Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a beautiful film. Starting with a sword fight set to flamenco-inspired music, the first scene draws you into an exciting journey through a fairytale landscape where peril may be lurking around every corner.
Against Big Jack Horner of Jack Horner Pie Co. and the crime family of Goldilocks and The Three bears, Puss in Boots joins up with his past love Kitty Softpaws and dog without a name (although referred to as ‘Purrito’ throughout the film) to be the first to a magical wishing star and have his wish granted.
The plot is a simple journey to get to the star but this is used by the film to explore themes of betrayal, trust and family as well as learning to appreciate life and the good things around you. It is not complex by any means but it makes up for this through its sentimentality and portrayal of these themes.
One thing that cannot go unmentioned is the changing of animation to a more cartoon-esque style during fight sequences along with fantastic fast paced flamenco-inspired music running throughout them makes them incredibly engaging to watch, and, in my opinion, capture the essence of the phrase “derring-do”.
As a sequel, it may work best not to watch directly after watching the first film as some of the themes from it are mirrored in The Last Wish. I do not believe that this should be held against it, as it has the task of introducing a new generation to the character and the entire franchise. This means it has to establish the character as a whole and provide it with a character arc that it needs to follow.
Another criticism I have is that the dog can be annoying at times in the aim of making younger children laugh, but those moments happen rarely and for the most part he is written as an endearing character. Many of the children in the film enjoyed those sequences so it was successful in its aim.
I’m not sure if I can give you a reason as to why you specifically (most likely a student between the ages of 18 and 25) should watch this. But I will likely give it a re-watch so that I can feel the thrill of the fight scenes and watch a simple story executed well. For many children watching it for the first time, I believe that Puss in Boots: The Last Wish will be a comfort film in a decade’s time.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is in cinemas now.