movie review for puss in boots the last wish

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” is as spry and light on its feet as its titular feline.

The inherently alluring paradox of the swashbuckling kitty from the “ Shrek ” universe remains firmly in place 11 years after his first solo feature. He’s a dashing adventurer, a charmer with the ladies, feared and renowned throughout the land—but he’s also unbearably adorable as he laps up milk from a shot glass with his pinky, sandpapery tongue. As always, the charismatic and sensitive Antonio Banderas finds just the right tone in exploring this furry animated figure’s suave and silly sides.

“The Last Wish” expands the roster of ridiculously talented supporting players from the Oscar-nominated 2011 original “Puss in Boots.” Joining Banderas and his longtime friend and co-star Salma Hayek Pinault are Florence Pugh , Olivia Colman , Ray Winstone , Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and John Mulaney , among many others. They bring a surprising amount of substance to what might have been a purely playful endeavor.

But of course, the fast-paced humor and elaborate visuals are the main draws of director Joel Crawford and co-director Januel Mercado ’s film. The film’s aesthetics may rely too heavily on anime influences, especially during the action sequences, but the vibrant colors and rich textures are a delight. From the moss growing on a fearsome forest giant to the shiny silkiness of Puss’ whiskers blowing in the wind, “The Last Wish” offers a variety of eye-popping details. And it frequently features dramatic shadows and subtle dissolves to transition from past to present or one scene to the next.

The story begins with a debauched bacchanal (featuring kegs filled with leche) that’s more convincing than the opening orgy in “ Babylon .” Puss in Boots is naturally front and center, singing his heart out, partying it up—but eventually, he must go on the run when he realizes that bounty hunter The Big Bad Wolf ( Wagner Moura ) is after him, and he’s down to the last of his nine lives. (The zippy montage revealing the many ways he’s died is packed with witty, little asides.) FYI for parents and caretakers of little kids: The Big Bad Wolf is essentially The Grim Reaper. He’s relentless, and he’s terrifying.

Faking his death, Puss seeks shelter at a cramped cat refuge run by Randolph’s sweetly doting Mama Luna. Watching the arrogant, preening feline struggle to assimilate into a mundane world of dry food and shared litter boxes is hilarious, and the angles through which we experience his reluctant transformation put us inside his head. But it’s here that Puss meets an unlikely ally: a scruffy, crazy-eyed Chihuahua pretending to be a cat because he has nowhere else to go. We come to know him as Perrito, and he’s played with scene-stealing sweetness by Harvey Guillen (“ What We Do in the Shadows ”). In a stacked voice cast, Guillen’s performance emerges as the unexpected highlight. Perrito’s unflappable innocence and enthusiasm in the face of danger are infectious, but he also provides the film with some of its most deeply emotional moments. Again, the darker parts of “The Last Wish” may disturb young viewers.

When Puss’ former rival and flame Kitty Softpaws shows up (voiced once again with sarcastic, flirtatious charm by Hayek Pinault), the three go on a mission to find the mythical Wishing Star to restore Puss’ nine lives. The magical map that takes them there suggests a wildly divergent and amusing variety of paths, depending on who’s holding it. But they’re not the only ones seeking the map and the power of the Wishing Star. Also on their tail are Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Pugh, Winstone, Colman, and Samson Kayo ), who are now a bickering, Cockney-voiced crime syndicate straight out of a Guy Ritchie movie. (The idea of Winstone and Colman playing Pugh’s parents in any format is irresistible, and we need more of this.) And in the least developed supporting part, Mulaney plays the gluttonous gang boss “Big” Jack Horner, a towering figure who collects rare, fairy-tale objects like Cinderella’s glass slipper and baby unicorn horns.

After a roaring start, “The Last Wish” sags a bit in the midsection as it becomes clear that we’re in for a pretty standard quest from this script by  Paul Fisher (“ The Croods: A New Age ”) and Tommy Swerdlow (2018’s “ The Grinch ”). Of course, everyone’s after everyone else, and they’re all after the same thing, with some funny and frightening obstacles along the way. But the film also manages to convey messages of selflessness and teamwork in a way that doesn’t feel heavy-handed or cloying. And the stellar voice performances and dazzling visuals keep things so engaging you won’t need a laser pointer or a catnip-stuffed mouse toy to entertain you.

Now playing in theaters. 

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series “Ebert Presents At the Movies” opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

• Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots (voice)
• Salma Hayek as Kitty Softpaws (voice)
• Florence Pugh as Goldilocks (voice)
• Olivia Colman as Mama Bear (voice)
• Ray Winstone as Papa Bear (voice)
• Wagner Moura as The Big Bad Wolf / "Death" (voice)
• John Mulaney as 'Big' Jack Horner (voice)
• Harvey Guillén as Perro (voice)
• Samson Kayo as Baby Bear (voice)
• Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Mama Luna (voice)
• Anthony Mendez as Doctor (voice)
• Kevin McCann as Ethical Bug (voice)
• Conrad Vernon as Gingy (voice)
• Heitor Pereira

Director (co-director)

• Januel Mercado
• Joel Crawford
• Paul Fisher
• Tommy Swerdlow

Writer (story by)

• Tom Wheeler

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Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Reviews

The sequel we didn't know we needed, with eye-candy animation, a protagonist who begins to question the decisions he's made in his life, and a memorable supporting cast. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Aug 6, 2024

Add it all up, and we get DreamWorks’ best film in a long time!

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 16, 2024

There’s an almost officious tone to its pleasant and precocious quips, but must it all feel so insubstantial?

Full Review | Jul 1, 2024

The film’s biggest issues come down to the choice of animation techniques for fight sequences, which makes the events feel a little choppy and overly stylized

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 5, 2023

Puss N Boots 2 is a shockingly phenomenal movie tackling much deeper themes than one would expect from a kids movie.

Full Review | Aug 16, 2023

It is designed that both young and old should find the tale equally as enjoyable.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Aug 9, 2023

Overflowing with ideas that all land, DreamWorks’s latest offering is surprisingly nuanced, wholly cathartic, and one of the best films of the year.

Full Review | Aug 6, 2023

FANTASTIC. Exhilarating Action, Phenomenal Animation, Perfect Voice Acting, & an argument could be made for the best animated film of 2022! 

Full Review | Jul 25, 2023

Dreamworks is back baby.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is the last-minute surprise of the year. The film has all the charm the audience has come to expect from the Shrek standout, but with a blindsiding amount of heart and humor.

Full Review | Jul 24, 2023

The script is consistently funny, foregoing the snarky self-skewering that defined the Shrek franchise, swapping it for a more timeless sensibility consisting of whip-cracking one-liners and character-based comedy.

Full Review | Jul 14, 2023

It's darn good!

Full Review | Jun 28, 2023

The Last Wish is that rare thing: an animated sequel that actually delivers.

Full Review | Jun 2, 2023

What a time we live in where our cartoon characters can give us the space to explore mental health and the importance of leaning on our community.

Full Review | Apr 14, 2023

Riding the line between the silliness of the "Shrek" Universe from which it came and something far more Grimm, "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" explores the value of appreciating where you are and what you have ...

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 5, 2023

It does a fine job of balancing its knockabout humor with a surprisingly somber tale of how the specter of death can limit one’s ability to fully embrace and enjoy life.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 5, 2023

The Last Wish is a spellbinding, funny, and gorgeous piece of animated storytelling that restores this franchise to past glory. The real cat in the hat is back, and his boots are very much made for walking!

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Mar 1, 2023

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish takes necessary risks without losing to the assumption that all sequels lose their luster.

Full Review | Original Score: 8.5/10 | Feb 22, 2023

Emotional and surprisingly excellent, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is one of Dreamworks' best and a real crowd-pleaser.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | Feb 20, 2023

... the film is enjoyable in its way, partly thanks to a painted style that rejects the usual sheen of modern animation.

Full Review | Feb 14, 2023

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‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ Review: Swashbuckling Again

This animated sequel is a tidy charmer.

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By Glenn Kenny

It might be hard to believe it today, but there was a time when “Shrek” seemed like a breath of fresh air in the world of big-screen animation. Its salty humor and insistent pop culture knowingness was fun for a minute, before the sequels got nudging and formulaic. And then there was the whole shoving-Smash Mouth-down-our-throat issue. DreamWorks, the studio that concocted “Shrek,” soon enough became the anti-Pixar — in a bad way.

So it’s a pleasant surprise that “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” the second feature film highlighting a beloved children’s lit character who became one of the favorite additions to the “Shrek” universe, is for the most part winning. It contains amusing jokes and has an old-fashioned impulse to tug at heart strings. This in spite of the video-game-suggestive plot construction, in which Puss and cohorts, aided by an animated map, race to a dark forest to find a wishing star, with other children’s lore characters in hot, malevolent pursuit.

Puss is voiced by Antonio Banderas, whose purr can warm the cockles of any and all, as is also the case with Salma Hayek Pinault, who plays his love-and-hate interest Kitty Softpaws. Directed by Joel Crawford, the movie’s overall tone harks back not so much to prior DreamWorks pictures as it does to the “Fractured Fairy Tales” of the old TV cartoon “Rocky and Bullwinkle.” To this end, Goldilocks and the Three Bears are now a band of criminals (including voice work by the powerhouses Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone and Florence Pugh). This often charming movie will play particularly well if you’re a cat person. But who’s not?

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Rated PG. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes. In theaters.

‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ Review: Antonio Banderas’ Feline Hero Fights for His (Last) Life in Existential Sequel

Turns out, the Shrek sidekick has died eight times already, which explains why he considers himself invincible. Now it's time for Puss to confront what really matters in this gorgeous standalone.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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More than a decade after “Shrek” prequel/spinoff “Puss in Boots,” the flamboyant feline is up to his old tricks — but has yet to meet the computer-animated ogre whose party he’s destined to crash in “Shrek 2.” As that series wore on, the “Shrek” franchise took on so many popular side characters that by the fourth outing, there was hardly room left to swing a cat.

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Co-written by Paul Fisher and Tommy Swerdlow with charmingly Spanish-embellished dialogue throughout, this fairytale-adjacent adventure opens with Puss losing his eighth life. This kitty’s too cocky to realize it at first, but the town vet gives him a rough recap of his previous deaths, which makes for a hilarious (for us) and sobering (for Puss) montage of all the ways his grandiose ego (so perfectly captured by “The Mask of Zorro” star Antonio Banderas ’ voice work) has endangered him till now.

After that dramatic showdown reduces Puss to a quivering scaredy-cat, our hero scampers off to live with Mama Luna (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), a self-described “cat fancier” whose feline-infested home always has room for one more stray. Desperate and humbled, Puss buries his cavalier hat, cape and boots in the yard and tries to blend in, meeting a nameless mutt in kitty disguise among Mama Luna’s three dozen or so rescues.

The movie keeps piling on characters as it goes — from Goldi (Florence Pugh) and the Three Bears crime family to good-boy-gone-bad Jack Horner (John Mulaney) — until such time that the ensemble has swollen to “Shrek”-like levels. But don’t fret! Mother Goose reject Jack Horner makes for a lame villain. But as complicated as the plot gets, it’s all grounded by characters with clearly defined desires, which makes sense, since they’re all seeking the same thing: A shooting star has landed in the Dark Forest, and whoever reaches it first is entitled to a wish.

Puss wants his lives back. The others, including Puss’ former paramour Kitty Softpaws ( Salma Hayek Pinault ), have equally compelling motives. Only Puss’ mangy canine amigo (Harvey Guillén) seems content with what he’s got, which you’d better believe is going to rub off on the others. Still, it takes a sharp script to do so in such a surprising way, and that’s more than most toons can wish for.

The movie feels most inspired in its first half-hour, when Puss get shaken out of his comfort zone, which is accompanied by a huge shift in visual style for a DreamWorks toon: Eschewing traditional CG codes, production designer Nate Wragg aims for an expressionistic storybook feel, with no lines and a refreshing rejection of photorealistic detail. Instead of distracting us with how lifelike Puss’ fur follicles look, the crew embraces a more painterly approach that still allows the virtual camera to ricochet through space during action sequences. That same dynamism was a signature of the earlier film, with its swooping rooftop chases, that looks infinitely better in this new style.

It’s alarming how quickly computer-animated toons start to look dated. Most audiences won’t pick up on it, but the character rigs are vastly improved here. In the “Shrek” movies, the shoulders so often looked weird, whereas this time around, humans and animals alike have a much greater and more convincing range of postures. Add to that the painterly upgrade, and “Puss” will have paved the way for an all-new aesthetic when the studio decides to give “Shrek” a reboot.

Reviewed at The London Hotel Screening Room, West Hollywood, Nov. 13, 2022. MPA Rating: PG. Running time: 102 MIN.

• Production: (Animated) A Universal Pictures release of a DreamWorks Animation production. Producer: Mark Swift. Executive producers: Andrew Adamson, Chris Meledandri. Co-director: Januel P. Mercado.
• Crew: Director: Joel Crawford. Screenplay: Paul Fisher, Tommy Swerdlow; story: Tommy Swerdlow, Tom Wheeler. Editor: James Ryan. Music: Heitor Pereira.
• With: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek Pinault, Olivia Colman, Harvey Guillén, Samson Kayo, Anthony Mendez, Wagner Moura, John Mulaney, Florence Pugh, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Ray Winstone.

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Puss in Boots: The Last Wish might be the year’s most unexpected triumph

Hello to the best DreamWorks Animation movie in years

by Matt Patches

Moviegoers shouldn’t have to rely on a sequel to a Shrek spinoff from 11 years ago to discover dazzling spectacle, but here we are. Just days after Avatar: The Way of Water finessed and stretched the photoreal CG language of James Cameron’s original to greater heights (depths?), a frickin’ Puss in Boots movie swings the action pendulum in the complete opposite stylistic direction, while remaining on Cameron’s audacious wavelength. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish , the latest DreamWorks Animation film, steals mercilessly from the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse playbook, and you know what, thank god for it — the result is a fairy tale adventure that complements genuine laughs with splashy, impressionistic art.

I have absolutely no memory of what happened in 2011’s Puss in Boots , nor the Netflix show The Adventures of Puss in Boots, but am happy to report a lack of Puss knowledge did not negatively impact my time watching an Antonio Banderas-voiced cat scurry around with his sword. When we pick up with Puss, he’s a milk-drunk legend realizing he’s wasted eight of his nine lives. Wolf, a physical manifestation of death who wields two scythes and is voiced by Narcos ’ Wagner Moura, could not be happier — all he wants is to cut down the arrogant feline as he begs for mercy. But when Puss catches wind of a fallen star capable of granting a wish, he sets off with Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) and a tiny dog named Perrito ( What We Do in the Shadows ’ Harvey Guillén) to seize the opportunity. On his fluffy tail are Goldilocks (Florence Pugh) and her Three Bears Crime Family, and the Shrek-verse’s version of the Collector, “Big” Jack Horner (John Mulaney), who also want the star.

Talks of a Puss in Boots 2 began just after the first movie’s success. Executive producer Guillermo del Toro teased in 2012 that a script was already in the works, and by 2014, Banderas was making promises about the character’s return — possibly alongside Shrek. None of this came to pass, and DreamWorks saw creative-team shakeups. Eventually Joel Crawford ( The Croods: A New Age ) stepped in to helm the movie, with Januel Mercado as co-director, with the MO of completely rethinking what a CG-animated movie had to look like at DreamWorks.

“When the Shrek movies came out, CG animation was in an interesting space,” Last Wish production designer Nate Wragg recently told Animation Magazine . “Part of the spectacle of it was, ‘Wow it looks so real, even though it’s not. Look what the computer can do.’ We’ve now been able to swing the pendulum back into a space where animation originated, which was an artistic expression. Bambi ’s backgrounds were watercolored. It was beautiful but it didn’t have to be photoreal.”

As an animation fan, this has been a long time coming. Spider-verse ’s arrival in 2018 felt like a bullet-speed pebble lodging itself in the windshield of mainstream Western animation . The cracks were immediate, and between DreamWorks’ The Bad Guys , Netflix’s Arcane , and Pixar’s upcoming Elemental , the rules might be fully shattered. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish giving the crude Shrek franchise a facelift in every imaginable way is a reason to hope.

The Last Wish is the closest I’ve ever seen a movie get to emulating hand-painted concept art. On their way to the wishing star, Puss and company traverse prismatic backdrops — from bright pinks and green forests to the rustic interiors of a cat-lady prison — that feel dabbed on by the artistic team. Their encounters with beasties use color, linework, and kinetic camera moves to bring viewers deeper into the battles, and like The Way of Water , regularly shift frame rates to jolt the senses. Puss, looking more oil-painted than ever, may be monologuing about his legendary skills one second, animated “on the ones,” then find himself in a cacophonous skirmish with a towering troll the next, which the team animates “on the twos.” The sensation builds on the work of Spider-verse and drags the Shrek franchise, of all things, into the territory of high art. It’s stunning.

The movie’s also really funny? Having recently revisited Shrek 1 and Shrek 2 , I can’t say I walked into The Last Wish with an open heart/funny bone — pop culture hijinks and fairy-tale riffs were dusty then and petrified now. The Last Wish team, including credited screenwriters Paul Fisher and Tommy Swerdlow, reinvent the humor just like the animation. While the movie offers a few nostalgic nods to Shrek, with brief appearances by Gingerbread Man and Pinocchio, and Jack Horner’s endless supply of fantasy literature collectibles gives Mulaney plenty of joke fuel, the movie’s comedy stylings more closely resemble Groundhog Day . Banderas, it turns out, can do the Bill Murray mumbles-to-self one-liner thing. A recurring bit finds Puss reliving his past deaths, and the versions of himself (Showman Puss, Swole Puss, Drunk Puss) that led to each demise. In this sequel, a somewhat obligatory poop joke is actually a litter box joke about Puss faking his own death and “burying” his body. Good!

The Last Wish might just be the best thing DreamWorks Animation, a studio that isn’t as known for pushing the limits of the medium, has produced in the last decade. 2010 gave us the emotional thrillride of How to Train Your Dragon and 2011 had Kung Fu Panda 2 , a martial arts odyssey bursting with imagination that asserted director Jennifer Yuh Nelson as a top-tier action director (even if Hollywood never made good on it). Maybe How to Train Your Dragon 2 tops the original with bigger action — I’ll leave that to the hardcore fans. The Bad Guys was definitely a step in the right technological direction earlier this year. I will not be engaging with Boss Baby discourse.

Whatever the case, the achievement glimmers with hope. DreamWorks Animation, a studio that has bounced from various homes, never found its footing against Pixar, and struggled in the shadow of the Minions, may have found a new mode. If this level of artistry and cleverness is what the studio brings to future films, hell, I will get in line for Shrek 5 . There is so much animation can do, and Hollywood finally seems ready to grant its artists permission to do it.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is now in theaters

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Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

When Puss in Boots discovers that his passion for adventure has taken its toll and he has burned through eight of his nine lives, he launches an epic journey to restore them by finding the m... Read all When Puss in Boots discovers that his passion for adventure has taken its toll and he has burned through eight of his nine lives, he launches an epic journey to restore them by finding the mythical Last Wish. When Puss in Boots discovers that his passion for adventure has taken its toll and he has burned through eight of his nine lives, he launches an epic journey to restore them by finding the mythical Last Wish.

• Joel Crawford
• Januel Mercado
• Paul Fisher
• Tommy Swerdlow
• Tom Wheeler
• Antonio Banderas
• Salma Hayek
• Harvey Guillén
• 719 User reviews
• 171 Critic reviews
• 73 Metascore
• 8 wins & 57 nominations total

Top cast 30

• Puss in Boots

• Kitty Softpaws
• (as Salma Hayek Pinault)

• Jack Horner

• Ethical Bug

• Jan Serpent

• Little Goldi
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia During the montage where Big Jack Horner assembles his Baker's Dozen, the horses pulling their carriage were actually unicorns whose horns were cut off
• Goofs Pinocchio sings he is a real boy, but his nose does not grow from the lie as it normally does.

The Big Bad Wolf : I was there to witness all of them. Each frivolous end. But you didn't even notice me, because Puss in Boots laughs in the face of death, right? But you're not laughing now.

Puss in Boots : You are no bounty hunter. You are...

The Big Bad Wolf : Death. And I don't mean it metaphorically or rhetorically or poetically or theoretically or any other fancy way. I'M DEATH. STRAIGHT UP! And I've come for you, Puss in Boots.

Puss in Boots : But... I'm still alive...

The Big Bad Wolf : [chuckles] You know, I'm not really a cat person. I find the very idea of NINE lives absurd.

The Big Bad Wolf : And you didn't value ANY of them. So why don't I do us both a favor, and take this last one now?

• Crazy credits After the credits, Puss in Boots says, "You're still here?"
• Connections Featured in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: Disney Cannot Catch A Break (2022)
• Soundtracks Fearless Hero Written by Heitor Pereira , Dan Navarro , and Paul Fisher Produced by Heitor Pereira

User reviews 719

• Dec 6, 2022

Everything New on Prime Video in August

• How long is Puss in Boots: The Last Wish? Powered by Alexa
• December 21, 2022 (United States)
• United States
• DreamWorks Animation
• Official Facebook
• Gato con botas: El último deseo
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $90,000,000 (estimated)
• $186,090,535
• $12,429,515
• Dec 25, 2022
• $481,757,663

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 42 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos

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‘puss in boots: the last wish’ review: antonio banderas in fine feline form.

The actor again voices the intrepid cat, who's now down to his last life, in a sequel also featuring voice work by Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman and Salma Hayek.

By Frank Scheck

Frank Scheck

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Hey kids, want to see a movie revolving around an aging male character dealing with a mid-life crisis who’s desperately afraid of his impending mortality? Just in time for Christmas?

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

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Puss ( Antonio Banderas ) has a more immediate solution to his problem. With the help of his former girlfriend and occasional foil Kitty Softpaws ( Salma Hayek Pinault, also reprising her role), he heads into the Black Forest in search of the mythical Wishing Star that he hopes will restore his squandered lives.

If you’re wondering how he lost so many, screenwriters Paul FIsher and Tommy Swerdlow vividly illustrate the causes of his many demises in a hilarious montage that illustrates the frequent wit on display in DreamWorks Animation offerings. Not all of those deaths are heroic, as demonstrated by his gluttonous losing battle with a shellfish allergy.

Darker in tone but still extremely funny, the film, like so many of its animated brethren, falters when resorting to the frenetic action sequences seemingly designed for tykes’ short attention spans. Those exhausting episodes pale in comparison to such uproarious scenes as a saucer-eyed feline face-off in which Puss attempts to prove he’s the most adorable.

Also highly amusing are the scenes involving the tiny, Jiminy Cricket-inspired Ethical Bug, who fruitlessly attempts to serve as Jack Horner’s conscience. (He’s voiced by DreamWorks Animation story supervisor Kevin McCann, doing a fun riff on Jimmy Stewart).

Making frequent if occasionally overdone allusions to Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns, the film — directed by Joel Crawford ( The Croods: A New Age ) — boasts a painterly animation style that feels richer than the usual computer graphics.   

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish looks great, but what really makes it work is Banderas’ silky-voiced turn, conveying all of the character’s over-the-top feline suavity while making it clear that he’s very much in on the joke. Too often, animated films feature supremely overpaid and overqualified voice casts whom children, and most adults, couldn’t care less about. Banderas, on the other hand, is worth every penny.   

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Screen Rant

Puss in boots: the last wish review - spectacular animation, underwhelming story.

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Everyone’s favorite animated cat returns in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish . With a new adventure and an inspiring animation style, the sequel — directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado from a screenplay by Paul Fisher and Tommy Swerdlow — is more superior to, and has more depth than, its predecessor. It allows Puss in Boots , who was first introduced in Shrek 2 , time to shine and assess his inner life. But far too many characters and a lack of heart prevent Puss in Boots: The Last Wish from reaching its full potential.

Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) is in a bit of a bind. Having been on so many adventures and fought bravely in exciting battles, Puss in Boots is down to the last of his nine lives. He’s also being hunted by the Big Bad Wolf (Wagner Moura) in a twist on the classic tale the character is usually in. Terrified of death, Puss in Boots joins forces with old flame Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) and Perro (Harvey Guillén) to find The Last Wish to reclaim his nine lives. The only issue is that he must beat Goldilocks (Florence Pugh) and the Three Bears — Olivia Colman as Mama Bear, Ray Winston’s as Papa Bear, and Samson Kayo as Baby Bear — and the villainous Jack Horner (John Mulaney) to get to it before they do.

Related: Why Puss In Boots 2 Looks So Different To Shrek

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish has bouts of humor, and when it happens the film can be deeply funny. The animation style is also spectacular — one of the year’s best. The Last Wish changing its animation style from the first Puss in Boots was a good decision. The sequel’s animation is clearly influenced by Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and anime to bring its visual palette to life. To that end, the animation style is made more intriguing and unique, bringing together 2D and 3D animation instead of sticking to one style. It adds richness to the animation and the world it creates.

The film’s themes are wonderful, as Puss in Boots grapples with his mortality and what to do with the one life he has left. Though the film retcons certain aspects of his character , it’s to the benefit of the story, with Puss in Boots coming to the realization that he doesn’t have to face everything on his own, nor does he have to be alone when there are those who care about him. Puss can be very selfish here, and he is driven by fear and the need to run away, so it’s a nice lesson that he learns as he lets Kitty Softpaws and Perro in despite his reluctance to do so initially.

Where The Last Wish falters is in its lack of heart. Too focused on the thrill of the adventure, there is little time spent on properly developing the supporting characters, which leaves the film’s final moments rather devoid of the feeling it was likely aiming for. There are also too many characters vying for attention, taking away from the main character and his journey. The animation includes a plethora of fairy tale stories in one, and the result is bloated and messy, with far too many unnecessary subplots — like that of Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ personal journey — that ultimately don’t add much and are underwhelming. What’s more, The Last Wish’s antagonist is frustrating and unneeded in a film where Puss’ mortality and a persistent, terrifying bounty hunter already serve this purpose.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish will surely entertain younger audiences. The animation is beautiful, the script occasionally funny, and there is plenty of adventure to excite audiences. For the adults, however, The Last Wish leaves a lot to be desired. With underbaked supporting characters and a bloated story that, while sometimes entertaining, isn’t entirely heartwarming or memorable, the animated sequel could have been a lot more than average.

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Puss in Boots: The Last Wish released in theaters December 21. The film is 100 minutes long and rated PG for action/violence, rude humor/language, and some scary moments.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

In Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Puss learns he has reached the end of his nine lives. To restore his lives and continue his journeys, he will set forth on a quest to the Black Forest to find a Wishing Star that can bring them all back. To succeed, he enlists help from his former partner/rival, Kitty Softpaws, and a chatty canine friend, Perrito. Unfortunately, they're in a race against many other fairytale characters and villains, including the bounty hunter looking to collect on Puss, The Big Bad Wolf.

• Movie Reviews
• 2.5 star movies

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish Review

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the Shrek franchise was on its last life by now. While the 2001 original and its even-funnier 2004 sequel shook up the status quo with their sharp Disney-fairy-tale satire, diminishing returns saw the anarchic ogre’s impact dwindle over time. It’s fair to say, then, that Puss In Boots: The Last Wish — a sequel to a spin-off that graced cinema screens over a decade ago — doesn’t arrive with much momentum behind it. That it frequently explodes into sequences of vital, visually dazzling, capital-c Cinema is a truly unexpected delight.

In its opening 15 minutes, it’s clear that The Last Wish is fighting tooth and claw to exceed expectations — kicking off with a kinetic kitty versus kaiju set-piece that re-establishes the legendary status of Puss In Boots for an audience who have likely long moved on. Antonio Banderas (who originated the role way back in Shrek 2 ) returns to voice the Zorro-styled, leche-lapping swashbuckler, whose diminutive stature belies feats of highwire heroism. Taking on a moss-covered mountain beast with only his rapier, it’s an eye-boggling, pulse-pounding sequence, gorgeously animated in striking digital-paint brushstrokes, and intentionally stuttering Spider-Verse -esque frame-rate effects.

With stakes this high, notions this existential, and a superhero this hairy, it often plays like a kid-friendly Logan .

The effect is dazzling — once again, it’s apparent that Spider-Verse has upped the game of every animation studio in town. The Last Wish capitalises on that with visual flourishes that bring real dynamism to its action scenes, breaking away from the homogenous stylings of late-’00s 3D animation to deliver ultra-expressive, impressionistic imagery.

That boundary-pushing extends to the themes explored here, too — if younger viewers won’t necessarily be familiar with Puss In Boots himself, they also likely won’t be expecting a treatise on mortality and PTSD. But that’s The Last Wish ’s central preoccupation, as Puss realises his nine lives have dwindled down to one (capped off in a hilarious moggy-murder-montage), and that death itself is rapidly approaching. With stakes this high, notions this existential, and a superhero this hairy, it often plays like a kid-friendly Logan .

Everything exceptional about The Last Wish makes the more generic elements stand out, such as the supporting characters, some of which don’t quite sing. A gangster-family Goldilocks ( Florence Pugh ) and the Three Bears ( Ray Winstone , Olivia Colman and Samson Kayo) wring few laughs, while villain Jack Horner (John Mulaney) also feels like a distraction. But in most regards, The Last Wish is a minor miracle — visually daring, frequently funny, and surprisingly emotional. Against all the odds, it could bring the Shrek series back to all-star status.

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• DVD & Streaming

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

• Action/Adventure , Animation , Comedy , Kids

Content Caution

In Theaters

• December 21, 2022
• Voices of Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots; Salma Hayek-Pinault as Kitty Softpaws; Harvey Guillén as Perro; Florence Pugh as Goldilocks; John Mulaney as Jack Horner; Wagner Moura as The Big Bad Wolf; Ray Winstone as Papa Bear; Olivia Colman as Mama Bear; Samson Kayo as Baby Bear

Home Release Date

• January 6, 2023
• Joel Crawford, Januel Mercado

Distributor

• Universal Pictures

Positive Elements   |   Spiritual Elements   |   Sexual & Romantic Content   |   Violent Content   |   Crude or Profane Language   |   Drug & Alcohol Content   |   Other Noteworthy Elements   | Conclusion

Movie Review

[ To be read in a thick, smoothly purring Spanish accent. ]

Puss in Boots: the hero, the legend.

He is small, but eminently skilled at doing everything from singing songs and blithely entertaining cheering crowds to battling an army with precise rapier slashes. (He is, of course, devilishly handsome as well.)

And in all his many, wonderful adventures, he approaches each challenge fearlessly. Fearlessly, I say. After all, as a cat he has nine lives. If one battle goes slightly awry, no te preocupes , he has another life in reserve.

Until, that is, he does not .

After one battle with a giant ends in Puss being bashed by a huge church bell, our heroic swashbuckling hero comes to realize that he has used up eight of his adventurous lives. One wrong move—a tumble down some stairs after too many cups of cream, a misstep from a high precipice—could be his last! What can he do?

Fortunately, the great Puss in Boots hears of a wishing star that once fell to Earth in the deep of a dark forest. And this magical star holds the power of one …precious … wish .

And so Puss makes it his earnest quest to find this star and regain the lives he has lost. He will face any mighty foe. He will ascend any treacherous mountain. He will forge any raging sea. He will …

Well, maybe this time he’ll be a bit more careful than he usually is. You know, last life and all. Maybe he’ll be a lot more careful. Just in case.

(Are you still heroic if you wrap yourself in bubble wrap?)

Positive Elements

Puss in Boots is obsessed with his fame and heroic legend.  But eventually his adventures teach him that when dealing with that pumped-up legendary version of himself, he squeezed out room for anyone else in his life. And that caused him to lose a great deal.

In like manner, Kitty Softpaws the thief, whom Puss meets up with, believes that trusting someone always leads to betrayal—an idea that Puss reinforced at one time in her past. Eventually, though, she learns that trusting others is both possible and necessary.

Puss meets a small dog named Perro, who plays an important role in both Puss and Kitty’s lives. He’s had his own abandonment torments in the past, but he pushes those things aside and earnestly believes in helping others, as well as being the best friend he can be. Puss initially doesn’t want anything to do with the scruffy chihuahua, But Perro’s giving, healing attitude not only helps calm the panicked Puss at his greatest times of stress, it encourages the cat to believe that even one life can be enough if you live it well.

Eventually, all three characters realize that vying for a magic wish is a fool’s quest. “I got what I wanted,” Kitty notes. “No magic needed.” Puss and Kitty heal their relationship. Along with Perro, they commit to living their lives well in kindness and friendship.

Goldilocks and The Three Bears are a part of the wishing star quest, too. They proclaim that they wish to become a thriving family of top-notch crooks. But with time we discover that, actually, Goldilocks wants nothing more than a family. And like the others, this bear-and-a-girl quartet eventually realizes that the things they all want are right in front of them. All they need do is take the time to see the loving and nurturing relationships that are already a part of their lives. “Everything is just right,” the porridge-tasting and bed-testing fairytale girl ultimately proclaims.

Big Jack Horner is another character seeking the wishing star, yet another individual in need of some redemption. A Jiminy Cricket-like character attempts to guide this evil bully to a better place. But he never turns a better leaf.

Spiritual Elements

Puss is treated by a small-town doctor, who is also the town’s dentist, barber and witch doctor.

Big Jack Horner is a collector of magical items. We see him use a number of those collectables—unicorn horns, a Midas finger, a crystal ball, a fire-breathing Phoenix, etc.—in pursuit of the wishing star.

That fairytale magic carries over to the wishing star itself and the map that’s used to find the star. The map, for instance, magically changes the surrounding terrain and its challenges depending on who holds it. (When Puss holds it, for example, the landscape becomes a forest of daring pitfalls; when the innocent Perro does so, it becomes a land of colorful hills and flowers.)

We see several churches during the story, including a flashback to one in which a wedding was about to take place.

Sexual & Romantic Content

There is some romantic tension between Puss and Kitty Softpaws, as you might have expected. It’s even mentioned that the two were about to marry in the past before a betrayal drove them apart. But the tension eventually resolves into a mutual respect, love and dedication to one another.

Violent Content

For a PG-rated kids’ pic, The Last Wish is surprisingly peril-filled and at times fairly violent. Puss in Boots faces off with some huge baddies and fairytale characters (including an unbeatable, red-eyed, wolfy version of Death). And in some thumping/slashing battles, he’s pushed to the point of fearing for his life.

Big Jack Horner and his bag of magic items is also a huge ongoing threat. Horner makes characters disappear in an explosion of confetti, for example, when he shoots them with baby unicorn horns. He thumps others with a large Excalibur sword. And he sets a field of large predator flowers ablaze with the Phoenix’s flames.

Jack also hires a group of killers called the Baker’s Dozen, who wield large axes, swords and hammers. And he’s more than happy to sacrifice the lives of his hired thugs at any turn. One guy, for example, is attacked by a killer flower that sucks all the flesh off his body, leaving nothing but a skeleton behind. At another point, a large group of Jack’s henchmen all fall into a canyon to their death. (It should be noted, however, that none of this deadliness is ever bloody or goopy, but approached in a slapstick, actively cartoony way.)

Elsewhere, fire-arrows are shot, fireworks explode, a giant is felled, and people are pummeled with weapons and blunt objects (such as a piano). A bottle holding a ship manned by tiny Lilliputians is smashed. Someone gets turned to gold. Large Bears slash with sharp claws and snap at characters with huge teeth.

But the most imposing character in the mix is the above-mentioned Death—a character who looms powerfully over Puss and fiercely battles with large, scythe-like blades. Puss is cut twice and heavily bashed about in these conflicts.

Crude or Profane Language

We hear one use of “h—” and one use of “heck” in the dialogue, along with an interrupted use if “bull shhh-” that someone ends with s shushing sound. The words “crap” and “holy frijoles” are used twice. The British crudity “bugger” makes one appearance, and someone is called a “butt nugget.”

At one point Goldilocks and the Three Bears are tossing insults at each other, and Perro wants to join in on “the fun.” So he joyfully lets loose with a string of bleeped words that shocks the bears.

Drug & Alcohol Content

Puss in Boots drinks cream at a bar. And it’s implied that he became inebriated on cream in the past, which led to one of this eight deaths. Puss also gulps coffee amid one battle, and the caffeine leaves him wide-eyed.

Jack eats a magical item that causes him to grow huge.

Other Noteworthy Elements

After realizing that he has no more lives to lose, Puss becomes more and more fearful of death—to the point of panic on a couple occasions. (These moments alone could ratchet up a young watcher’s fear meter.) There are some toilet giggles in the mix, including some smelly cat box humor and a shot of Puss peeing into a toilet with his back to the camera. Puss must escape death through an outhouse toilet and a sewer pipe.

Characters steal a variety of things. A doctor drops leeches down the front of his own shirt.

You don’t often see a sequel surpass the original. But Puss in Boots: The Last Wish leaps over that bar with dynamic aplomb.

His latest animated adventure is large, funny, boisterous and packed with well-defined fairytale characters. Stylized action sequences carry an unexpected sense of speed and impact. The story feels fresh and compelling, and it leads to some sweet lessons about living life well, loving your family, and embracing the precious individuals around you.

But there is one major red flag that families of young and/or sensitive viewers need to consider.

While the filmmakers were pumping up their adventurous tale, they also magnified the peril and the film’s focus on Puss’ panic-stricken fear of death. In fact, the possibility of death lurks at nearly every turn here. One evil character carelessly kills his minions while seeking self-serving power. And another red-eyed fairytale antagonist personifies the intensely hungry, never-wavering character of Death itself.

It’s all designed to guide Puss to upright, life-enriching choices and to teach solid lessons. But the violence and frightening aspects may well rattle younger, sensitive kids who aren’t prepared for the onslaught.

After the credits rolled, I turned to a family with young children sitting next to me and asked what their tykes thought about it. Both little girls (approximately ages 5 and 7) said it was indeed scary … but not too scary, in their opinion. They enjoyed it. I took that as two tiny seals of approval.

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Review: A Wholesome, Entertaining Journey to Find Out the Meaning of Life

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When Shrek 2 landed in theaters in 2004, a beloved fairytale character was brought to life on the screen: Puss in Boots. Hired by the father of Princess Fiona, Puss in Boots set out to kill Shrek in the movie but landed a recurring role in the franchise and a standalone film in 2011. The daring feline may be cute, but he is deadly with his sword and charismatic personality, making him a fan favorite throughout the franchise. His standalone film, Puss in Boots , was a massive success when it came out in 2011, making it one of the biggest animated releases of that year. Now in 2022, a long overdue sequel has arrived to the 2011 movie and hopes to make a name for itself during the busy holiday season: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish .

Plans for this movie began not long after the release of the original Puss in Boots movie, and it was officially announced in 2014 that the film was in the works . The title of the movie was trademarked back in 2020, and the entire cast was revealed in March 2022, months ahead of the movie’s release . The design aesthetic and animation for Puss in Boots: The Last Wish was directly said to have been inspired by Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse . That visual style permeates throughout the film, as many scenes look like they are coming straight out of a comic book or manga fight scene.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is directed by Joel Crawford. Antonio Banderas reprises voicing Puss in Boots, while Salma Hayek returns as Kitty Softpaws. This movie features a plethora of new characters in the franchise, and with that comes new voice actors. Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, John Mulaney, Harvey Guillén, and Wagner Moura are just a few of the new characters that can be seen and heard throughout the movie–several of whom are inspired by fairytales as well. This is very on-brand when compared to the previous movie, which featured the likes of Jack and Jill, Humpty Dumpty, and Jack Beanstalk.

Finding Out What Matters

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish opens with a grand display of Puss in Boots’ larger-than-life personality. He has broken into some town’s mayor’s mansion and is hosting a party, clawing up portraits, singing, and dancing along with the townsfolk. However, after the mayor catches him in the middle of a dance number, a giant monster appears, forcing Puss in Boots to use his abilities to save the day yet again. This does not come without consequences–Puss in Boots is crushed by a falling bell at the very end of the fight, killing and forcing him onto the last of his nine lives. If he dies again, that is the end of the legendary feline. At first, this does not seem to faze him, and he heads to the bar upon waking. There, he encounters a powerful wolf with red eyes who presumably is a bounty hunter. This is not a fight Puss in Boots can win, and, with his head held low, he gives up the life he has lived to protect his last life. With the wolf chasing him, there is only one spot where Puss in Boots can truly be safe: Mama Luna’s house. Mama Luna protects domesticated cats, and after burying his cape in her front yard, Puss in Boots resigns himself to a life of eating kitty kibble and sunbathing in the window forever. He resists it at first, but after being stuck inside the house for a while, he begins to accept his new fate and even gives up on grooming himself, making the beloved character completely unrecognizable to even the most devoted fan in this universe.

Related: Shrek 5 is in Development, Teases Puss in Boots Star Antonio Banderas

Adventure cannot stay away from him, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears, a crime family consisting of a human girl and her three talking bears, show up at the house looking for him. Puss in Boots evades their notice, but finds out about a mysterious Wishing Star in the process, prompting him to dig up his hat and cape from its shallow grave and set out for a brand new, potentially final journey. He is joined by Perrito, a dog who has been pretending to be a cat in the house, and reunites with Kitty Softpaws as they try to steal the map to the Wishing Star from Jack Horner. With three different teams out to get the Wishing Star and make their dreams come true, the movie turns into an epic journey across dreams and nightmares to find out that maybe everything someone ever wanted is right in front of them.

Throughout its run time, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish cycles through all the emotions one could go through. Some moments tend to lean towards the heartstrings with the cats producing their most adorable, awe-inspiring looks to charm their audience, while some gags lean towards adult humor. Both children and audiences alike can enjoy this story, and while it incorporates fairytale characters that are fairly well-known with a new angle, the story itself unfolds like a fable. For a character like Puss in Boots that’s obsessed with the myth and legend he has gone through, this film does an excellent job of establishing it as its continuation of the myth while fleshing out his backstory.

A Highly Cinematic Movie

One of the most defining and notable details when watching Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is the animation itself. Not only are the fight scenes and details animated to look like they are coming straight out of a storybook, but the visuals are extremely vibrant. Whether it is the wolf’s red eyes shining in the dark, looking like rubies with how bright they are, or Puss in Boots’ fight scenes moving eloquently across the screen, this film feels like a cinematic experience. Whether in 3D or 2D, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a treat to watch, mixing in a balanced level of cuteness, humor, and fight scenes to potentially warrant a rewatch later on. It may even be one of the best-animated movies of the year, stretching the potential of what animated films can look like in the future. On a different note, the mortality present in a lot of Western movies can be heavily felt in this movie, especially as Puss in Boots comes to confront the reality of his mortality. Even though he knows the risks he is taking when he dons his boots and hat for what might be the last time, he seeks out the meaning of life while attempting to bargain with magic–the Wishing Star–for the opportunity to live again. Sometimes all it takes is a long, arduous journey for some people, or cats, to realize what they have right now is pretty decent in the long run, leading some to potentially find this ending to fall flat. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish offers a lot to contemplate and reflect on for a kid’s movie, especially as its core theme relies on the concept of memento mori.

Related: Shrek and Puss in Boots: Every Movie in Chronological Order

This is a movie relying almost completely on the emotional payoff and attachments made during their grand journey, especially as Puss in Boots confronts his last enemy, the Big Bad Wolf, in the literal fight for his life. The stakes and greatest threat to Puss in Boots’ final life are established early on: the wolf’s whistle seems to haunt him wherever he goes, and its red eyes lurk behind every corner. As an audience, we know that if Puss in Boots fails this mission, then this could be game over. There is no going back, even in the face of love and friendship. This theme manifests in the character of Goldilocks, too, as her surprising real wish is revealed to her family of bears.

Stories like these are not new. Characters like Puss in Boots, who initially laugh at the face of death and think they are immortal, exist across franchises, novels, and video games. The themes in this movie can be considered pretty dark a first glance, especially considering the sheer amount of death discussed throughout the movie. For a DreamWorks movie, this one leans a bit on the more existentialist aspects of life and death, but it works well. It still manages to be a really fun kid’s movie that happens to get its point across pretty clearly while still being appropriate for its core audience.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is in theaters on December 21, 2022.

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Puss In Boots: The Last Wish Review: A Fine Sequel That Gets Surprisingly Heavy

More than a decade has passed since the last film in the "Shrek" franchise, the spin-off film "Puss in Boots." That 2011 adventure centered the fan-favorite swashbuckling cat, voiced by Antonio Banderas as a silly blend of Zorro and an adorable kitty, in an adventure without any talking ogres, donkeys, or the like. In the intervening 11 years, the studio behind "Puss in Boots", DreamWorks Animation, has shifted ownership from DreamWorks SKG to 20th Century Fox to Universal Pictures, where it's now overseen by the head of  another animation studio, Illumination. And yet, perhaps thanks in part to the enduring legacy via memes online, the "Shrek" franchise endures, with a fifth film looming on the horizon. But first, we are revisiting the cat himself with "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish," a sequel that blends more fairy-tale fluffery with a somewhat unexpected heaviness due to a deathly plot twist that hovers over the entire affair.

Puss is continuing to have a grand old time as an old-fashioned rogue or rapscallion when we're reintroduced to him in "The Last Wish," fending off a tyrannical leader of a small town, leading up to ... Puss' untimely demise in the middle of a fight. But not to worry — as we all know, cats have nine lives, and Puss has some life left in him. To his horror, Puss realizes that he's just died for the eighth time, which means he's on his ninth of nine lives. He tries to brazenly ignore this fact until he realizes he's being tailed by a mysterious wolf (Wagner Moura) who represents true death to him, in its terrifying forms. At first, this brush with death gives Puss enough pause to throw down his sword for good and live the life of luxury and relaxation. That is, until he runs afoul of Goldilocks and her three bears, this time construing a miniature crime family; once they inform him, inadvertently, of a wishing star where he can wish for his full nine lives back, Puss is back in action.

Part of the charm of "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish," such as it is, is the film's direct grappling with death, evinced by its striking animation style. Director Joel Crawford brings a vibrancy to Puss' adventure that allows for the images to stand out far beyond ... well, far beyond  most films from the DreamWorks Animation filmography, and certainly far beyond the "Shrek" films themselves. The visualization of Puss' terror at being on his last life, and facing off against the wolfish bounty hunter who he seemingly is unable to defeat no matter how hard he tries, is effectively crafted and arguably surprising considering how few other DWA films try to get even remotely this dark.

A sinking familiarity

And yet, even as "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" has some fun with the return of Puss' female counterpart Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) or their new friend, therapy dog Perrito (Harvey Guillen), it is not entirely difficult to wonder if some of the folks behind this film (or perhaps some of the folks behind greenlighting this film) went to see Pixar's "Coco" a few years ago and wondered if they too could graft a story about death into one of their own upcoming adventures. The focus on death, at least, allows for something more nuanced here than in screenwriters Paul Fisher and Tommy Swerdlow going back to a well that the "Shrek" series has gone too very, very,  very often, in which famous fairy-tale characters are twisted around for adult-style humor. Such is the case here with the various antagonists, from Goldilocks (voiced by Florence Pugh), to the Three Bears (Ray Winstone and Olivia Colman as Papa and Mama Bear, and Samson Kayo as Baby Bear, a role that is mercifully not performed by James Corden), to "Big" Jack Horner (John Mulaney). 

The performers of those characters, especially Pugh and Mulaney, are seemingly enjoying themselves as they get to play genuinely cartoonish bad guys. (Mulaney, especially, gets to lean hard on playing Jack Horner as big as possible.) If anything, it's surprising that such classic fairy-tale characters hadn't gotten to be front-and-center in other "Shrek" films. Yet of the various voice performers, it's Harvey Guillen who stands out; his exceedingly chipper demeanor in the face of various perils is particularly funny and bracing, and the character as a whole is a sly contrast to how Puss and Kitty approach the world in much darker ways, as in one moment where the trio each touch a paw on a strange map that responds to each of them in kind: for Puss and Kitty, the map reveals many horrific locations they must traverse before arriving at the wishing star, whereas for Perrito, the map reveals nothing but joy and happiness.

The major aspects of "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" — the treatise on death and the riff on iconic fables — are reminders that as fresh as the animation seems, and as invested as Banderas continues to be in helping bring Puss in Boots to life, it really ought to be time to move on from the greater world of "Shrek" for DreamWorks Animation. No doubt the lack of family-specific competition this holiday season at the box office is going to enable "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" to perform reasonably well against the presumed behemoth of "Avatar: The Way of Water", but after two decades, there is almost something metatextual about watching Puss struggle to reclaim a new set of lives and hoping that he gracefully bows out instead.

/Film Rating: 6 out of 10

PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH

"searching for abundant life".

What You Need To Know:

Miscellaneous Immorality: Selfish behavior, but it’s rebuked.

More Detail:

In the animated movie PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH, Puss in Boots realizes he’s on his last life, so he needs to find the Last Wish star and ask for more lives. Funny and exciting, PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH is well made and has a strong Christian, moral worldview that includes Christian references and promotes being less selfish and reckless, thinking of others before yourself, and loving your family, but there are some scary characters and moments.

Puss in Boots has big energy and can fight anything to save the day. When a giant comes after the town, he kills the giant, but dies also. When he wakes up, he finds out he’s on his last life and has a battle with the Angel of Death, who tells Puss he has it out for him.

Like never before, Puss is scared for his life and decides to go hide away in a cat house with a woman who has collected hundreds of stray cats. While there, he meets Perro, a dog who came to the house because he was an orphan. Soon after, Goldilocks and the three bears come to the house and try to find Puss to bring him on an arrest warrant.

Puss gets away, but Perro follows him too. The two find out that there is a wishing star, the Last Wish, that will grant Puss more lives. Unfortunately, he isn’t the only after the star, as Goldilocks wants the star to help her have a normal family. Also, Jack Horner, the boy known for sticking his thumb in pies, is a collector of all the magical elements in fairy tales. He has grown into a huge man, who’s constantly eating pie and is extremely selfish. Jack also wants the Last Wish.

As Puss is trying to find the Last Wish with Perro, he runs into Kitty Softpaws, his former fiancé. Kitty isn’t happy to see Puss and does not trust his actions, but the three team up to try to get to the Last Wish. Puss was always very selfish with Kitty and put himself first in the relationship. But as Puss and Kitty are spending time together, Puss is thinking he made a mistake running away from her at the altar.

Will Puss find the Last Wish before Jack Horner, Goldilocks and the three bears? Will Kitty ever forgive Puss for leaving her at the altar and being completely selfish?

Funny and exciting, PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH is a well-made, entertaining movie. The animation is very interesting and well done. There are different techniques of animation throughout the movie. The movie is very long and does have many characters in it. Despite that, the movie still flows smoothly along and is very enjoyable.

PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH has a strong Christian, moral worldview about becoming selfless rather than selfish. The title character must learn to turn away from his ego and selfish behavior and help others. Also, one of the villains is extremely selfish, and this is seen as bad. The other characters, Goldilocks and three bears, show an example of a family that loves each other. PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH does have some scary points in it. For example, the Angel of Death is very scary. The story also shows that Puss doesn’t have eternal life and his life should be spent with the ones he loves rather than boasting about himself all the time. THE LAST WISH also has a priest character and a reference to church. Finally, some of the journey in THE LAST WISH is reminiscent of PILGRIM’S PROGRESS where each character must deal with their own sins and worries. MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for younger children, because of the movie’s scary characters.

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Product Description

Everyone's favorite leche-loving, swashbuckling, fear-defying feline, Puss in Boots, returns in a new adventure from the Shrek universe as the daring outlaw discovers that his passion for peril and disregard for safety have taken their toll. Puss has burned through eight of his nine lives, though he lost count along the way. Getting those lives back will send Puss in Boots into the Black Forest to find the mythical Wishing Star on his grandest quest yet. With only one life left, Puss will have to humble himself and ask for help from his former partner and nemesis: Kitty Softpaws. They are joined in their journey by a chatty and cheerful mutt named Perro. Together, our trio of heroes will need to stay one step ahead of the fairytale realm's craftiest crooks including Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Product details

• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.81 x 5.43 x 0.51 inches; 2.82 ounces
• Director ‏ : ‎ Joel Crawford
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ Digital_copy, 4K
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 103 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ February 28, 2023
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Harvey Guillén, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Studio Distribution Services
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BPWQ7JL9
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 2
• #68 in Kids & Family Blu-ray Discs
• #148 in Comedy (Movies & TV)

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10 Sequels More Rewatchable Than the Original Movie

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Movie sequels can often be hit-or-miss, with many ruining the original film that fans loved so dearly. However, Hollywood has occasionally produced some sequels that build on their predecessors perfectly, becoming fan-favorite films in long-running franchises.

On rare occasions, certain sequels prove to be better than the originals. In these cases, the sequels are often better to revisit than the often exposition-heavy and slower films that preceded them. From The Wrath of Khan to The Empire Strikes Back , these are the most rewatchable movie sequels.

10 Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan Vastly Improves On The Original

Wrath of Khan Creates Star Trek's Biggest Plot Hole, and the Real-Life Explanation Is Hilarious

How Khan recognized Chekov in The Wrath of Khan is Star Trek's biggest plot hole since he wasn't in the TOS episode. Walter Koenig has the answer.

Based on the classic sci-fi television series, Star Trek: The Motion Picture brought the adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise to the big screen for the first time. Three years later, a sequel, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was released. This time, Captain Kirk and his crew face off against a villain from his past, the maniacal Khan.

The original Star Trek movie received lukewarm reviews from fans and critics, who felt that it was too long, contemplative, and filled with droll conversation rather than the exciting action that viewers had hoped to see. The Wrath of Khan took all of these notes and built a much more enjoyable film that is largely regarded as the best in the franchise. While a Star Trek fan might groan at the idea of rewatching the original film, The Wrath of Khan is a much more rewatchable adventure.

Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan

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9 Spider-Man 2 Is One Of The Best Superhero Films Of All Time

Spider-Man came to the big screen for the first time in the first installment of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy starring Tobey Maguire. The film was a massive success, helping kickstart a new era of movies based on Marvel Comics characters. Two years later, Spider-Man 2 was released, pitting the titular wall-crawling superhero against the villainous Dr. Otto Octavius, a.k.a. Doctor Octopus. The sequel also proved to be a major success for Marvel and Sony, leading to a third film in 2007.

Spider-Man 2 is widely renowned as one of the best superhero movies ever made, elevating the stakes of the original without comprising its story or characters. Moreover, after 20 years, Spider-Man 2 still holds up whereas the original film feels somewhat dated. If a Spider-Man fan is to turn on one of Raimi's films, there's a high chance that it will be the second rather than either of the other two.

Spider-Man 2

Peter Parker is beset with troubles in his failing personal life as he battles a brilliant scientist named Doctor Otto Octavius.

8 Puss In Boots: The Last Wish Is A Masterpiece

Puss in Boots originally appeared in the Shrek franchise but received his spinoff franchise in 2011. The original movie was a by-the-numbers animated adventure that primarily appealed to children. Eleven years later, the long-awaited sequel, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish , finally reached audiences--and changed everything.

Sporting a dazzling new animation style, The Last Wish is leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessor. The movie deals with surprisingly adult themes, including the nature of death, and can be enjoyed by mature audiences just as easily as younger ones. The film was a fan-favorite installment of the Shrek franchise and even went on to be nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

When Puss in Boots discovers that his passion for adventure has taken its toll and he has burned through eight of his nine lives, he launches an epic journey to restore them by finding the mythical Last Wish.

7 Captain America: The Winter Soldier Is A More Action-Packed SpyThriller

5 Most Likely Captain America: Brave New World Plot Theories, Explained

With Captain America: Brave New World on the way, here are some of the main plot theories for Sam Wilson's big screen starring turn as Captain America

Captain America first joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in his own solo film, Captain America: The First Avenger . The movie took place in World War II as Captain America fought alongside the Union armies against the forces of Hydra. The First Avenger was the first installment in a trilogy of films following Chris Evans' Steve Rogers, which continued in 2014's The Winter Soldier.

While The First Avenger is a modest period piece that is perhaps underrated by MCU fans, The Winter Soldier is rightfully placed on a pedestal as one of the best entries in the Infinity Saga. The movie not only elevates the stakes with its epic action-thriller story but also delves deeper into the character of Steve Rogers, exploring his adjustment to the modern world.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

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As Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the modern world, he teams up with a fellow Avenger and S.H.I.E.L.D agent, Black Widow, to battle a new threat from history: an assassin known as the Winter Soldier.

6 Aliens Is Faster-Paced Than The Original Movie

Alien is one of the best horror movies of all time, crafting a suspenseful and claustrophobic narrative as a xenomorph hunt down the crew members of the spacecraft Nostromo . The film kickstarted a massive franchise, beginning with the 1986 sequel Aliens by director James Cameron. Sigourney Weaver returns as Ellen Ripley in Aliens , which follows her character as she teams up with Colonial Marines to fight even more xenomorphs than last time.

While both films are held in high esteem, especially above their two lackluster sequels, Aliens is a much easier film to rewatch than Alien . The sequel is much more action-packed, whereas its predecessor builds tension over a long period before finally getting into the fun part of its story. There is a place for both kinds of movies in the world of cinema, but Aliens is certainly a much more entertaining film to revisit.

Decades after surviving the Nostromo incident, Ellen Ripley is sent out to re-establish contact with a terraforming colony but finds herself battling the Alien Queen and her offspring.

5 Terminator 2: Judgment Day Improves On The Original

Terminator Zero's Biggest Mysteries Left Unanswered

Season 1 of Terminator Zero is a time-traveling mind-trip that leaves quite a few mysteries hanging as Malcolm Lee and others try to stop Skynet.

James Cameron catapulted into the sci-fi scene with 1984's The Terminator , which dealt with a dystopian future that one young time traveler seeks to prevent. Pursued by a relentless killing machine, he teams up with the future mother of the leader of the resistance. Hailed as an immediate classic, no one thought that The Terminator could be topped until Cameron returned with T erminator 2: Judgment Day .

Judgment Day perfectly raises the stakes after the original movie, introducing the T-1000, a new model of Terminator that proves even deadlier than the first. Fans enjoyed the flipped dynamic of the film, as the original Terminator now works to protect John Conner from the T-1000. A true standout in this epic sci-fi action flick is the effects, which are remarkable given that the movie came out over thirty years ago.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

A cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten year old son John from an even more advanced and powerful cyborg.

4 The Empire Strikes Back Made Star Wars A True Franchise

Star Wars is a landmark film in cinematic history, practically inventing the modern blockbuster. Fans everywhere loved the unique sci-fi world that George Lucas created for the film and were doubly excited to see the 1980 sequel. The Empire Strikes Back was the second Star Wars movie and it immediately proved to be an even better film than the original.

The Empire Strikes Back has more action, more dynamic characters, and better twists than the original, which was already a top-tier movie upon its release. Both films are endlessly rewatchable, but Star Wars fans find themselves drawn to the sequel more than the original. It was The Empire Strikes Back that turned Star Wars into a bona fide franchise.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

After the Rebels are overpowered by the Empire, Luke Skywalker begins his Jedi training with Yoda, while his friends are pursued across the galaxy by Darth Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett.

3 Blade Runner 2049 Is More Palatable Than The Original

Ridley Scott's Blade Runner is considered to be one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time but struggled to find its audience upon its release in 1982. The film however became a cult classic and eventually got a sequel in 2017, with Denis Villeneuve directing Blade Runner 2049 . The film also failed to produce adequate numbers at the box office but was generally regarded as a worthy successor to the original film.

Blade Runner 2049 may not have been a financial success, but it is in many ways a more palatable film than the original. Ridley Scott's Blade Runner is long and at times exhausting, spending too much time in the deep contemplative mind of Rick Deckard. Moreover, the endless debate among fans about which of the seven different versions of the film is best makes trying to watch Blade Runner nearly impossible. Blade Runner 2049 cuts away all the fluff and makes a much easier film to watch over and over again.

Blade Runner 2049

Young Blade Runner K's discovery of a long-buried secret leads him to track down former Blade Runner Rick Deckard, who's been missing for thirty years.

2 Return Of The King Perfectly Ends The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy

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Peter Jackson's interpretation of the Elves in the Lord of the Rings differs greatly from other media. Here's how LOTR's Elves are unique.

Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy is a standout among big Hollywood blockbuster franchises. Shot back-to-back, the three films make for one of the best book-to-screen adaptations of all time. The story begins with The Fellowship of the Ring , which plays directly into The Two Towers . Things finally come to an end with the third film, The Return of the King .

While the first two films are also beloved, The Return of the King has a special place in the franchise. The sequel finishes the trilogy perfectly, delivering on its every promise and raising the stakes, as any good finale should. The movie was so well-received that it won multiple Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Moreover, fans love to rewatch this particular installment to revisit its epic action scenes, from the Battle of Pelennor Fields to the Battle of the Black Gate.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.

1 Logan Is The Best Installment Of The X-Men Franchise

The X-Men franchise was a massive cinematic universe built around numerous popular characters from Marvel Comics. With the popularity of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, Fox decided to give his character a franchise of his own. The trilogy got off to an infamously bad start with X-Men Origins: Wolverine , which is considered to be one of the worst installments of the superhero franchise. Nevertheless, the trilogy continued, finally concluding in 2017's Logan .

Logan is a brilliant character piece focusing on the last days of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. The film serves as the perfect swan song for the character, finally letting him rest after centuries of difficulty and strife. The movie excels above its predecessors and, though it is often heavy, is much easier to watch than the truly inane antics of Origins .

In a future where mutants are nearly extinct, an elderly and weary Logan leads a quiet life. But when Laura, a mutant child pursued by scientists, comes to him for help, he must get her to safety.