Puss In Boots: The Last Wish: Movie Review

Cast: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek Pinault, Harvey Guillen, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, John Mulaney
Director: Joel Crawford

Antonio Banderas' silky voice returns to the cocky, self-centred egotist Puss in Boots in the feline's first cinematic outing in 10 years.

Having realised he's facing his own mortality with only one of his nine lives left, Puss finds himself spooked when death starts stalking him and against his better wishes, decides to retire from the wild world of questing and living it up.

Taking residence at Mama Luna's Cat Rescue, Puss resigns himself to retirement and imminent death - but befriended by Harvey Guillen's dog-masquerading-as-a-cat Perrito, he finds his twilight years rudely interrupted by Goldilocks and the Three Bears, a Guy Ritchie-styled crime family who want to recruit him for one last heist.

The job? Stealing the map to find the famed mythical Wishing Star which can grant any desire. But Goldi, Puss and the Bears are not the only ones that want the prize. From Kitty Softpaws to Little Jack Horner, there are more than a few trying to find success at the end of this quest....

There's a darkness that surrounds this family-friendly film, that has visual echoes of the storyboarded and hand-drawn look of the recent smash The Bad Guys. 

Opening with a Marvel-style showdown that chucks every bit of animated bravura it can find at proceedings, DreamWorks Animation is clearly interested in reviving the Shrek Cinematic Universe and expanding it.

Including nods to some prior characters in flashbacks, plus a mid-tease that suggests Far Far Away isn't in fact so far away in terms of cinema releases, the film almost feels like it's too top heavy with its ragtag list of characters.

But Crawford's eye for the scrappy throwaway humour and one-liners helps keep this Puss feline fine throughout. Coupled with the gravelly almost OTT intonations of Banderas' liquid honey vocal work, Puss In Boots: The Last Wish is a blast of fun, that occasionally suffers from some lulls in proceedings.

There are some sinister moments that pierce the fairytale silliness (and will scare the younger elements of the audience). and while its message of living the life you have is easily disseminated during the freewheeling onscreen antics that occasionally verge on the shallow but entertaining, Puss In Boots: The Last Wish remains a fun blast of frantic cinema to keep the family amused in the post holiday period.

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish releases in NZ cinemas on December 26