Hear Hear, Kitty Kitty
It’s third time lucky for DreamWorks animator and ‘The Croods: A New Age’ director Joel Crawford.
PUss In Boots: The Last Wish
Directors: Joel Crawford, Januel Mercado • Writers: Paul Fisher, Tommy Swerdlow
Starring [English]: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek Pinault, Harvey Guillén, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, Wagner Moura
USA • 1hr 42mins
Opens Hong Kong December 22 • I
Grade: B+
It would seem that everybody and their damn dog has a “universe” to themselves now. Marvel started it, but Warner tried to create a little credit roll with its DCEU content. Universal was in on the game until The Mummy tanked. And lo and behold, before DreamWorks Animation’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish gets started we’re treated to a Marvel-esque tour through DreamWorks’ IP: the Trolls, the Bad Guys, Po the Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon’s Toothless, the damned Boss Baby and, of course, Shrek are among the “stars” that scroll past. Enough.
Anyway, once you get past the partially creepy, partially irritating opening logo roll, it turns out Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a stealth winner. Yup, that’s right. Long after the Shrek franchise – which Puss in Boots was spun off from – wore out its welcome, and 11 years after that first standalone film the rakish Spanish ginger with a heart of gold returns, and for once it’s a welcome return. Admittedly a lot of that has to do with Antonio Banderas’s silky performance, ironically raspier the older Banderas gets and all the better for it. Once again leaning into its fairy tale narrative, The Last Wish is legit witty, and weirdest of all it’s a remarkably heavy meditation on mortality, legacy and living life in the moment to the fullest. This movie is for eight-year-olds. Okay. Sure.
Just let Banderas say Puuuuus in Boooooots
In the years following the events of Shrek Forever After, Puss has gone on to great adventures and had songs written about his exploits. However one day, he slays a giant, a bell falls on him and he winds up dead. At the afterlife veterinary office, he’s told that it may indeed be time to retire, as that was his eighth life and next time there’s no coming back. A great deal of the remainder of The Last Wish deals with Puss literally running from Death, or the Big Bad Wolf (holy shit, Narcos’ Pablo Escobar himself, the great Wagner Moura) and trying to dodge his fate. At first he accepts reality, and buries his glorious feathered hat and defining boots, and moves into a shelter with Mama Luna (Only Murders in the Building’s Da'Vine Joy Randolph), a crazy cat lady (I feel seen) and tries to live like a normal pet. The whole litter and kibble thing? Just. No. And it’s hilarious. While there he meets Perrito (Harvey Guillén, every bit as charming as he is on What We Do in the Shadows), whose biggest goal in life is to be a therapy dog. Yeah, he’s a mangy chihuahua disguised as a cat. Before you can say “boooooots” Goldilocks (Florence Pugh) and the Three Bears (Ray Winstone, Olivia Colman and Samson Kayo) and a grown up and bitter “Big” Jack Horner (John Mulaney) are after Puss in the belief he knows the whereabouts of a fabled wishing star, which each wants as a way to make their life better – Puss wants to restore his nine lives. Also after the map? Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek Pinault), Puss’s old flame. There’s a story there.
No normal Goldi
Team Friendship
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish has the misfortune of sharing the release calendar with the juggernaut that will be Avatar: The Way of Water, but it’s a brilliant piece of counter-programming and one of the year’s better animated family offerings. The Last Wish’s art is stellar; vividly coloured, sharply rendered and a lush mix of 3D and traditional 2D cel work (or CGI made to look like it) that shifts to match the character. The Big Bad Wolf is always lo-res feeling, with uncomplicated geometric lines. The Three Bears have a tactile quality to their lumbering, furry bodies that make Goldi’s perch on top of Baby Bear look comfortable. And warm. So warm.
Alert the media: When the film slows down and lets the actors sit with the characters and explore their sometimes heartbreaking lives, and linger in its melancholy tone it’s much more engaging than when its action frantically spills across the screen like it needs a Ritalin. If The Last Wish is the last we see of Puss in Boots (a third film isn’t out of the question given Puss, Kitty and Perrito’s imminent arrival in Far Far Away), this instalment would be a graceful, almost wistful capper. Guillén’s guileless turn as Perrito is gutting (if you’re old enough to listen), but his eternal optimism and faith in our better angels is in stark contrast to the world at large, and really gives The Last Wish an emotional backbone, with great support from Colman as the under-appreciated but supportive Mama Bear. But it’s not a tearjerker. It’s a romp, one that reminds us how charismatic Banderas is – and how funny he can be. Everyone learns to appreciate what’s right in front of them. It’s a fairy tale so yes. It’s happily ever after. — DEK