Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

I did not have many expectations going into this with my daughter, I've seen the main Shrek movies but noon of the other Puss in Boot's spin-offs. I was shocked at how good a movie this was when the credits rolled!

The story itself is functional, but all characters are given meaningful and relatable arcs. Between the melanchonic Puss reaching the end of his days as a great hero, his always positive dog sidekick and the 3 antagonistic parties trying to reach the magical macguffin there is a lot going on and none of it feels forced in.

The two greatest assets the movie brings is it's humor and the stunning action scenes. First of all, this movie has bite, it is back to the tone of the first Shrek movie with lots of jokes that are working on a children and adult level of understanding. While the story is easy to follow for kids, the themes explored are relatively mature and will keep adults engaged.

Secondly, while Disney/Pixar movies lately fail to make action exiting with their polished CGI style, Puss in boots goes full Into the Spiderverse once a fight breaks out. Glorious 12 frames per second, hyper stylized with all the filters and gimmicks necessary to elevate the big set-pieces to something truly special and memorable. Especially Puss's duels against a mysterious bounty hunter are the highlights.

While not entirely original, the Puss in Boots: The Last Wish combines the edgy humor of Shrek with the visual wonders of Into the Spiderverse and strings it along a relatively matured heroes journey coming to it's end tale that is closer to Logan than any other animation I can think off. Oh and just in case (not that I personally care much about it) there is zero political agenda to be found here to be a distraction of the perception.