Puss in Boots (2011)
Certified: U
Duration: 90 minutes
Directed by: Chris Miller
Voices of: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Zeus Mendoza, Constance Marie, Guillermo del Toro, Bob Joles
KRS release
Puss in Boots is back. Well, sort of ... as the cat in question is more of a feline version of Errol Flynn.
The film sees the fairytale hero going about on his adventures before he met up with Shrek.
We meet him while following two quests. First off he has to get some magic beans from outlaw couple Jack and Jill (Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris). Rumour has it that when planted, these beans will grow into a giant beanstalk leading to a kingdom in the clouds where a goose that lays golden eggs is found.
The second quest involves his past. Having been raised by the kind Imelda (Constance Marie) in an orphanage in the town of San Ricardo, Puss wants to clear his name with the townsfolk. In the orphanage he had befriended Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis), a genius egg head who had a talent for laying out criminal plans and inventing all sorts of objects.
Puss had taken on Humpty’s criminal desires but on becoming a local hero he decided to abandon his criminal ways. Humpty however continued in his path and dragged Puss into a bank robbery which led him to disgrace ever since.
In contention for the magic beans is also Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), a masked cat who is soon antagonising Puss all the way. The group is also joined by Humpty Dumpty and the trio is soon on the way to get the goose that lays golden eggs.
Boisterous, swashbuckling and funny, Puss in Boots is a perfect spin-off from the Shrek franchise. It does so, however, without appearing to be thus. It also made me forget the weakness the franchise showed in its last outing.
Puss in Boots wisely chooses to focus on a character that was already interesting in its own right – a character that had the potential to be something more than a supporting act. And on the basis of this picture, there is evidence of the potential to develop into another franchise all of its own. As voiced by Antonio Banderas, Puss is a very well-developed character that resonates well with young and old alike, propelling the movie forward.
The character of Humpty Dumpty, voiced by The Hangover’s Zach Galifianakis, also provides plenty of moments for verbal spin and jokes.
Meanwhile, Salma Hayek purrs along nicely as Kitty Softpaws, providing the film with a delicious feminine touch. Inevitably enough, the cat jokes are all the rage in this picture.
Chris Miller aims for and achieves the Saturday matinee film feel. The film has several standout sequences including the beanstalk sequence and the climactic finale.
The emphasis on the characters and atmosphere gives the film a natural look as if the characters have every right to inhabit this storyline. The colourful animation leaves a lot of space for humour, especially when centred on its feline characters.
The script itself is the basis for the film’s strength as it takes the time to link up with other well-known fairytales and mesh them all together with nice, little, unexpected twists.