A new style of animation on the big screen is emerging with “Puss In Boots: The Last Wish” following suit in DreamWorks’ attempt at mixing 2D and 3D animation. “The Bad Guys” was the previous movie DreamWorks released that used animated speed lines and expressions. We see the anime influence much more prominently with the plot and action sequences with “Puss In Boots: The Last Wish.” A more direct comparison would be “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” as the first director for “Puss In Boots: The Last Wish” was Bob Persichetti, later replaced by Joel Crawford (“The Croods: A New Age”) in 2021. Unlike the sequel or even anything else from the Shrek franchise, the impressionist style and colors pop. 

You may have to watch the first movie for one character specifically. Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek, “Eternals”) is a femme fatale partner of Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas, “The Mask of Zorro”). They have a romantic relationship that is not completely explained in the second movie but has been on-and-off for a while. There are some flashback sequences in the first movie for both characters. Other than that, passing knowledge of the Shrek franchise is sufficient since it’s set before the movies.

The heroic outlaw Puss in Boots has finally reached his ninth life with no more spares. He first brushes off this knowledge but quickly changes his mind with the appearance of a mysterious wolf bounty hunter (Wagner Moira, “Narcos”). The fear of death causes him to reluctantly retire and become a house cat for the local crazy cat lady, Mama Luna (Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Lost City”). He slowly accepts this new reality but the crime family, Goldilocks (Florence Pugh, “Black Widow”) and the Three Bears, come to find him. Another antagonist, “Big” Jack Horner (John Mulaney, “Spider-Ham”), an evil, maniacal pastry chef CEO, is out to find the map to the Wishing Star. Puss and Boots are accompanied by Kitty Softpaws and Perrito (Harvey Guillen, “What We Do in the Shadows”) a hapless, friendly dog companion. All three groups are fighting each other for the chance to find the Wishing Star.

This movie is one of the best, not just as a sequel, but out of the whole Shrek franchise. The fairytale-inspired jokes are nice nods and references but the characters definitely shine the most. While the plot is simple in premise the motivations for each group/character are nice foils for each other like with Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Puss in Boots’ group. The writing has a darker tone tackling subject matter related to mortality and Puss’ growth from fearing death. Shrek as a franchise, while still PG-13, is juvenile so seeing blood drawn from Puss was quite a shock. 

The Shrek series is not afraid of adult subject matter, specifically killing people. We see this a lot in this movie with Jack Horner. He is indisputably one of the best villains in the franchise and unlike the other characters is simply an awful, terrible person. Jack Horner only wishes to have all the magic in the world despite having a privileged upbringing. His cartoonish figure in contrast to his nonchalant attitude towards the accidental murder of his minions was also hilarious and a joy to see when compared to the hero’s way of solving problems. 

While it is still available in theaters, it has been released digitally overall grossing over $400 million worldwide since December. The “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” team has worked out a deal with Universal Studios. It will be released on streaming for Peacock for four months and will eventually be released on Netflix. 

Image from Universal Pictures via YouTube