When I go to the movie theater, I expect to catch up on sleep, not necessarily watch and enjoy a movie. That was precisely what my friend and I intended to do when we walked into the cinema to see “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.”
Nevertheless, as soon as the lights dimmed and the previews came to an end, the film captivated us for the entirety of its 100 minutes. The storyline had depth and could appeal to an older audience. It encompassed everything: love, tragedy, crime, and striking emotion.
Puss in Boots, who was voiced by Antonio Banderas, teamed up with another outlaw, voiced by Salma Hayek Pinault, named Kitty Softpaws. They formed an iconic crime cat duo to find the falling star, which highlighted a romance component between the pair. The minor flirtatious remarks were charming and intertwined beautifully with the felonious manner of the film.
The villain, Death, with his eerie whistling and flaming-red eyes, brought a realistic element of fear that made me feel like a blood-curdling, murderous, evil wolf was chasing me. For a PG-13 movie, they nailed the aspect of horror that some downright horror movies, catered to mature audiences, cannot compete with. One scene featured Puss in Boots strolling through a dark and ominous forest when I suddenly heard horrifying whistles echo through the thicket. Then, Death swiftly popped up on the screen, his razor-sharp, silver blade in hand.
The excellent script and stunning cinematography thoroughly amazed me. Film Director Joel Crawford did a fantastic job instructing Dreamworks to modernize the animation to fit current standards without destroying the movie’s authenticity. Dreamworks Animations elevated their graphics game by seamlessly mixing something that resembled watercolor paints with classic 3D animation, upgrading it from the weaker CGI used in the previous “Puss in Boots.”
“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” kept me engaged with its contemporary humor; each character had a visible personality accompanied by a detailed backstory. From the first scene, I observed how the movie presented the bantering between characters in a novel manner. For instance, a child laid down and asked Puss in Boots to step on his face.
And then, the boy gleefully exclaimed how he would never wash his face again. This witty exchange is similar to what one can encounter on social media today. Additionally, the dog Perrito, a seemingly standard comic relief character, had a tragic upbringing that was slowly revealed throughout the film. Perrito’s siblings despised him and often locked him in closets, so he pretended to be a silly cat in order to escape his grim past and moved into Mama Luna’s Cat Rescue.
I noticed that Dreamworks was deliberately careful with the movie production and did not just regurgitate the first film with a slightly different plot, which definitely factored into The Last Wish receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Film. “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” was a movie I actually put down my phone for, and I loved every second of it.
