Puss in Boots (2011) - Somebody Once Told Me...

Only a year after the release of Shrek Forever After, DreamWorks began releasing a series of spin-offs starring the supporting character Puss in Boots, who more or less took over the franchise for over a decade. The first entry, simply titled Puss in Boots, came out in 2011 during the studio’s partnership with Paramount, who notably distributed Kung Fu Panda, a film that influenced them to focus more on strong storytelling over celebrity cameos and pop culture references (among other aspects brought on by the success of Shrek). While I was aware of Puss in Boots, I didn’t actually watch it until the strength of its sequel, The Last Wish, fueled my curiosity in how well it stacks up by comparison. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the original isn’t as good, though it’s still pretty good on its own merits and helps demonstrate that even early on, DreamWorks’ pivot was for the better.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish - All That Glitters is Gold

As the Shrek franchise dwindled in popularity back in the 2000s, a process that began with the poor reception to Shrek the Third, DreamWorks officially spun of the franchise to center more around Puss in Boots, an anthropomorphic cat parody of Zorro introduced in Shrek 2. Puss, notably voiced by Antonio Banderas, first received a theatrically-released spin-off, Puss in Boots, back in 2011, then a perhaps lesser-known Netflix series, The Adventures of Puss in Boots, which ran from 2015 to 2018. During Puss’ time in the spotlight, effectively taking over the franchise, DreamWorks had announced a Shrek 5, which has yet to see a proper release, let alone any solid news on its development.

In the meantime, Puss in Boots recently received a sequel, The Last Wish, in late 2022. Considering the 11-year gap, the announcement came as quite a surprise and I initially didn’t have much interest, as I hadn’t seen the previous film out of a lack of interest. Its very positive reception, however, convinced me otherwise and I finally saw a theatrical screening after it received an Oscar nomination for “Best Animated Feature”. As it turns out, not only does The Last Wish live up to the hype, it may have actually surpassed the quality of most of Disney and Pixar’s own output from the last few years.