*This article contains spoilers.
After being bombarded with friends’ recommendations and clips from Instagram and Youtube that’ll probably be purged in the coming weeks, I knew what I was going to do with the rest of my weekend. Recovering and still suffering from a massive headache the days before, I decided to go see “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” on Sunday. At the very least, it cured my headache.
I was expecting to walk into a theater with a bunch of parents taking their kids to see a Sunday family-friendly movie, and consequently, I was ready to think of this movie as something only kids would find enjoyable.
But I was really surprised to find that I was constantly entertained throughout the whole movie. What I thought was going to be pandering to a child audience was instead replaced with enjoyable moments. Never did I feel annoyed by any particular scene. I think a general problem that a lot of movies geared toward children have is that they separate the humor from the plot and it just feels awkward and leaves you waiting for those moments to end. Particularly for this movie, the humor nicely accompanies the plot.
The plot was also something that I was expecting to be simple and way too drawn out. But what I instead saw was a movie with the perfect amount of pacing and a plot that remained interesting throughout. I think the plot is simple enough (which in this case isn’t necessarily bad) for the audience, young and old, to appreciate the darker and more complicated themes of the movie.
Themes like mortality, trusting in others, and sacrifice are themes that are never in your face but are instead things that the movie invites you to think about. This movie intertwines a few storylines throughout and they all share their time equally on the screen; no plot line overstays its welcome and I was always looking forward to where the plot would go next. The main three storylines; the main trio, Goldilocks and the bears and Jack Horner, were entertaining in different ways, which I was very impressed by.
The most entertaining aspect of the movie was the visuals. The animation in this movie is so magical and really adds to this fantasy world. There are a couple specific areas of animation that this movie does so well.
First, this movie creates really memorable settings. The settings in this movie have a paintbrush-like quality to them, which makes them feel even more alive.
Secondly, the animation in fight scenes leaves nothing to be desired. The first fight scene, with Puss fighting the stone giant, uses a slower frame rate in action scenes which gives attention to every moment. It’s almost hard to describe because the fight scenes in this movie are so fast-paced, but this definitely works to the movie’s advantage.
What I remember most about this movie are the developing characters and how they influence one another. I think my favorite conflict is between Puss and Death (I’m going to get into spoilers at this point, just a fair warning). Puss struggles with the concept of leaving his legacy and fame behind as he realizes his mortality.
At the end of the movie, the resolution with Death acknowledging that Puss has changed and no longer boasts this arrogant, invincible attitude was so satisfying to see. The developing relationships between Puss, Kitty and Perrito were also very enjoyable.
From seeing trailers, I thought Perrito was going to be that peppy, annoying optimist archetype. However, his backstory and his necessary good attitude to contrast Puss and Kitty’s more realistic and mature personalities made me really like him as a character .
I loved the villains in the movie. I think they cater to any person’s idea of a villain while going against the overused tropes of ordinary villains. Even the pure evil villain, Jack Horner, was enjoyable to watch being so evil, and it was fun to see his personality in short clips even before seeing the movie.
The characters in this movie actually have depth that isn’t disguised as being simply mysterious but are explored very well throughout the movie. Characters’ screen time never seems crowded or unnecessary.
There is so much more to be said about “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.” But I really think it’s a movie that speaks for itself when seen, especially in theaters. It is so refreshing to see a movie made for a younger audience tackle such in-depth themes and have rich characters as this movie does. It’s a movie that sets the bar very high for children’s movies and animated movies in general.
Rating: 5/5 stars