PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH

As someone who has only watched the first Shrek movie out of the franchise I’m not in a good position to comment on this Puss In Boots sequel, but here goes anyway. 

I understand that part of the reason for the long gap between the original Puss In Boots film and this one was that the producers wanted to wait until they had a good enough story.

That’s a novel approach to sequels which I doubt will catch on.

Was the story worth the wait? 

The key idea is to have Puss face up to his mortality, having used up eight of his nine lives.  As in ‘The Seventh Seal’ he is literally stalked by Death throughout the film.   This means we get a more subdued and humble Puss, thankfully, since I think I would find a whole film of him doing his 'Look At Me I’m A Legend' shtick rather wearisome, no matter how endearing is Anthony Banderas’ voice work.  

Puss has to face up to his shortcomings, especially since Kitty is very happy to throw them in his face at every opportunity.  The arc through which their relationship goes is easily the highlight of this story.

I also enjoyed Jack Horner as the primary villain and I thought the idea of him collecting magic objects he could then use as weapons was a cool one even if it isn’t exploited as cleverly as it might have been.

On the other hand, despite the combined voice talents of Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman and Ray Winstone, I didn’t much go for the subplot involving Goldilocks and The Three Bears.

It’s also a problem that the main story is essentially not a very interesting one about a quest.

The thing I enjoyed most in this film was its look.  Instead of hyperrealism the animators have gone for a more painterly style in some places (as befits a fairy-tale), or a more anime style in others, notably the climactic duel between Puss and Death.