ANI-MOVIES, *Puss In Boots: The Last Wish

While most of the last few Shrek movies were met with varying standards of quality, the first spinoff of Puss In Boots from 2011 received a mediocre response. So, it’s weird that 11 years later that DreamWorks would choose to a sequel to it. This time under Universal instead of Paramount, Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, the production got juiced up to Spider-Verse levels of animation with paintbrush aesthetics. Gone are most of the pop culture references, fart jokes, and pointless singalong finales as we got fantastic thrill ride with a familiar character but in a totally different kind of fairy tale parody. For one thing, there was way less Disney-bashing in this as showing disdain for them has practically become a national pastime at this point, and this helped DreamWorks give the Shrek franchise its own pair of legs so they’re not just throwing eggs at their old bosses. The film was in development limbo for a while, and it’s possible that this would have gone straight to streaming and even thought that worked for K-Pop Demon Hunters, it might not have found the audience it wanted if parents didn’t already trust the Shrek brand as something for the children to watch in theaters. This wasn’t just a fantasy adventure either but an ode to Clint Eastwood’s Dollars Trilogy with desperado showdowns mixed in with Puss’ swashbuckling antics.

Taking place after parting ways with the regular Shrek cast, Puss has gone back to being a solo buccaneer and dies after fighting a giant. He awakens to have a doctor tell him that he’s down to the last of his nine lives, which at first Puss brushes off, but gets terminally scared with a huge wolf claiming to be Death himself comes to claim his last life. Puss tries hiding in an old cat lady’s cottage where he meets the overly chipper puppy Perrito. Suddenly, the criminal gang of Goldilocks and her bear family come looking for Puss to help them find the Wishing Star that lies in the middle of the Dark Forest to grant them a single wish. The map to find this is in the clutches of a grown-up Jack Horner who hoards magical items and wants to wish for all the magic in the world. Working against all these grabby hands is the inclusion of Puss’ old girlfriend Kitty Softpaws who also want to make a with, so Puss teams up with Kitty and Perrito after getting the map so he can wish for more lives, with Goldilocks and the bears are on their tail, plus Horner and his enchanted arsenal in a big chase to claim the wish.

Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek’s return as Puss and Kitty is the only big continuation from the former Shrek productions, but they put on a great performance reprising their roles. Producer Joel Crofford helped raise the grade of animation as even though the character designs are roughly the same but with added textures and less motion blur effects which make the movements seem more fluid which helps give the movie a better adaptation of an illustrated fairy tale. There’s great detail given to the background with subtle jokes and callbacks, plus real drama is added to the serious parts as the final duel between Puss and Death, and the body count piles up as people literally die along the way. The Last Wish is amazing as a stand-alone story that doesn’t require you to have seen the original or any other Shrek stuff, so give it a watch and you’ll find out why this sequel to a spinoff was worth all the hype.