Nordling here.
I really don’t enjoy the SHREK films. I think the first film was dated about 15 minutes after it was released, and other than Eddie Murphy’s Donkey I didn’t enjoy any of the characters until the introduction of Antonio Banderas’ Puss in Boots to the series. I loved the take on the character – undeniably cute and thoroughly cool, Banderas was the perfect choice to voice that character, and I think people picked up on the charms of the character right away. So it was inevitable that the character would get his own spin-off film, but one of the enjoyable aspects of PUSS IN BOOTS is that it doesn’t feel beholden to the SHREK franchise. It’s its own thing - delightfully weird, original, and funny.
Puss in Boots (Banderas) is a wanted cat, roaming the countryside trying to take whatever score he can, and staying a few steps away from the bounty hunters on his tail. He has his scruples – no churches, no orphans – but he’s not averse to getting money for himself if he needs to. Then, the ultimate score arrives – three magic beans, which when planted in the right spot will grow into a beanstalk to a giant’s castle. Within the castle is the Golden Goose and her treasure. Unfortunately the beans are in possession of Jack and Jill (Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris), a ruthless brother-sister team who want the golden eggs for themselves.
Puss is very familiar with the magic beans already – he’s been looking for those beans almost his whole life, ever since his days at the orphanage. Puss lived there with his friend Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis), and quickly formed a friendship. They make a good team – Humpty gets them into trouble, and Puss pulls them out of it. Both of them were rogues and scoundrels, but one day Puss discovers what it was truly like to be a hero, and decides to give up his life of crime. But Humpty, dreaming of finding the goose since he was just a young egg, sets Puss up for a robbery he did not commit, and so Puss roams the countryside, doing the best he can to stay out of the law’s way, o woo the girls, get some money, and find Humpty and get revenge for how Humpty set him up.
But Humpty has a plan to get the beans and make up for what he did to Puss, with help from Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek). Reluctantly, Puss signs up for Humpty’s plan… but Humpty has something more sinister in mind when it comes to Puss in Boots and the Golden Goose. Will Puss become the hero he always wanted to be?
Perhaps it is because of Guillermo Del Toro’s involvement in the film, but PUSS IN BOOTS has a nice scale to it and the characters feel like genuine characters and not just joke delivery systems. One of the most striking aspects of the movie is that it feels timeless in a way that the SHREK films do not – if there are any pop culture references in it I missed them, and PUSS IN BOOTS is not interested in anything that doesn’t propel the story and characters along. The characters are not simple caricatures – they are fairly complicated, especially Zach Galifianakis’ Humpty Dumpty, probably one of the more complex characters I’ve seen in a family film, and the fact that he looks ridiculous adds to the pathos of the character.
The movie is absurd, but in that good way. It all makes sense in the universe the film sets up – it’s a world where talking eggs co-exist with talking, dueling cats and humans and no one seems to notice. Banderas nails Puss in Boots – he’s charming, funny, and knows when to bring the emotion in. So’s Salma Hayek, who takes as much as she gives in her performance. Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris are truly weird as Jack and Jill – both decide that they want to raise a baby, but as they are brother and sister, that could get… awkward. Even Guillermo Del Toro himself does a voice of the Captain of the Guard.
PUSS IN BOOTS could have been an awful tie-in movie, fit only to sell Happy Meals. But it’s much more engaging and funny than you might expect. It doesn’t feel dated like the SHREK films, and there’s enough cool imagery and action to make everyone happy. The 3D is quite good as well – scenes of the camera swooping past landscapes got noticeable reactions from the audience and PUSS IN BOOTS just proves the point that these CG-animated films are really the best avenue for that technology. If you feel like you’re just dragging the kids to a movie this weekend, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised by PUSS IN BOOTS. It’s much more fun than I expected it to be.
Nordling, out.
