Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)

Originally reviewed on 1/28/23.

Poster showing puss in boots facing the audience confidently. To our left its dark and showing the villains and to our right its bright and showing the other protagonists.

Beautiful animation and incredible characters. Even one-off side characters were enjoyable to watch, they all had a little bit of something to make them more than just another random that the main characters are talking to.

The animation feels very unique and experimental, I can only compare it to Spiderverse and even then it stands on its own and has a pretty different style to it. I'm really happy they did this, as before the "Shrekverse" films always attempted a realistic style. The Last Wish could've easily done the same as the Shrek films and with its own first entry, but it did something unique and I'm loving it for that.

Speaking of Puss in Boots the original, it was a good move to make this sequel a loose one. As someone who watched the original PIB, I caught references and recognized characters early. But people who never saw it could easily follow along and understand characters even without their backstory. Good move for a sequel coming out over a decade after its original entry, and for one breaking out with a unique style at that. Though, it's so unique and defining that its drowning out information about the original 2011 PIB. I googled it and I'm still seeing stuff about TLW, which I suppose says a lot about the memorability of the two.

The Last Wish utilized different frame rates for different scenes and I loved it. Fights and intense moments had purposeful frame drops, which made every one feel important and impactful. It also contributed to the feel of the scene, I feel like it was a good way to illustrate how you the world slow down during really intense moments.

James Cameron attempted something similar with The Way of Water, spiking the frames to 60fps when underwater to give it a more otherworldly feel, but... I honestly didn't notice.

After this and all the Kung Fu Panda movies I've realized that Dreamworks is the king of fight scenes. They're so satisfying and well choreographed, they're quick and snappy but I can still easily follow what's going on, which is something lost in some other fight scenes.

Dreamworks is giving Disney Pixar a run for its money by releasing banger after banger like this. I hope more movies follow what TLW did and try out unique animation styles and break from the same-y formula that we've been stagnating in. No more celebrities alone in green screen rooms acting out scenes they don't know about so their super hero blockbuster isn't spoiled, no more blobby blender renders depicting what would happen if some inanimate things had feelings, no more of what we've already had. The plot of TLW is not unique, but it was done in a unique way with unique visuals. Not to say that every single movie must re-invent the wheel, but you know.

There's so much more I could say about this film. I could gush about the message of letting people change and become better and recognizing that sometimes people are the same asshole they were before but sometimes they've grown and they're someone better. I could go on about the wolf being among the most terrifying and intense kids movie villains of all time. But perhaps I should just let you go watch the film yourself.

★★★★★