Film Review: "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" (2022).

"A new story from the fairy tales of Shrek" comes Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. This computer-animated adventure film directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado, written by Paul Fisher and Tommy Swerdlow, and produced by DreamWorks Animation. It is a sequel to the 2011 film Puss in Boots; a spin-off of the Shrek franchise, and the sixth overall film in the series. Puss in Boots embarks on an epic journey into the Black Forest to find the mythical Wishing Star and restore his lost lives. But with only one life left, Puss will have to humble himself and ask for help from his former partner and nemesis: the captivating Kitty Softpaws. In their quest, Puss and Kitty will be aided—against their better judgment—by a ratty, chatty, relentlessly cheerful mutt, Perrito. Together, our trio of heroes will have to stay one step ahead of Goldi and the Three Bears Crime Family, Jack Horner and terrifying bounty hunter, the big, bad Wolf.

In April 2014, voice actor Antonio Banderas said work on the sequel had begun. In mid June 2014, the movie was titled Puss in Boots 2: Nine Lives & 40 Thieves. In March 2015, Banderas said the script was under restructuring. In February 2019, it was reported Bob Persichetti was set to direct the film. In late August 2020, it was announced that Puss in Boots: The Last Wish was the new title of the sequel, which was approved in December. In March 2021, Crawford replaced Persichetti as director, with Fisher and Mercado were hired to pen and co-direct the sequel. In March 2022, Salma Hayek was confirmed to reprise her role, with Harvey Guillén, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, John Mulaney, and Wagner Moura rounded out the film's voice cast as newcomers. Like DreamWorks' previous film The Bad Guys (2022), inspiration for the design of the film came from Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), to make the film look more like storybook illustrations, from an idea suggested by production designer Nate Wragg. Using new technology, the team at DreamWorks focused more on a painterly style design, to make the film look like a fairy-tale world, different than what it was in Shrek (2001) from their defunct studio Pacific Data Images. The film was originally scheduled for a November 2, 2018 release date, and later on December 21, 2018, before it was removed from the release schedule altogether in January 2015. In March 2021, it was given a September 23, 2022 release date, but in April 2022, the release was moved to its current December 21 date.

The film stars the voice talents of Banderas, Hayek, Guillén, Pugh, Colman, Winstone, Mulaney, and Moura. All the cast are uniformly excellent in their roles.

The film is one of the best DreamWorks features and one of the best animated sequels ever made. It takes everything that made the first film a phenomenon and amplified it to create an unforgettably hilarious experience.

Simon says Puss in Boots: The Last Wish receives:

Also, see my reviews for The Croods: A New Age, Puss in Boots and The Bad Guys.