Puss in Boots: The Last Wish – Review
100 Minutes, Rated PG
Written by Tommy Swerdlow, Tom Wheeler, and Paul Fisher
Directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado
**NOTE: this post may be updated with audio if we actually have the chance to talk about it. Until then, you can read Mark’s review below. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
Synopsis:
Puss in Boots discovers that his passion for adventure has taken its toll: he has burned through eight of his nine lives. Puss sets out on an epic journey to find the mythical Last Wish and restore his nine lives.
I’ll be honest: I was not looking forward to this one at all. It felt like just another attempt by Hollywood to grab at an existing IP and wring a little more money from it. Also, I’d never watched the first Puss in Boots film and had no connection to the character except from his introduction in whichever Shrek movie he debuted in.
Boy, I’ve never been so happy to be wrong.
Oh, I’m sure the thought at the studio was to simply wring some more money out of an animated project, but they somehow managed to do more than that.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is an excellent vehicle for anyone who feels as if they’ve reached the far side of the hill, when their best years are behind them, when the idea of a great adventure or legendary accomplishment is long past.
When life – and its end – begins to make itself felt.
Fear, regret, hope… mortality: all wrapped up in an adorable, animated cat designed to make kids (and their parents) laugh, while simultaneously presenting some deep thoughts, beyond even Puss’ last-life crisis anxieties.
The addition of Salma Hayek as Puss’ one-time partner/Partner (if you know what I’m saying?) is terrific, and Harvey Guillen’s misfit Perro is the perfect foil for Puss’ negativity and doubt, and Guillen crafts a sidekick as memorably frustrating as Eddie Murphy’s Donkey was to Shrek.
And I’m the last person who would have cast Florence Pugh as Goldilocks (with the great Ray Winstone and Olivia Colman as Papa and Mama Bear!), but damned if it doesn’t all work.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a surprisingly good time, filled with typically over-the-top voice work from Banderas and filled to brim with great characters, and fun for the whole family.
It’s all you could wish for from an animated feature.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish releases in theaters December 21 and features the voices of Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Harvey Guillen, Florence Pugh, John Mulaney, Ray Winstone, Samson Kayo, Olivia Colman, and Wagner Moura.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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