Puss In Boots: A Tale Of Nine Lives

Puss in Boots, first appearing in Shrek 2, is now a crowd-favorite character with his own series of films.

Intro

Puss in Boots, first appearing in Shrek 2, is now a well-known character to many having his films about a decade ago (Puss in Boots & Puss in Boots: The Three Diablos). After ten years, we see the character return in quite a jovial movie. Geared towards younger audiences, this film takes us on yet another adventure from one of the most well-known cats on the big screens. Puss in Boots is a character often tied in with the stories of other famous characters, including Shrek, as mentioned before, Jack Horner, and Goldilocks. This trend continues in this film, giving the audience a mixture of all these roles with their storylines surrounding Puss in the lead role.

Cast

Though not star-filled, the cast is worth mentioning because of the great value of the voiceovers. The iconic aspect of Puss's character is how beautifully Antonio Banderas voices him with an exotic accent. The same goes for Salma Hayek, who voices Puss' partner in crime, Kitty Softpaws. Seeing Goldilocks in a grown state contrary to the child, we may remember her character as an excellent addition to the film as it added a new perspective on her rather innocent nature. Similarly, the character voiced by Harvey Guillen added a mellowed-down, naive tone to the film's entirety that was much needed. Finally, Wagner Moura, who voiced a wolf character in this film, is also worth noting. The way he expressed his character's lines added a dark and scary undertone to the movie that some may say is too much for what is meant to be a children's film. Overall, all these different tones come together for a well-rounded film regarding the characters.

Storyline

Now the actual story is where the film was lacking. As the name of the movie suggests, the plot revolves around all the characters chasing one common thing, “The Last Wish.” Getting to a specific location will grant one individual any wish their heart desires, and as one would assume, everyone is chasing that one wish. The story follows three groups, all fighting to get to that place, each with their reasons and goals. The film takes us to who will get the ultimate prize and comes to an end. Nothing crazy. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing a director could mess up. Now the ending is where it loses some hype amongst the audience with a very unsatisfying and cliche ending and another unnecessarily profound message that most of the younger audience wouldn’t even understand; nothing out of the ordinary for animated films these days.

Closing Critiques

Go and watch the film with your family and your children will enjoy their time. The film delivers to its target audience well, which is what matters. Most of the critiques that the older audience would have as they deem certain scenes and lines unnecessary during the movie, the younger ones would look past and not even realize. There are great moments of humor that would give the audience a decent laugh and an expected feeling of nostalgia. While the film isn’t a must-watch, it’s definitely not a waste of time.

Raving Rating: 6.5