Random Movie Review - Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

 

Well, it's awards season and some films that have been nominated, are finally hitting UK shores. It's been a long time since we last visited the world of Shrek, and I'm glad that we're finally back and using the style of animation that has been popular since Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Now since the fourth film, the Shrek franchise has had a bit of continuity errors which also speaks true in this second film about that feline companion from film 2. However, I am going to let that slide and just enjoy it for what it is, because it's been nominated for Best Animated Film and nearly every award ceremonies going, which includes the Oscars. So by all accounts, it must be good. Let's take a look:

Unlike the first one, which is set before his debut in Shrek 2, this one is set sometime after Shrek Forever After (with a few cameos and references to those characters). We are in the town of Del Mar where Puss in Boots (reprised by Antonio Banderas who, as before, also does the Spanish dub) is hosting a party and the home of the governor (voiced by Bernardo De Paula). He accidentally awakens the nearby Sleeping Giant of Del Mar and manages to save the town from the chaos that the being brings, but loses one of his 9 lives in the process. The town's doctor (voiced by Anthony Mendez), explains to Puss that he needs to retire before too long as he is now on his last life. As Puss begins to do so following an encounter with a Wolf figure (voiced by Wagner Moura) while also befriending a dog disguised as a cat (voiced by Harvey Guillén), he soon learns about a wishing star and sets about getting that wish for nine lives granted. Unaware that he has competition from a nursery rhyme villain who likes pies and magic, an unusual crime family that includes bears (which after rewatching Shrek recently, I swear is a ret-con of some kind) and his ex-fiancee while the Wolf is also hot on his tail too.

This is a darn good film. The animation is fantastic and works really well, all the jokes are funny, and the characters are really well fleshed out. I especially like the dog who actually does what a therapy dog should do when someone is in a panic attack mode. Also, the actual main villain is hilarious and I love the design of the wolf. So yeah, for the first time in a long time, another film that gets a perfect 10/10!