Joel Crawford’s “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)

Surprisingly mature story of mortality, family and ego supported by a powerhouse cast, electric visuals and good humour

A movie executive produced by Guillermo del Toro about mortality, family and ego with Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek Pinault, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Samson Kayo, and Ray Winstone would have been a film that I would have leapt at seeing. To my surprise, this is a sequel to Dreamworks’ Puss in Boots. Though very much a children’s movie(maybe not for the youngest), it has a lot of relevance to adults of any age.

Telling the story of Puss in Boots as he reaches the last of his nine lives, it manages to explore some heavy themes without being patronising or heavy handed as so many children’s media tends to be. It’s also manages to be funny without detracting from the core story. Above all, nothing feels lazy and it’s obvious a lot of thought and care was put into it.

The visual style takes inspiration from the fantastic Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse flitting between 2d and 3d at various points. Action scenes have a clarity lacking in some of the biggest action releases and unlike previous screen appearances by Puss in Boots, there’s a real sense of weight and risk. Saying all that, the action is not central but has a purpose to progressing the development of the characters.

Banderas and Hayek excel as Puss in Boots and Kitty Softpaws supported by Perrito(Harvey Guillén) creating one of the family units in the film. In addition, there’s Goldilocks(Florence Pugh) and the three bears(Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, Samon Kayo) and finally, in contrast, there’s "Big" Jack Horner(John Mulaney) an entitled psychopath. These three units make for some surprisingly nuanced storytelling and a further device in the film gives us even more visibility of their true characters.

In addition, there’s also the character of the Wolf played memorably by Wagner Moura who feels like a combination of Lee Van Cleef in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Charles Bronson in Once Upon a Time in the West and Bengt Ekerot(Death) in The Seventh Seal. His introduction is fantastic using some of the best techniques usually seen in the best horror or thriller films raising the stakes and establishing a weighty menace.

Overall, it’s a well-crafted, thoughtful, funny and sometimes poignant work which is lifted further by an incredible cast.