begins to ring across the room that makes your hair stand in end*

How can I forget to talk about essentially one of the scariest and unnerving presence in the entire movie and he is only in it for less then 10 minutes then to talk about The Wolf. He is the presence that makes Puss fear from the confrontation in the Tavern, he is the one that lingers in the shadows and ominously stand over him waiting to take that last life. There is a reason to his motive but I will not spoil it for you because you need to watch this movie. Although this character does not have much screen time in this movie, he is still without a doubt one of the best villains for an animated movie in recent memory (probably as equal of a villain as a certain other animated villain from this year) and really drives home the point of what Puss Fears the most when he is down to his last life. When you think a scene is going to play out normally and then they just drop the most unsettling echoey whistle to know he is near that makes you hair stand up on end then you know you have made a unsettling threat of a character and that is why the wolf is without a doubt one of the best villains and characters of recent memory.

Overall I would have to say that most of the cast and characters of this movie are well developed, some from the previous films and others introduced in this that will be memorable for a very long time. Sure one or 2 characters may feel slightly underdeveloped or not used as much as the others but for what its worth I think they have crafted some well established characters in this film.

Characters: 9-9.5

Taking a page out of the storybook of presentation

Now when I say they didn't just make the characters and Story grat but they went in hard on the visuals and presentation as this film is so absolutely gorgeous (I may be biased with most the animated films I review being a 10 but there will be some I may not like as much) and visually stunning. If there was a film that has basically helped show the true variety of visuals and colour it would be its inspiration from Spider-Man Into the Spider-verse and some other films that had come before it but it has its own form of unique style with that template as it will use a little of the design choice with the characters having a 2D aesthetic over a 3d Model but this one has more of a visual look that it is similar to illustrations that you will find in a fairytale storybook and seeing it in motion makes it so beautiful and the the use of the reduced frame approach just tops it that much and makes it feel more alive.

the same can be said from the character designs with Puss and Kitty having their signature looks but giving that visual touch up to suit the theme of the world this film is in as well as the other characters. Like one I want to bring back up is the design of Goldilocks as she has the traits of all the 3 bears in her design and outfit as she has her hair in 2 buns to look like ears, she has a scar on her eyebrow, similar to father bear with his scarred eye, she wears mismatched jewelry similar to Mama bear, has blue eyes and wears chains and odd necklaces around her neck like baby and it is also seen through her clothing that she starts off wearing mixed coloured clothing but by the end of it, it becomes much more dirtier and more brow similar to the colour of bear fur and those subtle details are so well done.

Those subtle details are also seen through the film of representing things like sight gags or subtle references like one I find a reasonable but clever clue is with the Tavern scene just before the Wolf appears is he is sitting at the bar, drinking his milk and it shows before the milk glass he is on, he has already had 8 already and the one he has is his last one for the night, which signifies his 9 lives and he is down to his last one. There are so many of these seen throughout and I love when films do that of adding in fun and subtle references or gags that work well for it.

Lastly and this is brief but it still stays connected and faithful to the world of Shrek and the character who at this pint we haven't seen Puss in a film since 2011 (but tv he has been seen more frequent) and I think they have their focus working well for it but overall in presentation they absolutely smashed it with this film.

Presentation Score: 10

Writings and music of a famous Fable

Now the odd time with Dreamworks movies, most times they would consist of having some varying degrees of dialogue as many of their films have had some coherent dialogue that made sense and helped to make the flow run better and some that just seem so all over the place that you will get confused (unless the case of the first 2 Aardman films that they released it could be some audiences not getting British Slang). Thankfully in this film the writing seems to be straightforward and have a lot of things making sense with the plot and focus being straightforward, the dilemma and theme being well shown and so much more that it can be a fun adventure for the kiddies but also having some in depth message for the adults and for kids to learn about as well too.

As for the humour side of things, well, some films would have some variation of jokes and some would be full on low brow toilet humour that is present in a lot of their films for its benefit or detractor (some of it works in some semblance like Shrek and Captain Underpants, but not so much in others). Thankfully this film does not spend much or nearly at all on that ideal approach of humour and that it would have its own form of good jokes and want to call back to the likes of what I mentioned earlier that when characters in an animated kids film just suddenly drop a swear and it is in a bars and Tone censoring it just comes out of nowhere and makes it a lot more funnier. I know the likes of the gag with the Too Hot/cold/just right is used a fair bit and can be a little bit tedious but it doesn't go to the level of being overdone and overall the funniest characters to me was Perrito and Jack Horner but all the characters have some form of funny moments in some form.

Lastly on the music front, I do think that it has some really well done with a lot of focus of a Spanish or Latin form of music tone with some mix of other genres in there from a bit of western, fantastical fantasy, that sense of dread and even a form of a large orchestral piece to really provide moments of larger scope, somber moments, action set pieces or major conclusions. I know the likes of one piece technically is a part of the start of the song but I like to see the one piece of music or sound that has such a sense of fear is of course the whistle of the wolf

The piece and sign that the Wolf is near is something that when you first hear it is so nerve wrecking and spine tingling that it would give you goosebumps all over your body and while after a point to some it may not be as creepy but more soothing to some but this also calls back to the subtle mentions when it comes to the notes of the whistle as it appears for a few times throughout the film and most of the time there is 8 notes in the whistle for most of them, except for the last one done in the film where there is an added 9th Note a reference to the 9 lives and even those subtle ques or even music matching to the beat of the action scenes all work itself well to a really great use of its music and writing.

Writing and Music Score: 9.5

A journey of deep impact and moral messaging

Now typically I would go onto a separate section for one of those points or even move onto the criticisms I may have but there is one other section I wanted to talk about in this film and that is with its theme and one scene in particular that resonated with me in how well it is presented and handled. So it may not seem much like it but the main focus theme is about living your life to the fullest and not being afraid of death. Now as mentioned in the story, Puss has already used up 8 of his 9 lives and it always comes from him having his trait of laughing in the face of death. However that sense of being cocky soon turns more to fear when the confrontation with the Wolf in the tavern leaves him near defeated, he sees red from the blood of the cut and the Wolf taunts him to pick up his weapon again, Puss runs in fear realizing that he is not indestructible or fully lucky as one day that luck is going to run out and it seems to be soon and throughout the journey to him trying to get to the star to wish for his lives back, he is haunted by the figure that really made him fearful of dying, but by the end of the film with them coming face to face one last time, he learns that death will be inevitable to him one day and that what he needs to learn is that he must live everyday and not to run away from it in fear. This also comes in form beforehand in a scene where he confronts his past lives and show that they seem to be a bit narcissistic about being the center of attention and living up to the legend that everyone knows him for as Puss in Boots: The charming swashbuckling cat that laughs in the face of death, but that he seems to know now that he can still be that legend but not make that all he is and instead have people that care for him and want to be close to him and not push them away from him.

Now there is one particular scene that I can resonate with deeply in this film and that comes with how they tackled Anxiety and what it really feels like for someone that is going through a panic attack and how to properly deal with it. Now it is not the only thing this year that tried to tackle this but we do not talk about that other animated form because they mock it instead and we will talk about that when I get to talking about that particular series.

So the scene shows the ending of an chaotic battle of the 3 groups fighting it out for the map to the wishing star and everything is quiet to where all that sounds is the ringing of ears, as he reaches for the map, he freezes as he hears that all too familiar haunting whistle and sees the Wolf watching on in the distance and being overwhelmed in fear he runs off with Perrito following behind. While there is a small moment with Goldi getting the map, we return to Puss running deep into the woods seeing visions of The wolf all around him as the world becomes a lot more blurry and the sound becomes a bit more muffled until we find him lying against a tree, breathing heavily looking all around, heart beating faster and faster. Perrito looks on in worry and tries to figure out what to do or what is going on and he does what he can do.... he simply lays his head on Puss's body and just keeps it calm until Puss's Heartrate slows down, he becomes familiar with his surroundings and returns to his senses and he can think straight again before explaining to the helpful pooch of what he is going through. Its a very well done and respectful scene, not cut out with a joke in the end or trying to change the subject but simply to just keep the focus on dealing with that episode and what has him like that and I felt that a lot when I first saw this scene as someone who deals with Anxiety a lot throughout most of my life (and quite a bit over the last while) that having this be represented in something that is so well done just feels like this needs to represented more for audiences instead of used as a joke (like some show) or barely covered upon. It is with that feeling that this scene resonates so much with me and that I respect the film for tackling such a deep message that can resonate to many like myself.

Things that may not live up to the legend

But of course I do have some small critiques with this film as there is some small issues I have with it, it is not too many but just for one or 2 parts and I will give my reasons here

Story: One aspect I feel would be nice is if the likes of the film was slightly a little longer or some parts of the may have been reduced down as the likes of going after the wishing star does not come into affect until around the 30 minute mark as a good bit of the start besides the opening battle and the tavern taking up around 15 mins of screen time, the 2nd half of that does spend a little lengthy bit of time in the cat retirement home that could be slightly reduced and maybe added to the adventure in that enchanted land we are in for most of the film but I guess they had to work with some amount of exceptions

Characters: just a slight underusing of some of the group of Goldilocks that while yes they have a near equal amount of screen time, some of the bears really don't add too much to it besides maybe Baby and Goldi. I would say a little as well with the cricket and very slightly with Kitty but Kitty makes up for it with the amount of screen time she gets and I guess they can only work with so much for the cricket but again its only minor nitpicks.

Writing: lastly its some running gags may be used slightly too much but I guess with some you got to go on brand with the characters so I will not dunk on it too hard 

This film worth 9 lives or has time run out?

Overall, what started out as everyone thinking this would be another unnecessary Puss in Boots movie, turned out to be a film that did not have to go so hard in concept and development and turned into one of the best animated movies and movies in general of this year (also sidenote: I know technically this film did release in America in Mid-December but it was not released here until February so I count as both this year and last). From its much deeper plot, well used deep themes, likable and developed characters, great action and absolutely beautiful animation, Puss in Boots the Last Wish turned into something truly special and I do not know when we will see some of these characters again but how the film ends with a hint at something special, I am sure we will be seeing some of these characters again (hopefully the main trio) and we will do so especially with everyone's Favourite Fearless Feline 

Final Scores

Story: 9.5

Characters: 9

Presentation: 10

Writing, Humour and Music: 9.5

Final total: 38/40 or 95/96% or A+

If you enjoyed this review and have this seen this movie, comment down below on your own thoughts to this film itself and I would love to read them fully. But as always I hope you enjoyed reading my ramblings and until the next blog or review I hope you all stay being wonderful people and I hope you all have a great day everyday :)

Signing Off

Sam H