I have made my opinion on 2022 as a year for animated movies abundantly clear. However, I will say this about the year which I believe I have only implied, 2022 was an interesting year... in concept. By that I mean, if you just look at the kinds of films that were released last year, it is actually quite fascinating. So many visual styles, and different attempts to tell their stories. The problem simply was that a lot of it just just felt formulaic and didn't really add much new, at least they didn't feel like they did. That is a big reason why my top five favourite animated movies turned out the way it did. I bring all of this up because, in late 2022 I was getting a bit burnt out, I was just looking forward to my January off and was kind of planning to only do one movie review in December, and because of that, I didn't end up writing a First Impressions for the new Puss in Boots movie, in fact I didn't see it in theatres at all, and from all of the buzz around this movie, apparently I missed out. So, let's change that, lets give a look to Puss In Boots: The Last Wish.
The story follows our favourite Feline Spaniard Puss in Boots, as he gets down to his final of nine lives. With Death stalking him, literally, he lies low until Goldilocks and the Three Bears Crime Family try to find him to help them steal the map to the Wishing Star, a fallen star that can grant one wish. The one problem, the map is in the hands of Jack Horner. Puss in Boots, plus Kitty Softpaws and a new Dog friend, travel through the Dark Wood to reach the Star before anyone else can reach it, or Death can reach Puss in Boots. I think my favourite thing about this plot is that it avoids using a lot of traditional clichés, I remember seeing people talk about this movie and "What if this character got their wish" and I thought to myself, "Okay, the dog character gets killed and Puss wishes him back finally learning the value of one life", but no, that doesn't happen. Heck, even when they do a third act split up, it's done for an understandable reason. We understand where Puss in Boots is coming from, we understand his anxieties and fears. I mean, the plot is smooth as butter on its own, but avoiding using the fake out death cliché, I love it already.
And yeah, the characters are all delightful. The relationships each character has is so believable that you almost forget you're watching a movie with talking cats, dogs and bears. You genuinely believe that Kitty has a deep sense of betrayal, that Goldie and the bears are a genuine family, that Jack Horner is... unredeemable and pure evil, God I missed having villains like this. Not that I don't love more three-dimensional and deep villains like John Silver from Treasure Planet or The Gorgs from Fraggle Rock, but sometimes you do just want a villain that is just plain evil. Speaking of villains, let's talk about Death, because yeah, I totally get why everyone latched onto this character. Effortlessly intimidating, that whistle sent chills down my spine, and his voice is just right, maybe a bit on the plain side though. I mean, I don't need, or want him to sound like Christian Bale's Batman, but I could have gone with a bit more of a sinister voice, then again, Death having such a standard, every-day voice might actually make him much scarier. Genuinely, I think this is one of the most terrifying performances in an animated movie.
2022 will be the year I pegged as animated movies trying more styles, and compared to some of the other movies that came out in 2022, this movie does look a little standard, but this movie did not need stylized animation because this movie looked so good. The beautiful colours, the wonderful transitions that used the characters fading out, and the character designs, I liked the stylized look of films like The Bad Guys and Wendell & Wild, but sometimes, a really good non-stylized movie can still look fantastic. That isn't to say there is no stylization, some of the action scenes were definitely inspired by the look of the more stylized animated movies, like Into the Spider-Verse and The Bad Guys, and it does feel a little out of place, but that is just nitpicking, the animation of this movie is fantastic. Really, it is a shame I didn't see this one in theatres, because hot damn, this is a theatre movie done beautifully. Some films only ever look impressive on giant screens in dark rooms, but this movie is one of those that would look great on a dinky laptop in the summer sun.
So yeah, this was a really good movie. I kind of thought I could skip this one since... I mean it's a Puss in Boots movie, did anyone even care about the first one? I mean, I doubt it's a bad movie, but it feels like it would be such an inessential movie, so how good could the sequel really be? Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a reminder that when you give something a chance, you can be surprised. Giving movies a chance is a big reason I started this blog. This is a movie I missed out on and am really glad I decided to watch, it is a fantastic movie and easily one of the best of 2022. Where would it rank on my list? Honestly, it probably ranks over Wendell & Wild, yeah it is that good. Which does in fact mean, that this movie is a High Recommendation from me. Then again, considering it's accolades, you've probably already seen it.
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