Review of 'Puss in Boots: The Last Wish'

Puss in Boots (voiced by Antonio Banderas) is now down to the last of his nine lives. When attacked by a black-hooded wolf (voiced by Wagner Moura) Puss is scared for the first time in his life so makes the decision to become a housecat of cat lady Mama Luna (voiced by Da'Vine Joy Randolph), burying his costume in the garden. There Puss is bored from his life of leisure. Reluctantly, he befriends “Perrito” (voiced by Harvey Guillén) a Chihuahua disguised as a cat when Goldilocks (voiced by Florence Pugh) and her Three Bears Crime Family - Mama Bear (voiced by Olivia Colman), Papa Bear (voiced by the amazing Ray Winstone) & baby bear (voiced by Samson Kayo) - invade the house looking for Puss who they hope will help them steal a map from the nasty crime boss “Big” Jack Horner (voiced by John Mulaney). The map shows the location of the “wishing star” which can grant a single wish. Unable to find Puss, the four leave but Puss decides to steal the map for himself, redressing himself and breaking into Horner's bakery where he is interrupted by resentful ex-fiance Kitty Softpaws (voiced by Salma Hayek Pinault). The two team up to find the star but the three bears and Horner are hot on their tail…

An amusing, and quite dry, Puss in Boots story that differs from his previous outings in the various Shrek films and his own by focusing much more on the character at his most vulnerable and provides some insights into his former life. It seems to lack some of the charm of the previous films and is often, dare I say it, a bit boring in parts. It seems to drag on forever with the bad guys left providing the viewer with any amount of amusement (though the brain-dead Chihuahua does also amuse). We are forced to re-live over and over again the angst that Puss feels towards the loss of his 8 lives and his lack of any idea what to do about it other than, perhaps, wishing for more lives from the wishing star. Kitty Softpaws is a nice new addition to the franchise and provides us with the action sorely missing here from Puss himself. Yes, some of the action pieces are quite cool to look at but they come far to late to save this film.

This film is disappointing in it's yawn-inducing continual focus on the inner turmoil of Puss, but mildly entertaining. Kids will probably mostly be bored with a middle section that stretches on forever leading to a somewhat predictable ending.

Rating: “A bit better than average”

Review Date: 2024-12-31

Directed by: Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado

Studio: DreamWorks Animation

Year: 2022

Length: 102 minutes

Genre: Animation

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3915174/