I finally got a chance to see Puss in Boots: The Last Wish! I've been looking forward to this for ages. I love the character and I'm so happy to see him back. His debut in the Shrek movies was fantastic and his first spin-off was superb. When the new Avatar movie took up all the cinema screens I stayed at home and read about Puss in Boots. It's been doing very well in its own right and everyone's been praising its action scenes and in particular one showing a panic attack.
It was a lovely spring day and I met up with a friend. We went to McDonald's for breakfast but it was closed for some reason, so we went to another branch that wasn't too far away. After that we did some shopping. I picked up a lot of snacks I'll talk about soon and also got some curry Samyang noodles, a flavour I haven't seen in months. Glad I got some.
We went to CEX and found they were shrinking their DVD section by a lot. I hear they're phasing them out sadly.
When we went in to see the new Puss in Boots, there were quite a few people in there already, but still plenty of room for us to get good seats. Among the trailers was one for the new Mario movie and I can't wait for it!
This movie is presented in a couple of styles, the regular CGI style we normally associate with DreamWorks movies and the Spider-Verse style where frame rate is lower and the frames themselves are like paintings. I have a desperate lack of better terminology. Stop motion? The latter style is used for the movie's spectacular and satisfying action scenes. I love the way Puss cartwheels through the air and that fight with that earth giant thing in the opening reminds me of fight scenes from the anime FLCL.
Puss has lost eight of his nine lives and this brush with permanent death drives him to retire to a cat lady's home. He now wants to live a life of solitude from enemies and he grows a beard. He gets wind of a "falling star" treasure that grants wishes, so he sets off on a journey involving other characters who are after the same thing.
The panic attack scene really got people talking online and it got high praise for being one of the most authentic in movie history. Puss's heart races and his therapy dog friend Perrito places his chin on him, which helps him calm down. It's a wonderful moment in the cinema, but seeing the clip on social media with headphones, it was jaw-dropping. The sound of Puss' heart racing, his friend's muffled voice calling out to him, his heart then calming, then Antonio Banderas' deep voice thanking his friend gratefully. What a moment. Have a look for it.
The Shrek tradition of witty takes on traditional characters continues. My favourite here is Goldilocks and the Three Bears, who are portrayed as a family gang pulling off criminal capers. They're voiced by Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone and Samson Kayo and they have tough English gangster accents. I laughed in delight when they were introduced. There's Little Jack Horner, portrayed as Big Jack Horner, who has world domination plans. He's voiced by John Mulaney.
The Wolf character is like the Grim Reaper and he is designed extremely well. He's got these big red eyes and carries these threatening sickles around with him. He makes Puss' hairs go grey and stand on end. He whistles like Charles Bronson's harmonica tooting character in Once Upon a Time in the West. He's really cool.
We see returning characters like love interest Kitty Softpaws. One of my big questions was if we were going to see the Ohhh Cat again and we do! He's there for one brief scene doing his thing but it was nice to see him!
Puss and Kitty both do the cute eyes thing. No one in the cinema went "AWWW!" like they used to in previous movies. Maybe it's because we're used to these characters now? Or maybe it's because everyone has access to cute kitty compilation content now. Who knows.
The movie's plot plays out breezily and in such an agreeable way it can feel like a lovely afternoon pastime rather than something unforgettable, though there are some wonderful and spectacular things that are too cool to just forget. For example I can't remember the lyrics to the "favourite hero" song but I won't forget the fight scenes or the wolf character. I suspect this movie will be used by parents as a babysitter to kids but there are cool things they should hang on for a moment to enjoy too.
I hung around until after the credits and there was no scene, but there was a brief repeat audio of Puss saying the line "You're still here?" like he was Ferris Bueller and that was it. I take it for granted now, but Antonio Banderas as dashing Zorro-like Puss in Boots is a wonderful thing.
Afterwards we went looking at books, grabbed a burger, grabbed a bit of pizza and headed for home, humming the tune I still can't remember the lyrics to. I still had a bit of popcorn left but I eventually finished it that evening. The weather stayed nice.
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