More than a decade after his first furry big screen adventure – itself a spin off from the Shrek movies – Puss In Boots (Banderas) is back for a colourful, energetic animated sequel entitled The Last Wish.
It seems our swashbuckling cat has used up eight of his nine lives, and – understandably wanting to live for quite a while longer – he gives up his fighting ways for a quiet life. That is until he hears about a magical wishing star that can grant a single wish to whomever finds it, sending him on an adventure that puts him in the way of crime family Goldilocks (Pugh) and the Three Bears (Winstone and Colman voicing Papa and Mama), corrupt pastry chef Jack Horner (John Mulaney) and Puss’s ex-fiance Kitty Softpaws (Hayek), who wants the map for herself.
As with the first movie and the Shrek films, this boasts some terrific adult humour as well as much cuteness (and those big Puss eyes) for younger viewers, especially in the form of adorable stray dog Perrito (Guillén). They might not understand some of the darker moments – there is a black-hooded wolf lurking around who is pretty scary even before you realise who he really is – or Puss’s thoughts about mortality, but they will love the bright action sequences, a superb opening set piece and the novel animation that brings Puss’s story to vibrant life on the screen.
Hilarious for both adults and kids, with purringly perfect voice work from Banderas and Hayek, this is one of those rare sequels that improves on the original (and is way better than Shrek The Third and Shrek Forever After too).
Is Puss In Boots: The Last Wish suitable for kids? Here are our parents’ notes...
This does have some quite dark moments that may be too intense for very young viewers (under 7s).
SPOILER ALERT The wolf pursuing Puss is actually Death. Puss is very scared when he meets him, which may upset young viewers.
There are chase and fight scenes but it is all very fantastical.
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