Puss in Boots is a character from the Shrek film series and the titular protagonist in Puss in Boots, voiced in English and both Spanish versions by Antonio Banderas. He is based loosely on the fairy tale character of the same name, and is the main "other fairy tale character" in the three sequels. He was introduced in Shrek 2 and speaks with a Spanish accent.
Puss In Boots in the Shrek films
Shrek 2
Recommended to King Harold by Doris (the Ugly Stepsister and barmaid of the Poison Apple Inn) as a famous ogre assassin, Puss is hired by the king to assassinate Shrek. However, unlike his fairy tale counterpart, he does not try to trick the ogre into changing into a mouse, but instead makes a direct, frontal assault on Shrek, which works up until the feline gags on a hairball, spitting it up. Shrek and Donkey think of what to do with him as Donkey even proposes to give him the 'Bob Barker treatment', but the swashbuckling cat begs for his life. Puss claims to have taken then contract to help his poor family, consisting of a litter of siblings, a sick mother and a father who lives off the garbage (although he may have been lying so Shrek would spare his life). Ultimately, they spare his life, and Puss proposes to the ogre he owes a life debt to him, in thanks. Although there is some tension/rivalry between Puss and Donkey (who seems nervous that Puss is taking his place as "annoying talking animal" and as Shrek's best friend), the three eventually become close friends and allies. Puss seems desperate throughout the movie to repay his debt to Shrek, for an example volunteering to test the "Happily Ever After" potion to prove that isn't poisonous.
Shrek appears to have accepted this debt, as Puss in Boots stays with him throughout the course of the film. He has also stated that he "hates Mondays". When Shrek and Donkey enter the castle to find Fiona and are being chased by the castle's knights, Puss repays his debt to Shrek by holding them off (he removes his hat, looks at the guards cutely, and then attacks them when they stop and say "aww!") After Shrek and Fiona get back together, and the king turns back to a frog, Donkey finds out he has become a dad. Due to the friendship that has developed, Puss decides to be Donkey's dronkeys' uncle.
Shrek the Third
Donkey and Puss remain in Far Far Away with Fiona and Shrek, helping the royal couple run the country in the place of the ailing king. Puss joins Shrek and Donkey on their journey to find Artie (Fiona's cousin and heir to the throne) and later encourages Shrek to be kinder to Artie to gain the teenager's trust. He also tries to advise Shrek who has just found out that Fiona is expecting a baby, on fatherhood.
When the group is magically sent back to Far Far Away by Merlin, Puss and Donkey have their bodies accidentally switched, something they were not happy about. The two swapped animals later join forces with the Far Far Away princesses and other captives of Prince Charming and help rescue Shrek. Towards the end of the movie, they confront Merlin and demand he put them in their correct bodies. He does so, although their tails seem to have been switched this time (in the next scene, this is shown to have been corrected as well).
At the end of the movie, Puss helps Shrek and Fiona care for their new born ogre triplets. He has trouble with them pulling his fur and tail. Later, when Shrek and Fiona change their new babies, Shrek fastens a diaper on Puss as Puss glares at him.
Shrek Forever After
Puss did appear in the final film, released theatrically in May 2010. The time change caused by Rumpelstiltskin has made him fat and lazy.
In the alternative universe, Puss is Fiona's pet and only chases mice. Puss watches Shrek and Fiona, and realises that Shrek is Fiona's true love, and advises him to tell her something only her true love will know. However, despite Shrek
Puss as seen in the fourth and final film.
naming numerous things to Fiona that he knew about her, Fiona didn't think Shrek was her true love, and later believes Puss told everything about her to Shrek. When, at sunrise, Shrek fades from existence (but actually returns to the real world), Puss is first to notice that Fiona is still in her ogress form.
At the end of the film, when Puss admires himself in the mirror, he sees his alternative self.
Puss in Boots
He starred in the film Puss in Boots, which revealed Puss's beginnings. He was abandoned as a kitten in a basket, which somehow found its way to the doorstep of an orphanage in a Spanish town called San Ricardo. He was taken in by the head of the orphanage, Imelda, who became his foster mother.
He befriended a young Humpty Alexander Dumpty, who gave him his name Puss, and they became brothers in heart with a dream: To find the Magic Beans so they may find the Giant's Castle and get the Golden Eggs of the Golden Goose, setting themselves up for life. Throughout their childhood, Puss and Humpty got in and out of trouble, stealing various beans in their search for the magic beans until one day, Puss saved the mother of the Captain of the Guard (Comandante)from a bull, and was regarded as a hero when Imelda gave him a pair of boots to wear with pride.
This event, however, drove a wedge between Puss and Humpty as Puss didn't want to steal anymore while Humpty continued and thought Puss was breaking their promise. One night, Humpty tricked Puss into helping him rob the San Ricardo bank. Chased by the guards, they passed the orphanage and seen by Imelda, who was heartbroken to see, from her perspective, her son, Puss, having returned to his thieving ways.
The chase ended at a bridge where the money fell over the bridge and was lost, and Humpty fell and couldn't get back up as he begged Puss to help him. Angry that Humpty had tricked him and branded him an outlaw, Puss told him to help himself, left him to the guards and fled San Ricardo.
Over the next seven years, Puss became a swashbuckling hero but wanted by the law, as he searched for a way to clear his name and repay the stolen money, when he found himself at a bar where he heard of two murderous outlaws, Jack & Jill, in possession of the magic beans he had long sought. He broke into their hotel room, set on the stealing the beans but so did a masked cat with the same intention, causing them to get caught and run out. Puss chased after the masked cat back to a bar with a bunch of other cats, where they both have a dance fight and a sword fight, ending with Puss smacking her over the head with a guitar, which upsets the cat so much that she rips her mask off and reveals to a surprised Puss that she is in fact a woman. Puss then reunites with Humpty Dumpty who also introduces her as Kitty Softpaws, named because she can take things without anyone even noticing they are gone (as she does frequently with Puss's hat, boots, and money simply to tease him) and asks him to join them in finding the beans, planting them, and getting the golden eggs which lie at the top. Puss immediately refuses, and even after Kitty tries to woo him into going with them, he denies, and then tells her his history with Humpty and how everything went wrong (though she falls asleep while he is telling the story out of boredom).
After Humpty, who had followed the two, explains to Puss that he wants a second chance, Puss agrees to help him find the beans/golden eggs, making it clear that he is doing it for the town and his mother who adopted him, not for Humpty. The three of them set off to find Jack and Jill, finally seeing them coming towards them, hiding in a canyon type place in the desert. Kitty jumps onto their cart which is pulled by warthogs, followed by Puss, while Humpty readies their getaway vehicle. Puss lowers Kitty into the back of the cart, who struggles to open the box the beans are held in (which is around Jack's hand), with Puss urging her to use her claws. She finally admits to him that she has no claws, which wakes up one of the baby warthogs sleeping in the back. Puss drops in beside her and opens the box with his claws as Kitty quiets the baby pig, giving him to Puss as she uses her paws to get the beans from Jack's hand, giving them to Puss. Just as they are about to leave, Puss accidentally backs up and steps on two pigs' tails, alerting Jack and Jill, who drop into the bottom where they are. They manage to get outside, jam the levers to force their seats to stay up, and tie up their heads, signaling Humpty to get their own cart besides the one they're on now. Kitty jumps onto the cart, but Jill headbutts Puss before he can, briefly knocking him out and causing him to drop the beans, which bounce around the top of the cart, almost falling off. Puss gets them back while fighting Jill, who somehow escaped, but she grabs him and dangles him over the edge of the cart and the canyon, about to drop him. Humpty rams the side of their cart and Puss lands back in their cart, and they get away. Kitty explains to Puss, as they are riding in the cart, that her adoptive owners got her claws removed for an unknown reason (although she does suggest it was for shredding the curtains or "playing too roughly with the hamster).
They make it to the perfect spot to plant them, being directed in the right way by Humpty, and plant the beans in a bare, sandy area, right as a storm cloud comes overhead, and a giant funnel of green-lit clouds and wind comes spinning down the place they planted the beans, cracking the sand, then suddenly disappearing, leaving only a small weed where the beans are buried. Kitty suggests Humpty talk to it, which he does, but barely gets a few words out before a giant beanstalk shoots up out of the ground, taking them with it, higher and higher into the clouds before it finally stops. The three got off and surprisingly are able to stand and walk on the clouds without difficulty, although their voices grow higher due to the thin air (their voices return to normal in the normal air pressure of the castle.) They see a castle type building and they enter it, not having to fear the giant, as Humpty says it's been dead for years; although, there is a beast in the castle, which if gazed upon, allegedly turns the gazer to stone. They cross the water far below and get to the island. With only a small run-in with whatever the beast is, they find the golden eggs and a gosling that lays them. They take the gosling because the eggs are far too heavy and make it to the edge of the island before the rope they used to get across is broken, and they fall down into the canyon, the beast not far behind. As they are trying to get away, Kitty falls into the water, unable to pull herself back onto the branch due to her not having claws, but she is saved by Puss. They escape and get back down to the ground, cutting the beanstalk down and rejoicing over getting the golden goose. They briefly dance, and Humpty pulls Kitty aside to tell her to not lose focus, obviously talking about her falling in love with Puss. Kitty seems about to tell Puss something, but is interrupted by Humpty and leaves to get rest, leaving Humpty and Puss outside with the goose. Puss tells Humpty he is glad to have his brother back, and Humpty goes to sleep with the goose lying on top of him. Meanwhile, Jack and Jill suddenly come up behind Puss and knock him unconscious.
When Puss awakens, he is lying in the desert surrounded by birds, which he shoos away. He finds footprints and wagon tracks around him, and he follows them to the town he was adopted in. He sees a shadow of Humpty being held by Jack and Jill, and he follows them to save him, only to find them laughing and celebrating. Humpty explains to him how the only thing he wanted against Puss was revenge, and everyone had been working for him, even Jack and Jill. Puss doesn't fight against arrest (told not to by his adoptive mother) and sees Kitty as he is being led away in a carrier, knowing she has betrayed him. While in jail, he finds the Jack who had the beans first in the same cell, and he tells Puss that the beast is in fact the gosling's mother and will destroy the town trying to get her baby back. Puss escapes using his adorably big eyes to practically hypnotize the guard, and Kitty comes back to do the rest. She helps Puss escape, and he goes to find Humpty. Puss tells him that the mother is going to come back for her baby, and Humpty finally agrees to help save the town. They lead the mother goose to the bridge, which breaks under her weight, and Puss has to hold onto a rope that Humpty is holding onto to be sure he doesn't fall into the wreckage. The gosling was also caught by a rope, but it is breaking, and Humpty lets go of his rope, so Puss can save the baby to make sure the mother does not destroy the whole town. He does save her, and later finds Humpty has been turned into a golden egg, which the mother takes and flies back to the castle.
Puss and Kitty get away from the guards still, and Kitty says she will see him again soon, showing that she has taken his boots. During the first half of the credits, it shows Humpty once again in his regular egg form riding the goose in the clouds, and Puss and Kitty finally kiss.
Shrek the Halls
In Shrek the Halls, Puss tells the story of Santa Claus as a smooth Spanish cat (similar to himself). He is distracted from telling the tale when he sees a glass Christmas tree ornament and begins batting at it. When he realizes what he was doing, he walks away muttering "I have shamed myself". Later, when Shrek explains that he never celebrated Christmas before and wanted it to come right, Puss tells his friend "Christmas just comes".
Scared Shrekless
In the Halloween special, Puss takes part in the tournament to crown the "King Of Halloween". Shrek says they are doing it in Lord Farquaad's ghost, who Puss (supposedly) doesn't know who Farquaad is, not being present in the first movie. He and Donkey tell the story of Bates Motel, where they are invited in a hotel by its warn and friendly owner (who turns out to be Prince Charming), but Donkey that as Puss was taking a shower, Charming came and killed him.
Puss and Donkey argue over who was killed, and Donkey gets Pinocchio to spray him with water, making him run away.
Personality
Despite his small size, Puss is a capable fighter even when outnumbered against much larger opponents. He is skilled with a sword and often practically dances around his enemies who can't keep up with him. One of his defenses is using his cute nature by staring up at his foes with an innocent, wide-eyed, expression, which softens his foes hearts. In Shrek 2, he does this three times; while in the woods; still under command of king Harold to kill Shrek, afterwards; trying to persuade Donkey to let him travel with him and Shrek, and in the castle of Far Far Away, while fighting the castle guards. He tried this technique twice in Shrek the Third, both times unsuccessful. The first time, he stands outside the window of Shrek's room but Shrek simply closed the curtains on him. Later, he tried this in Donkey's body, but the effect was spoiled by Donkey's crooked teeth which disgusted his enemies who promptly tried to kill him. He is also a playboy who enjoys flirting with female cats.
Inspiration
Puss' Shrek form is based on Zorro's (whom Banderas also portrayed in the The Mask of Zorro and The Legend of Zorro) fighting style, accent (Spanish) and personality. While attacking Shrek, he used his sword to scratch up a P, a parody of Zorro's trademark move. In Shrek the Third, Donkey, while in Puss' body, scratches a D instead.
In Theater
Puss in Boots makes a silent cameo in the Shrek the Musical song, "Travel Song" as Donkey says "Hey look, a cat that's wearing boots, that's crazy!". Puss tips his hat to Shrek and Donkey and walks off. He is one of the many puppets seen in the song, along with a bunny Shrek scares away and some African-style animals that parody the opening number of "The Lion King".
Trivia
- He makes a very strange appearance on the casual game "Indy Cat" (the parody of Indiana Jones) by PlayFlock. The outfit used for the cat appears to be the Deluxe Indiana Jones costume. The boots used in this variant of Puss in Boots isn't intact on that game.
- In Shrek 2, Puss in Boots is portrayed as a antagonist but he reforms and becomes friends with Shrek.
- Recently, fans aren't fond of Puss because he's been getting a lot of projects about him and fans want to see more of the other main Sherk characters.
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