Puss In Boots: The Last Wish: Is It the Cat's Meow?

First a disclaimer: Sorry for the awful title. I'm legally obligated to make terrible jokes with these types of things. With that aside, I'm really happy these last two months, movie-wise, really pulled through. If I'm being honest, many of the movies I was looking forward to this year disappointed me. November and December really came through, though. We've had Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Fabelmans, and Avatar: The Way of Water. Now we have Puss In Boots: The Last Wish to add to the list. Like Avatar: The Way of Water, this is a sequel to a movie that came out a while ago. In 2011, I remember my grandmother took my sister and I to see this right after the October snowstorm. It was a good way to get away from everything. With all of that out of the way, let's get started!

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish is directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado. It stars Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Harvey Guillén, Florence Pugh, John Mulaney, and Wagner Moura. Legendary outlaw Puss in Boots (Banderas) has used up eight of his nine lives. When an opportunity arises for him to get them back, he teams up with Kitty Softpaws (Hayek) and a stray dog (Guillén) to get the Last Wish. Now on to the review!

Going into this movie, I had heard really good reviews. One in particular called this the Logan of the Shrek franchise (a combination of words I never thought I'd read). Having seen the movie, I have to say, it's pretty good. When it comes to characters, I want to start with Puss. Many times throughout the movie, Puss just exudes charisma and suaveness. This is due to, no doubt, the stellar perfomance by Antonio Banderas. With that being said, Last Wish isn't afraid to get in some dark territory, particularly with Puss. The underlying premise of the movie is having to deal with mortality and living life to the fullest. When we start this movie, we see Puss being rather cavalier with how he lives, but now he has to deal with the fact that he actually can die. This is also personified through one of the villains, the Big Bad Wolf (Moura), who's sent to get Puss on his last life. Whenever he shows up, Puss has a (very realistic) panic attack and runs from the scene. I never imagined a Puss in Boots movie would deal with facing death and the meaning of life, but I'm really glad it did. . Like in the last, Puss has great chemistry with Kitty Softpaws, a fellow outlaw cat. They bounce off of each other really well, due in part to Banderas's and Hayeks stellar back-and-forth. One standout is a stray dog who Puss and Kitty call Perrito (Guillén). He is the complete opposite of the two cats: Very outgoing and always has a positive outlook on life, even when he's in mortal danger. When it comes to the villains, as I mentioned earlier, the Big Bad Wolf is the stand out. Wagner Moura gives such an eerie performance which is mixed with a pretty creepy design. Whenever he arrives to terrorize Puss, we hear a haunting whistle. It's sure to scare a lot of kids, but I think that it's good for a family movie. John Mulaney, as usual, is really funny. He plays the villainous Jack Horner, who wants the Last Wish for himself. Like Pinocchio, he has a cricket that's supposed to be a moral compass but just fails constantly. Another villain is Goldilocks (Pugh) and her family of bears: Mama (Olivia Colman), Papa (Ray Winstone), and Baby (Samson Kayo). They're essentially a crime family. What I really liked was how much they cared about each other, especially after one of their true goals is revealed. What really stands out here is the animation. It's just gorgeous and is a very different style than the last one. I read somewhere that they filmmakers wanted the movie to look like it came from a fairy tale book and that's exactly what it looked like. It reminded, at times, of the animation from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. This method really shines when it comes to the action scenes. It just pops off the screen and is a feast for the eyes. The action is very kinetic and it felt like the filmmakers were really using the medium of animation to their benefit. I really like that Dreamworks has been experimenting with more styles recently. Like in the first movie, the music is great. It blends seamlessly into the film and adds flavor to it. The humor works really well also. Like the original Shrek movies, there's quite a few jokes for adults to enjoy. Some of them get pretty dark.

I don't have a ton of negatives for this film. Like my criticism for Strange World, it can be pretty predictable at times. When Goldilocks revealed that she wanted the Last Wish as well, I knew instantly what she was going to wish for. The movie is a little clustered with villains as well. There's Goldilocks and her family, the Big Bad Wolf, and Jack Horner. I think if one of these characters were taken out (in my opinion Goldilocks or Jack), the movie would've had some more room to breathe. Plus, we maybe could've gotten some more of the Wolf. With that being said, these are very minor gripes.

To wrap everything up, I had a great time with Puss In Boots: The Last Wish. The characters are interesting, I really liked how they portrayed Puss, the chemistry between the characters was great, the villains were good, the animation is gorgeous, and humor landed. Sometimes, the movie can get pretty predictable and there are quite a few villains, but that doesn't take away from the fact that this is a great movie. Please go see it in the theater if you can. The movie ends sort of setting up other stories in this world and I'm really excited to see where it goes! If I were to rate it, I'd give Puss In Boots: The Last Wish an 8.5/10. Also, I just wanted to say thank your for taking the time to read my reviews! I hope you have a very happy and healthy New Year!