Before teaming up with Shrek, Donkey and the inhabitants of Far Far Away, Puss in Boots was already a creature of legend. Puss is searching for the magic beans that will grow the mythical beanstalk and lead him to the goose that lays the golden eggs, but along the way he has to make some unexpected alliances.
Puss in Boots became a fan favourite as soon as he appeared in Shrek 2, and he was definitely the best thing about the dreadful fourth film of the franchise, so it was really only a matter of time before the character got a spin off of his own. The film focuses on Antonio Banderas as Puss, and creates an entire Latin world around him. It is hard to remember the last time a character’s world was so defined by the actor who voiced him – The Genie in Aladdin maybe? – but this works incredibly well for the film. Puss lives in a world where fairy tale characters are outlaws, and he is chasing down the ruthless Jack and Jill to claim the magic beans for himself. Puss has to make peace with an old friend – Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) – to be in with a chance of claiming the beans and the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Antonio Banderas is on fine form as Puss. He is an actor with fantastic comic timing, and a wonderfully expressive voice; this is why he works well as the character. It is an added bonus that he is not ‘putting on’ a voice, as most of the performances in animated movies that work best are those in which the actors just use their own voices. Zach Galifianakis does put on a voice as Humpty Dumpty, but it works fine, even if it is hard to figure out whose voice you are listening to. The animation of the character is slightly odd, but that is more down to the fact that he is a talking egg than anything else. Salma Hayek plays Puss’s love interest, Kitty Softpaws, and it is plain to see (sorry, hear) that she and Banderas had a great time working together as their performances work so well together.
© Dreamworks
The animation of Puss in Boots is the best of any Dreamworks films to date, although it may feel a little familiar to fans of the studio’s more recent output, but the good news is that the 3D is fantastic. It is rare that a film will use 3D to the best of the technology’s ability, but Puss in Boots was animated for a 3D audience. There are swooping shots of landscape that look beautiful, and 3D gives the film depth that works well in the animated medium.
The story of Puss in Boots is your typical Robin Hood heist movie, but the introduction of fairy tale characters gives the story a neat twist. The story is nothing that we haven’t seen before, but the voice acting and the technical brilliance of the film more than makes up for it. The script of the film, and Banderas’s brilliant voice work, are the strengths of Puss in Boots, and this – along with the cat that is scandalised by everything (‘Oooohh’) – is what makes the film what it is. There is no doubt that this film is set in the same world that Shrek inhabits, but this is Puss’s town. Director Chris Miller has improved on his first animated outing – Shrek the Third – and delivered an animated film that works.
© Dreamworks
Puss in Boots is not the Christmas movie we have all been waiting for, but definitely a movie worth seeing. The film is all too familiar ground to those of us who have been keeping track of Dreamworks animated works, but the 3D works, the film is beautifully animated and there are laughs a plenty for kids and adults alike. Nostalgia will help the box office for adults – these are the stories we loved as children – and create a new generation of fans in the kids. The film is not the rip roaring adventure we hoped for, but it is entertaining and there are far more laughs than there have been in many animated films of late.
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