Cinephile № 1,014 “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”

Recommendation: 4/5 Stars, Showtime

Plot: “When Puss in Boots discovers that his passion for adventure has taken its toll and he has burned through eight of his nine lives, he launches an epic journey to restore them by finding the mythical Last Wish.” -IMDB

Review: I’ll be honest with you. I had no intention of ever watching Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Then it secured a Best Animated Feature at the 2023 Academy Awards. Every year, I do my best to watch every single nominated film, so I knew I would cross paths with this film.

Watching the trailer, nothing beyond the beautiful animation style impressed me. I was sure I would witness another desperate sequel before sitting down in the theater, grabbing any available cash that the studio could wring out of the Shrek franchise.

Friends, I am here happily to report that I was wrong. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a beautiful meditation on life, death, and legacy. It has profound things to say about friendship, belonging, and measuring a life well lived; something I never expected from a franchise that gave us a talking donkey and gum drop buttons. Simply put, the humor and honesty of this film mesmerized me.

Puss (Antonio Banderas) has tested fate more times than he can bother to count. When confronted with the…