PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH – Review

Now, what would make this most “magical time of the year” more magical? How about a return visit from several of our favorite fairy tale friends? Oh, but hold up, this new release isn’t another animated romp with those two green lovebirds and their donkey BFF. But you’re close as its focus is another pal of theirs. It’s not his first solo outing, rather it’s a long-awaited (eleven years) follow-up. And talk about magic, it’s the big goal of him and all the other characters in PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH. En Garde, kitty-cat…

After a brief prologue telling us about the legendary “wishing star” we’re tossed into the midst of a raucous party thrown by everybody’s “favorite fearless hero”, Puss in Boots (voice of Antonio Banderas), And wouldn’t you know it, the owner of the “locale estate” makes an unexpected return. The ensuing “throw-down” with his security team awakens the sleeping nearby “mountain giant”. Naturally, only Puss can take it on, but the battle to save the village lands him in a doctor’s office. That doc (or is he a vet) informs Puss that he just died. Ah, but he’s gifted with nine lives and that was only…number eight. The “prescription” is to high-tail to the quiet confines of Mama Luna’s Cat Rescue Haven. Ah, but that’s not for Puss, so it’s off to the cantina for lots of “dairy shots” and an encounter with a sinister bounty hunter, the Big Bad Wolf (Wagner Moura). Puss barely escapes with his last life and heads to Mama Luna’s (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) where he’s “domesticated” and buries his swashbuckling attire. He also befriends a feisty pup posing as a cat, Perro (Harvey Guillen). It’s not long before adventure finds him as the place is invaded by the “crimin’ family” of Goldilocks (Florence Pugh) and the Three Bears (Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, and Samson Kayo), who think that Puss has the secret map to the aforementioned “wishing star’. After the quartet leaves (they don’t recognize the tamed Puss), he, along with Perro, tracks them to the lair of evil collector “Big” Jack Horner (John Mulaney), just as his “trackers” bring him that mystical map. But before Puss or Goldie’s team can swipe it, the map’s nabbed by Puss’s former “flame”, Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek). After an awkward reunion, Pussy, Kitty, and Perro dash away to the star’s location, the “Dark Forest”. Of course Goldie, the Bears, and Jack (with his “Bakers’ Dozen) are hot on their furry tails. Can the heroic trio reach the star before the others? And will Puss use its power to restore his eight lives?

After more than a decade away from the role, Banderas still charms us with his over-confident swagger, though it’s tinged with fear over the cat’s looming mortality. Oh, he belts out the opening tune nicely. Hayek goes toe (er…) paw to paw with him with her fierce determination and supreme ‘smarts”. Guillen is a sweet, endearing sidekick to the bickering exes. Mulaney’s a terrific pompous kingpin with no moral compass, always ignoring a tiny cricket creature who implores him to “do right”. Pugh, Colman, Winstone, and Kayo are a great mix of the classic fable tinged with a Guy Ritchie-still cockney hoodlum squad out for a “pinch”.

Luckily the film looks as great as it sounds thanks to the sprightly directing duo of Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado. They’ve smartly moved away from the “close to reality” designs of the SHREK series and gone for more caricatured humans, especially Horner, Mama Luna, and the Doc. Ditto for the new supporting critters with an expressive trio of bears and a really scary wolf who’s doubly deadly with a pair of sharp “mini-scythes”. The backgrounds are lush and the colors truly pop (particularly as Horner uses his “unicorn horn” arrows). Making the story seem to burst out of the screen is the filmmakers’ approach to the big action set-pieces, as the characters become jagged-edged projectiles and their settings give way to a deluge of speed lines and flares of color bursts, perhaps inspired by anime and the “Spider-Verse”. The tiniest of tots make get spooked by the bounty wolf, but they’ll giggle at the antics of the new “PIB Team player” (he dubs them “Team Friendship”), Perro. Though he’s down to his final one, there’s still lots of life, and laughs, left in PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH. Go, go gato!

3 Out of 4

PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH opens in theatres everywhere on Wednesday, December 21, 2022