Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Review Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Knight Heads

Dreamworks’ latest movie, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish firmly establishes itself as one of the greatest animated films to come out of the last several years. Following Puss’ journey to find the wishing star in the dark forest and regain his lost eight lives, Puss and his charming cast of friends must build trust in one another, as well as surpass their many foes— Big Jack Horner, Goldilocks and the three bears, and worst of all, Death himself.

Puss and Boots: The Last Wish is enjoyable for both adult and child audiences, as it balances its mature themes of grappling with mortality and the fear of death with plenty of comedic and wholesome moments alike.

Puss and Boots: The Last Wish not only impresses audiences with its mature theming, but also with its crisp animation style. Much like Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Puss and Boots: The Last Wish combines the classic 3D animation often associated with modern animation with the styles of comic books and anime, providing a more dynamic viewing experience.

The complex themes and beautiful animation of Puss and Boots: The Last Wish blends together with the fantasy world and character design of the movie, building upon Dreamworks’ previous movies in the Shrekverse in new and exciting ways. Taking inspiration from various fairytale stories and nursery rhymes, Puss and Boots: The Last Wish creates a multitude of storylines with characters who are intriguing to watch and eye catching. 

However, in their pursuit of these varied storylines, Puss and Boots: The Last Wish comes into its only real flaw: too many cutaways. Though the building up of their large cast of characters was important to the story, the rapid number of cutaways to the different characters could possibly be confusing for younger audiences. That being said, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish makes up for this a million times over.

Nevertheless, the most impressive aspect of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is arguably its pacing. In recent years, major animation companies, particularly Disney, have struggled to make movies that don’t feel rushed. Dreamworks did not have that problem whatsoever in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. No part of the movie felt hurried or slow, and the conclusion left audiences with a contentedness that only comes from finishing something genuinely good.

Puss and Boots: The Last Wish pushes the bounds of children’s animation, a feat not many have achieved, and we can only hope for more groundbreaking works to come in its wake.