Antonio Banderas once again returns as the swashbuckling Puss in Boots, in DreamWorks Animations’s latest film Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Following on from 2010’s Shrek Forever After, the film is directed by Joel Crawford (The Croods: A New Age) and Januel Mercado, based on a story by Tommy Swerdlow and the first Puss in Boots film writer, Tom Wheeler. Featuring some familiar faces alongside a slew of new characters, the newest film from the fairytales of Shrek is an incredible story of adventure, friendship, and funnily enough, mortality.
While saving a town from a giant monster, Puss is accidentally killed. After waking up, he learns that he only has one life remaining from his original nine. With his pride taking the reigns, Puss shakes off the thought of anything bad ever happening to him. It isn’t until he loses a fight with a bounty hunter wolf, that he begins to think of his own mortality, and decides to retire and become a domesticated cat at Mama Luna’s house. After some time, Puss has become a shadow of his former self, and has buried his past in exchange for his new life as a lap cat. A dog with no name who has disguised himself as a cat begins to attach himself to Puss; sensing his loneliness and sorrow; however, they are soon interrupted by Goldilocks and the Three Bears Crime Family, who are hunting him down. After mistaking Puss in Boots as being long gone, Puss learns that they are searching for the Wishing Star – a fairytale many thought to be untrue. Following them, he plans on stealing the map to the star for himself, which is currently being held by ‘Big’ Jack Horner, whose plans for his single wish aren’t very noble. With a plan to get the rest of his nine lives back, Puss sets out on an adventure to save himself – and just so happens to run into a few characters from his past.
Antonio Banderas is fantastic as always as the titular Puss in Boots; with his smooth voice bringing to life the overly-confident Puss. He is matched by his female counterpart and love interest, with Salma Hayek returning as Kitty Softpaws. Despite the film being animated, the chemistry between the two actors is undeniable, and the two know how to play off each other incredibly. Joining the cast is What We Do in the Shadows‘ Harvey Guillén as their canine companion, who practically embodies the annoyingness of a yappy little dog. The wonderful Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone and Samson Kayo voice Goldilocks, Mama Bear, Papa Bear and Baby Bear, while John Mulaney voices the entirely unhinged Big Jack Horner. While the film does pack in a decent amount of new characters, they are fleshed out well, and do serve their purpose of breathing a breath of fresh air into the franchise.
One of The Last Wish‘s main highlights is its beautiful animation style, which DreamWorks has very obviously taken inspiration from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The film has taken on a more ‘painted’ style of animation, which switches up in action sequences to more pronounced, almost comic-like framing. The film itself is incredibly beautiful – and we can see how this new style will prevent the animation itself from ageing, and looking outdated in a few years to come.
While dealing with a lot darker themes than your average kid’s film, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish really is a film for the whole family. There’s your typical kid’s jokes, sure, but DWA definitely went to the effort of sneaking a few in there for the adults. At surface level, the film is tale of adventure and friendship – but deeper down, it’ll remind you that life is precious, and that you should stop and smell the roses once in a while. If this is the new direction DreamWorks Animation is headed in, we’re super excited to see what they next have in store. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish comes to cinemas this Boxing Day.