“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” is a sequel to the 2011 animated film and a spin-off of the “Shrek” franchise.
So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about the film.
- “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” is a 2022 American computer-animated adventure film
- The film is a sequel to Puss in Boots (2011)
- It is also a spin-off of the Shrek franchise
- And the sixth installment thereof
- Produced by DreamWorks Animation
- It is distributed by Universal Pictures
- It was directed by Joel Crawford and co-directed by Januel Mercado
- From a screenplay by Paul Fisher and Tommy Swerdlow
- The film is based on a story by Swerdlow and the first film’s writer Tom Wheeler
- With additional screenplay material provided by Etan Cohen
- The voice cast includes Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek reprising their respective roles as the titular character and Kitty Softpaws
- They are joined by Harvey Guillén, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, Samson Kayo, John Mulaney, Wagner Moura, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and Anthony Mendez who voice new characters introduced in the film
- The film is set after Shrek Forever After (2010)
- And the film follows Puss in Boots’ (Banderas) journey as he sets to find the mystical Last Wish for the Wishing Star and restore the eight of his nine lives that he lost while escaping new enemies (Pugh, Mulaney, and Moura) who plan to hunt him down, with the help of his friends (Hayek and Guillén)
- Plans for a sequel to Puss in Boots began in November 2012
- Then Guillermo del Toro shared to take the titular character on an adventure to a “very exotic locale”
- He also stated a couple of drafts for the screenplay were completed
- Work on a sequel was announced in April 2014, according to Banderas
- The film’s title was announced as Puss in Boots 2: Nine Lives & 40 Thieves in June 2014
- In November 2018, Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri was confirmed as an executive producer
- It was announced that the film would be helmed by Bob Persichetti, the head of story of the first film and one of the three directors of Sony Pictures Animation’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), in February 2019
- Crawford was later announced as the new director in March 2021, along with Mercado, who was the head of story on the first film
- The majority of the new cast members, along with the returning cast, were announced in March 2022
- As with DreamWorks’ previous film The Bad Guys (2022), the inspiration for the film’s animation style came from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Akira (1988)
- Thus giving it a visual style that resembles storybook illustrations
- Rather than utilize the more realistic style introduced in Shrek (2001), the team focused more on a painterly style design
- To make the film look like a fairy-tale world by using new technology.
- Puss in Boots: The Last Wish was theatrically released in the United States on December 21, 2022
- The film received positive reviews from critics
- They praised the animation, themes, voice acting, and humor
- Many critics consider the film superior to to its direct predecessor
- The film has grossed $58 million worldwide
- It was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the 80th Golden Globe Awards
- As of December 26, 2022, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish has grossed $26.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $32.5 million in other territories
- On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 95% rating
- Based on 114 critics’ reviews
- With an average rating of 7.5/10
- The website’s consensus reads, “Arriving more than a decade after the previous installment, the smart, sweet, and funny Puss in Boots: The Last Wish proves some franchises only get better with age”
- Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 75 out of 100
- Based on 21 critics
- Indicating “generally favorable reviews”
- Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A” on an A+ to F scale
- While PostTrak reported 89% of audience members gave it a positive score
