Puss in Boots: The Last Wish [2023]

Hola amigos! It’s the sequel you never expected! And possibly didn’t ask for! But it didn’t take quite as long as Senor Cameron did with his.

Just over eleven years since Puss in Boots from the Shrek films got his own solo movie, we suddenly get a sequel to it. You probably could get into this easily if you hadn’t seen any of the Shrek films. Or the 2011 Puss in Boots movie. I think it’s better to have seen them first though, as you will get a little more out of this if you have.

Here, Puss starts by living how he always does. Being the Puss in Boots of legend. The famous, fearless hero. And loving every minute of it. Then he suddenly finds he only has one of his nine lives left.

He has to face up to his own mortality. He puts the legend away. But then he learns about the wishing star. A fallen star which can grant wishes. It’s a way to get his nine lives back, and be the hero once again! Only trouble others are after it. So the quest won’t be easy. What nobody has initially realised is to be careful for what you wish for…

When I first heard this was coming out, I thought, do we need this? The first Puss in Boots was fine. But it had been a long time, and I hadn’t been demanding a sequel. Shrek had run his life by then as well. Then this started getting good reviews. So I watched it.

I cannot begin to describe how good this film is. It is knocking at my top ten of all time list demanding to be let in. Everything this film does works perfectly.

First up, the script was clearly sorted first. You do see films like that occasionally where you get such a feeling. This has a solid story. Excellent character development and characterisation. It’s central theme happens organically as it goes along and is never overstated. It works. It knows how to tell a story. Which, since he knows how fairytales and stories work, is great.

Then there’s the characters. In addition to doing amazing work with Puss, the cast of supporting ones is superb. Every character is fully rounded. And gets their own storylines with a beginning a middle and an end. We also get a really great villain. A character who is out and out bad. Who know they’re that way. And goes with it. That’s the way to write a great villain. They do have motivation, so they are three dimensional. But bad with it anyway. It’s great.

There’s the music. A superb score with some amazing music. The opening musical number ‘who is your favourite fearless hero?’ is incredibly good, a wonderful tune with catchy lyrics that will stay on your mind.

There’s Perrito. Stand out of the supporting cast. The best character of his kind in any film ever. He will melt your heart.

The voice cast are amazing. Antonio Banderas knows how to play this role, and he sings and emotes and makes you laugh and emotional. Ray Winstone was born to voice Papa Bear of the three bears. It’s an amazing voice performance. As it is with the actor who does Perrito also.

The animation is stunning. Looking like story books at times. Going into interestingly different styles for action scenes, which really makes those work.

Everything about this film just works. Amazingly well.

It is perhaps a tiny bit too scary for the very young. I would say under eight. Because it does deal with death and mortality. In the shape – literally – of one rather scary character. That is why it’s a pg certificate. Just be aware of that, parents.

That’s the only note of caution. Because all the rest of this is utterly perfect. An amazing viewing experience and you’ll never forget it. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

You can stay watching to the very end of the credits. If you want…

The dvd has the following language and subtitle options:

Languages: . English. German. Italian. English audio description.
Subtitles: English. German. Italian.

There’s also an amazing amount of dvd extras. Which is a nice change seeing how rare those can be nowadays:

The Trident. A six min long short film which does fit into the film. It’s great.

Deleted scenes. Three. Can be watched all in a row or individually. The former takes eight mins. Some are not finished in the animation. All are good. With some very good character stuff.

Cast of characters. A quick look at all the main ones. Also watch individually or in a row. The latter takes thirteen mins. Animation with input from the voice actors. All are good and interesting with insight.

In the beginning. Seven mins with the production staff talking about the origin of the story. It’s an interesting look at what they tried to do and the creative process.

Jack Horner’s line o rama. Two mins of shots of the character with shots of the actor who voiced him saying them. This is fun to watch when you see how much he puts into it.

Fearless hero lyrics vid. A three min music vid of the aforementioned song. With all new animation. And lyrics on the screen so you can karaoke. You will want to. It’s so good.

How to draw the purrfect portrait. Drawing class on drawing three of the characters. Four mins for each. Can watch all in a row. Very interesting if you’re into art. Even more if you’re into cats. There’s cats up to cat things in the background. Soooo cute!

How to make a paper Perrito: Six mins of Puss and someone else showing you how to make a paper version of him. Well done and interesting. And more cats! Parental supervision required on the making of though.

Kitty cam. Eleven whole mins of the aforementioned cats doing cat things. Awwwwwwwwww!

And a feature commentary from a lot of the production staff.

Superb film and the extras it deserves. An awesome dvd.

A lovely story and great for everyone to watch. It will take its place amongst my many cartoon type films. Glad I bought it.

Puss In Boots, the legendary hero cat, finds himself down to his last life and goes on a quest to find a magic wishing star to get his lives back. Belated sequel to Puss In Boots and spin off of the Shrek movies. Much better than you’d expect or had any right to be, this is a fun action adventure spoof of classic fairy tales with a lot of charm. Well animated and with excellent voice over performances from Antonio Banderas returning as Puss In Boots, Salma Hayek, Florence Pugh, Ray Winstone and Olivia Colman. For me it’s the best in the Shrek franchise since Shrek 2.