Film Review - Puss In Boots:The Last Wish (2022)

He was the breakout star from the Shrek franchise. Puss In Boots, the fast talking Spanish cavalier with the huge hat, an ego to match and amazing sword skills. And, of course, those enormous eyes that he could turn on at will. But it’s 12 years since his first solo outing, so is he still our “favourite fearless hero”?

We’re not far into Puss In Boots:The Last Wish when we know for sure that the answer is a big, flamboyant yes! The arrogance, the flashiness and the mischievous fun have all been preserved for a sequel which found its way onto the Oscar nominations list last week. Puss In Boots (the voice of Antonio Banderas) still lives in a world full of fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters but, after one fight too many, discovers he’s been too reckless with his nine lives and has just one left. He has to retire, albeit reluctantly, but the old spirit returns when he discovers a way of re-claiming at least some of those valuable lives. Standing in his way are a bounty hunter, Goldilocks (voiced by Florence Pugh) with her usual companions and Kitty Softpaws (the voice of Salma Hayek), with whom he has some unfinished business.

If you had a fiver for every time our fearless hero declares “I am Puss In Boots!” during the first half of the film, you could retire – or at least have a decent holiday. You lose count after a while, but no matter. His arrogance is all part of his irresistible charm and his wicked sense of fun permeates throughout the film. It’s riddled with gags at the expense of another big animation company – no prizes for guessing who – and rejoices in so many jibes at Pinocchio that you can almost hear directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado and their writing team wishing that last year’s live action remake would be, dare we say, wooden. Puss also has an Ethical Bug (voiced by Kevin McCann) on his shoulder and who sounds remarkably like the late great James Stewart – presumably a sideways reference to Jiminy Cricket?

Most family animations bend over backwards to make sure both adults and children are equally entertained. But here it’s joyously effortless, because everybody is familiar with nursery rhymes and fairy stories and the gags aimed directly at the grown ups are few. The action comes thick and fast, as does the humour, and the latter stages of the film in particular are spectacularly colourful. But what really makes the film stand out is its animation. It’s abandoned the more realistic style of the Shrek movies and the first Puss In Boots in favour of something more stylized, more along the lines of Spider-Man. And, as a way of showing off Puss’s wild adventures, it’s the right move. Whether the film will walk away with the Best Animation Oscar in March is another matter – Guillermo del Toro’s version of Pinocchio is likely to get in the way – but it’s both hugely entertaining and beautifully made. Proper cinema, in fact. Based on this, we – and a certain fearless feline – deserve another wish!