Puss in Boots: Last Wish is an animated adventure film serving as the sequel to Puss in Boots and the spin-off to the Shrek franchise. Last Wish has Puss, the cat from Shrek as the main character, with the theme being about how you view your life and appreciating it. The movie was released in Malaysia on December 22nd, 2023.

The Plot of the Wish

Puss in Boots: Last Wish centers around Puss who is pretty much on his last life. It’s a common myth that cats have nine lives and our dear old Puss has pretty much been reckless with it. His past eight lives have been spent without a care and thanks to that, he has the literal concept of Death personified chasing after him.

Being chased by Death did a number on him, especially mentally, to the point of becoming a recluse just so he could get away from it. That was, until he heard of a wishing star that could grant any wishes. Hyping himself back up, Puss sets off on a journey to hunt for the map leading to the star with one wish in mind; More lives so that Death would stop chasing him.

That pretty much sums up the premise of the movie. He’s also not the only one on this hunt. We got Kitty who wishes to have someone she could trust, Goldilocks who wants a normal family and Little Jack Horner who wants all the magic items in this world.

Overall, the movie played it out pretty well. Even though there are many characters in the movie, the plot moves out pretty coherently. I could perfectly understand every single one of their motivations in the movie without the need of having it shoved directly into my face.

Surprisingly enough though, I enjoyed Perrito – the Chihuahua dog – the most and he’s not part of the hunt. He is simply in it because Puss is his first friend and wants to tag along for the fun. I genuinely adore this dog because he has such a positive outlook in life, in contrast to all the others in the movie. Nothing ever gets him down and even if it did, a tiny spark of happiness is enough to bring him back up.

If I had to nitpick one thing about this movie, it would be the conclusion between Puss and Death. I was half expecting some epic throwdown between Puss and Death or maybe even something comedic like what happened to Farquaad in the original Shrek. Neither happened, sadly. The very moment Puss learns to appreciate his life, Death just left the scene, saying how Puss ruined his fun. Just like that.

Presenting the Wish

Like every recent Pixar movie, Puss in Boots Last Wish is presented in 3D but there is a cartoonish texture to it compared to the normal Pixar 3D. Think of the movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse art style mixed into the 3D models.

Pixar’s 3D is already impressive as it is, but this new mix feels refreshing and exciting to watch.

I don’t need to mention the fight choreography and just the overall animations because Pixar has always been excellent in making them not only look good but also expressive.

Voice Acting wise, almost all of the major characters in the movie have different accents when speaking and amazingly enough, they don’t sound awkward to the movie at all.

I can’t really tell all the English accents in this movie since I’m not too knowledgeable about it, but I do know that both Puss and Kitty talk with Spanish accents. There were even scenes where the two talked in Spanish but God forbid the cinema included subtitles there. I just sat there in agony because I was sure there was some comedic context to what they were saying and I really wanted a good laugh.

My Wishing Thoughts

The movie is a sequel but you can still watch it without prior knowledge of the first one since the movie feels much more like a standalone. The only thing you’ll miss out would be the basis of Puss and Kitty’s relationship, but even then, this movie gives enough exposition to it for newcomers to understand how the two interact.

Puss in Boots: Last Wish all around is an amazingly fun movie to watch, be it alone or with friends and family, regardless of age. There’s action, comedy, drama and pretty much everything that was amazing in the original Shrek. I highly recommend this movie, even if you had never watched Shrek before because of how good it is.