Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2024)

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” may have some stiff competition at this year’s Academy Awards deservedly so.

DreamWorks Animation’s “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” is undoubtedly one of the biggest surprises of 2022. Directed by Joel Crawford, “The Last Wish” is a follow-up to 2011’s “Puss in Boots,” which starred the sword-wielding cat from the “Shrek” franchise. Technically stunning with an astonishing story, the film gets it done with a ferociously creative presentation, a menacing villain and buckets of passion.

Through stellar computer animation and incredible action sequences, “The Last Wish” dazzles audiences and sets a high bar for animation. The film uses an inconsistent frame rate that allows for some of the most inventive sequences ever put to screen. Vibrant colors, wacky movement and remarkable character designs bring this awe-inspiring adventure to life. Essentially, the talent is pouring out from every angle of the crew. It takes direct inspiration from both “The Lego Movie” and “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” but still manages to be unique enough to be memorable on its own terms.

What is not most impressive about “The Last Wish” is its artfully creative visual appeal it’s how ambitious its story is. Puss has run through eight of his nine lives, leading him on a search for the legendary Wishing Star that has the ability to grant all his lives back.

Puss is confronted with mortality. He has always been an egotistical adventurer who does not care or value life at all; this quite literally causes death — in the form of a scary wolf (Wagner Moura), who is definitely one of DreamWorks’ greatest antagonists up until now to chase him down while he’s looking for the Wishing Star, but even then Puss says, “Puss in Boots laughs in the face of death.”

The film does not shy away from negating tropes found in classic fairy tales, something that has become customary for DreamWorks. Aside from Puss, the movie also brings back Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), who was a former rival and love interest of his in the first film; their relationship was relatively half-baked in the original. Kitty wants to use the Wishing Star to find a partner she can trust her life with a wish that puts her and Puss at odds. A new addition to the team is Perrito (Harvey Guillén), a dog who has been terribly abused in the past yet is always incredibly optimistic.

Parody is present in the movie through its comedic yet heartfelt adaptation of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” But in here, Goldilocks (Florence Pugh) runs a criminal organization with her adopted family Mama Bear (Olivia Colman), Papa Bear (Ray Winstone) and Baby Bear (Samson Kayo). And among all the weird parts of “The Last Wish,” none are more bizarre than this unconventional family setup. This movie has always made me laugh even though it’s also warm.

There are other villains that stand between Puss: Big Jack Horner (John Mulaney) is one of them. It is based on a little known English nursery rhyme about a boy who stuck his thumb into pie. Horner also wants the Wishing Star . He’s an over-the-top evil villain who refuses to be defined by his childishness; he’ll stop at nothing until he gets what he wants which is every magical power in the universe . He does anything possible to prevent puss from achieving this, along with his henchmen called Baker Dozen.

Fear lies at the heart of ‘The Last Wish’ fear for death in Puss’ case, fear for emotional openness in Kitty’s character, and fear of losing her bear clan for Goldilocks. Never before has there been such an emotionally charged exploration into those themes done with such care as they were here; it became infectious throughout watching it. What happens next is that while going through life after life during his journey, Nine Lives discovers value within each one but only after abandoning egoism since this serves as most touching part about him.

If you think “The Last Wish” was impressive enough already wait until you see everything else about it! Disney Pixar’s “Lightyear” was another animated spinoff film that came out recently but when compared side-by-side with movies like these two there really is no contest. The Last Wish not only provides audiences with stunning visuals but also tells an unexpectedly touching story which revolves around certain themes . It’s hard sometimes for me to believe that children’s films produced by studios on high budgets can still be so passionate about what they do.

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