- “Say hola to his little friends.”
- ―Tagline
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a 2022 American 3D computer animated adventure comedy film directed by Joel Crawford. It's the sequel to Puss in Boots (2011) and the second installment of the Puss in Boots franchise. It is the studio's 43rd feature film. Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek Pinault reprised their roles from the first film with Harvey Guillén, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, Samson Kayo, John Mulaney, Wagner Moura, Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Anthony Mendez joining them voicing new characters.
The film was released on December 21, 2022. The film received universal acclaim from critics, who praised the animation, themes, voice acting and humor, with many considering it even better than the first film.
In addition one of the extra features in the Home Media release includes a four minute short known as "The Trident" which shows the story of how Puss lost one of his previous eight lives.
Plot[]
Set after the events of Shrek Forever After, Puss in Boots hosts a party in a governor's mansion when a giant attacks them. He manages to subdue it but is crushed by a bell shortly after. Waking up, he is informed by a Doctor that he only has one life left after dying eight times before (being rammed by a bull, mauled by dogs, jumping off a tower while drunk, crushed by a barbell, exploding in a cannon test gone wrong, having a food allergy after eating shellfish, accidentally burning himself on an oven and getting crushed by the bell respectively). Puss initially brushes it off, but after getting scarred and nearly killed in a duel with a black-hooded wolf in a local pub that night, he reluctantly goes to the house of Mama Luna, an elderly cat lady, to be a domesticated pet.
Time passes, and he soon meets a dog disguised as a cat, but their conversation is cut short when Goldilocks and the Three Bears show up to find him. However, after they find his "grave", they inadvertently reveal the existence of a Wishing Star to Puss and that the map pointing it will be delivered to "Big" Jack Horner that night. Seeing it as an opportunity to restore his lives back, Puss breaks into Jack's factory to steal the map, unexpectedly reuniting with Kitty Softpaws who holds a grudge on him after a previous incident at Santa Colomba. After a skirmish with Goldi's group and Jack Horner's goons, Puss, Kitty and Perrito (the dog from earlier who followed him) manage to escape with the map which instructs them to go to the Dark Forest.
Entering the forest, the trio find out that the dimension morphs into different landscapes to whoever wields the map. The dimension transforms into a hellish setting for Puss and Kitty, while Perrito is given a nice setting. While riding downstream, Puss gets his beard shaved off by Kitty before getting rid of a stick which Perrito follows, leading to the latter being captured by Jack. Mid-fight, Puss sees the hooded wolf again and runs off in fear, distracting Kitty and enabling Goldi to obtain the map.
Puss elaborates what happened at Santa Colomba to Perrito; he left Kitty at the altar at the town’s church on their supposed engagement, which he has regretted ever since. Kitty overhears their conversation and reveals that she never came to the altar either, feeling like she could never compete with someone who loves himself more than her. The two manage to reclaim the map from Goldi's group but Perrito is captured once again. As the dimension morphs, Puss is accidentally trapped in the Cave of Lost Souls after touching the map and instructs Kitty to retrieve Perrito.
Inside the cave, Puss encounters his past lives and the hooded wolf again, who introduces himself as "Death" and reveals that he wants to obtain Puss's last life as retribution for evading him. Puss cowardly runs away with the map, an act which Kitty and Perrito see from afar. Meanwhile, Goldi reveals that she wishes for a real family. Even though it's to the Bears' dismay, they oblige to help her if it's what she really wants.
Finally reaching the star, Puss is about to make his wish but is stopped by Kitty, who calls him out for his selfishness. Shortly after, they are interrupted by Goldi and Jack and a fight ensues, during which Jack is thrown into his never-ending nanny bag by Kitty and Goldi saves Baby when he is almost thrown off the star.
Puss encounters Death again and a fierce duel erupts between the two. However, Death begrudgingly decides to spare Puss after the latter boldly stands up to him but remarks that "they will meet again" before departing. Puss reconciles with Kitty and gives her the map, but she doesn't need it. Just then, Jack re-emerges from his bag, having eaten a cookie that makes him grow big, and seizes the map from Puss and Kitty. As Jack attemps to make a wish, however, Perrito manages to distract him long enough for Puss, Kitty and Goldi to reclaim the map and rip it to shreds, causing the Wishing Star to collapse and kill Jack after it violently implodes when he attempts to reassemble the map.
In the aftermath, Goldi finally accepts being a part of the bear family and Puss and Kitty rekindle their relationship. Perrito also finally gets his name, sticking with Perrito and saying it suits him. Sometime later, Puss, Kitty and Perrito (now wanted as "Team Friendship") steal a boat from the Governor and set sail to reunite with "some old friends" at the Kingdom of Far Far Away.
Cast[]
- Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots
- Salma Hayek Pinault as Kitty Softpaws
- Harvey Guillén as Perrito
- Florence Pugh as Goldilocks
- Kailey Crawford as Young Goldilocks
- Olivia Colman as Mama Bear
- Ray Winstone as Papa Bear
- Samson Kayo as Baby Bear
- John Mulaney as "Big" Jack Horner
- Wagner Moura as Death
- Da'Vine Joy Randolph as Mama Luna
- Anthony Mendez as Doctor
- Kevin McCann as Talking Cricket
- Betsy Sodaro and Artemis Pebdani as the Serpent Sisters
- Conrad Vernon as Gingerbread Man
- Cody Cameron as Pinocchio
- Bernardo De Paula as the Governor of Del Mar
Shrek, Donkey and Mister Geppetto appear in a non-speaking appearance in a brief flashback, as does Imelda from the first Puss in Boots.
Production[]
In November 2012, executive producer Guillermo del Toro said that they already did a couple of script drafts for a sequel, and that the director Chris Miller wants to take Puss on an adventure to exotic places.[8] In April 2014, Antonio Banderas, the voice of Puss, said that the work on the sequel had just begun.[9] In June 2014, the movie was titled Puss in Boots 2: Nine Lives & 40 Thieves and was scheduled to be released on November 2, 2018.[1] In August 2014, it was delayed to December 21, 2018. [2]
In January 2015, Puss in Boots 2 was removed from the release schedule following corporate restructuring and DreamWorks Animation's new policy to release two films a year. [3]
In March 2015, Banderas said in an interview that the script was under restructuring, and that Shrek may appear in the film.[4] In November 2018, it was announced by Variety that Chris Meledandri had been tasked to being one of the executive producers of both Shrek 5 and Puss in Boots 2, with the cast returning.[5] In February 2019, Bob Persichetti, the head of story on the first film, signed on to direct the sequel. Latifa Ouaou, who produced the original Puss in Boots film, will oversee development of the sequel.[6] In March 2021, the film's title was revealed to be “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”, with a release date of September 23, 2022.[7] In April 2022, that delayed to December 21.
Trivia[]
- Puss in Boots is DreamWorks' tenth film to become a franchise, after The Prince of Egypt, Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, Trolls, The Croods, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, and The Boss Baby.
- It is also the first franchise based on a spin-off.
- This is the first spin-off film from the studio to receive a sequel.
- This is the first DreamWorks Animation film to feature the animation style used in the Lego Movie film series, The Peanuts Movie (2015), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), Promare (2019), The Willoughbys (2020), The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (2020), and Seal Team (2021).
- This is also the second DreamWorks Animation film to feature an animation style inspired by Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), after The Bad Guys.
- This is the first film in the Shrek franchise to be released in the 2020s.
- This is the first film to be set in the Shrek franchise to be distributed by Universal Pictures.
- This also makes Shrek the first DreamWorks Animation franchise with its films distributed by DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures; no films in the franchise had been distributed by 20th Century Studios.
- This is also the first film in the Shrek franchise with a distribution company's logo shown at the beginning since Shrek with DreamWorks Pictures.
- This is also the first film in the Shrek franchise to end with just the DreamWorks Animation logo since Shrek 2.
- The film's tagline is a reference to the movie Scarface, when Montana says "SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!" while firing an M16 equipped with an underbarrel grenade launcher at advancing enemy gang members.
- With the Three Bears receiving new character designs in this film in contrast to their earlier designs in Shrek, this marks the fourth Shrek film with a character given a new design. First was Shrek the Third, which gave Captain Hook a new design compared to his debut appearance in Shrek 2; Shrek Forever After was second, which gave Rumpelstiltskin and the Pied Piper new designs in contrast to their previous designs respectively from Shrek the Third and Shrek; Puss in Boots was third, which gave Jill a new design different from her minor appearance in Shrek 2.
- The twenty-first DreamWorks Animation film to be produced in 2.39:1 widescreen aspect ratio, after Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs. Aliens, How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek Forever After, Megamind, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots, The Croods, Turbo, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Kung Fu Panda 3, Trolls, The Boss Baby, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Trolls World Tour, The Croods: A New Age, Spirit Untamed, The Boss Baby: Family Business, and The Bad Guys.
- This is the first DreamWorks Animation to film to include the new logo presentation since November 2022, in which many DreamWorks characters from their most popular franchises interact with the Fisher Boy.
- This is DreamWorks Animation's second film to release in December, since The Prince of Egypt (1998).
- The second DreamWorks Animation film to be directed by Joel Crawford after The Croods: A New Age.
- This is also the second DreamWorks Animation sequel directed by Crawford after The Croods: A New Age.
- This is the first DreamWorks Animation film to be executive produced by Christopher Meledandri.
- This is also the first animated film to be executive produced by Chris Meledandri since Horton Hears a Who!.
- This is the third DreamWorks Animation spin-off film to take place after the events of a main feature film (this film takes place after Shrek Forever After, unlike the first Puss in Boots film, which took place before Shrek 2); the first two being Penguins of Madagascar and Spirit Untamed.
- Some main elements of the movie are taken directly from the Walt Disney's animated classic 1940 film Pinocchio, iconic animated movie adaptation of the Italian Carlo Collodi's novel with the same name.
- The entire concept of the Wish-Granting Star.
- The magic phrase, "Star Light
Star Bright
First Star I See Tonight", is the same poem recited by Geppetto when he wished upon the Wishing Star in his film for his still lifeless puppet Pinocchio to become a real boy.- Although the phrase originated from an old nursery rhyme.
- The Ethical Bug is a parody of the character Jiminy Cricket, who acted as Pinocchio's conscience in the Disney's animated film, unlike the Talking Cricket in the original Carlo Collodi's story, who acted as a minor and more marginal character.
- In the flashback scene showing how "Little" Jack Horner became envious of Pinocchio and magical creatures in general, Pinocchio is performing similarly to the "I've got no strings" musical scene in the Walt Disney's animated film, this doesn't happen in the Carlo Collodi's novel, the only differences to the Disney film (except for the lyrics, of course) are the absence of other marionettes and Geppetto as manager instead of Stromboli.
- This is the first DreamWorks Animation film to feature a Latin American singer in the end credits.
- As well as, the first DreamWorks Animation film to feature a Brazilian actor.
- This is the fifth DreamWorks Animation sequel not to have its music score composed by the same composer as its predecessor after Penguins of Madagascar (which had its music score composed by Lorne Balfe), Trolls World Tour (which had its music score composed by Theodore Shapiro), The Croods: A New Age (which had its music score composed by Mark Mothersbaugh), and Spirit Untamed (which had its music score by Amie Doherty); Henry Jackman composed the music score for the first film while Heitor Pereira takes over for this film.
- It is also the ninth DreamWorks Animation film not to be composed by Harry Gregson-Williams, Hans Zimmer, John Powell, Rupert Gregson-Williams, Henry Jackman, Lorne Balfe, Steve Mazzaro, or Theodore Shapiro, as Pereira takes over as the film's composer; the first eight being 2005's Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (which was composed by Julian Nott), 2012's Rise of the Guardians (which was composed by Alexandre Desplat), 2013's The Croods (which was composed by Alan Silvestri), and 2014's Mr. Peabody & Sherman (which was composed by Danny Elfman), 2016's Trolls (which was composed by Christophe Beck), 2020's The Croods: A New Age (which was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh), 2021's Spirit Untamed (which was composed by Amie Doherty), and 2022's The Bad Guys (which was composed by Daniel Pemberton).
- It is also the first DreamWorks Animation film to have its music score composed by Illumination composer Heitor Pereira, who previously provided some additional music for The Road to El Dorado, Shrek 2, Madagascar, and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.
- This is the first DreamWorks Animation film to be released on digital, just 16 days after its theatrical release.
- There is no acknowledgement of the events of The Adventures of Puss In Boots, including the absence of Dulcinea, who was shown to still know of Puss by the end of the series. However there are some throwbacks.
- In his 2nd death. Puss showed the dogs that he is perfect at playing cards. This is a throwback to Season 3 Episode 8 "Coin Toss" which in the final scenes Puss saw Cleevil and Kid Pickles playing cards after that he said that he loves this game. This explains why he is good at playing cards which was taught by Cleevil and Kid Pickles.
- This is the first movie in the Shrek universe to contain blood, which where Death/The Wolf (Puss In Boots) near missed Puss in Boots.
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