Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Director Joel Crawford may have just broken the internet with the latest installment of DreamWork’s favorite cat, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

Joel Crawford is no amateur in the animation industry as he’s directed movies such as “Trolls Holiday” and “The Croods”, however, it’s without a doubt that Puss in Boots: The Last Wish may just be his best project yet.

Puss in Boots discovers that his passion for adventure has taken its toll: he has burnt through eight of his nine lives. To save his soul and become everyone’s favorite fearless hero, Puss sets out on an epic journey to find the mythical Last Wish and restore his nine lives.

Now I know the name Puss in Boots may not carry enough weight behind it without Shrek but that’s why I’m here to encourage anyone with or without kids to go out and watch this movie as it has a little of something for everyone and here’s why.

Firstly, this movie deserves an award for using an array of animation art styles that makes it easy on the eyes of just about anyone.

There’s a feel of Japanese animation during combat moments, a warm nostalgia for The Bad Guys, and the realism of Spider-Verse. So there’s a certain authenticity to the characters yet still feel like cartoons at the same time.

I also love that the movie doesn’t center itself on Puss alone, but there are a lot more fairytale characters that appear in the film such as the likes of Jack Horner, Goldilocks, and the Bears.

Jack Horner appears as a villain that everyone should look out for and for good reason as he’s emotionally unavailable even to his staff, ambitious, resourceful, and tenacious.

But what truly brings this movie into the light is the character known as the Big Bad Wolf voiced by Wagner Moura.

This character even though he appears only a handful amount of times on screen, the undeniable feeling of despair that he brings along with him is unsettling.

From the iconic whistle, you hear moments before he appears to his deep red eyes, and the fact that this character instills such terrifying fear into Puss that the cat chose to go down the toilet sewage just to escape him tells you everything you need to know.

As for Puss himself, the message of this film is pretty straightforward and unpretentious to understand but let’s not forget that we comprehend things differently so I’ll say it as plainly as possible.

As Puss is a cat, known to have nine lives. He never once appreciated or even valued any of his lives because why would he, he has nine of them right?

So Death a.k.a Big Big Wolf is here to take what he feels is inevitably his as the owner doesn’t seem to value it anyway.

It is through this journey along with his friends Kitty Softpaws, and Perro and confronting his former self that Puss begins to value the last life that he has left, and rather than putting it in constant unnecessary danger trying to impress people, Puss learns that every life should be valued and fought for.

Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, and Harvey Guillen are truly the heart of this incredible film, they bring life into it, they bring laughter where it’s needed, and the risks that come with putting your trust into someone but we all know who owns the night.

So many things one can learn from watching this movie though I honestly believe that most of it will go over the children’s heads, still doesn’t take away from the fact that Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is an animated triumph.

I haven’t enjoyed an animated movie like this since Disney’s Encanto back in 2021.

For this, I give Puss in Boots: The Last Wish a 4 out of 5 ratings.

Let me know in the comments below whether you agree or disagree with my review and let’s get the conversation started.

And thank you for reading another from, LSR.