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Puss In Boots: The Last Wish: Reaction/Review (Spoilerish)
753 Plays3 years ago
J Scotty goes solo to give his impressions on the first theatrical entry in the Shrek film franchise in more than 11 years with Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, now in theaters!
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Transcript
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Introduction: Special Episode on Puss in Boots, The Last Wish
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Welcome to a very special edition of Animation Deliberation. On this episode, IJ Scotty am going solo to discuss the latest theatrical release for the Shrek franchise, Puss in Boots, The Last Wish. I'll get right into that after some ads I have no say over whatsoever.
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Speaker
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you
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Sing along if you know the words. One, two, three, it's time for animation deliberation. A conversation and a celebration of our favorite action animated series. Yeah. All right folks, welcome in. Thanks for tuning in.
Expectations for the New Shrek Franchise Release
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This is Jay Scottie and as stated at the top, wanted to hop in here to do a quick episode, a reaction slash review of Puss in Boots, The Last Wish.
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And before I dive into the nitty gritty there, I just kind of want to give some backstory to my familiarity with the film, my familiarity with the Shrek franchise. This is the first theatrical release since 2011's.
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Puss in Boots, which itself was a spin-off of the Shrek franchise. And I have not seen that 2011 film. So I went into this movie with pretty – I won't even say low
Character Spotlight: Puss in Boots
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expectations. I went in with pretty measured expectations because I'd been hearing some positive buzz. But my experience with the Shrek franchise has been
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a kind of storied experience. And even seeing this movie, some interesting things happen, but I'll get into that later on. I am 32 years old at the time of this recording, and I was in fifth grade when the first Shrek film came out. And the first Shrek film is still one of my favorite films of all time. I find it highly quotable.
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super funny, very meta and tongue in cheek. And I just love how that film has kind of persisted in this age of memes, like Shrek is so still, still so indelible. And I've seen, you know, Shrek his life and I agree. I like the second film as well, which is the first film that the titular character here
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Puss in Boots, voiced by Antonio Banderas, was first introduced. And I liked that second film as well. I didn't think it was quite as strong as the first film, but Puss in Boots was definitely a standout in that film for me. And he was a character, even at that age, I think I was 12, 13 when that one came out. I always kind of gravitated towards Puss in Boots as this swashbuckling, adventurous kind of hero.
Reflecting on the Shrek Franchise Decline
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I think as seems to be the case with most people, my reception towards the Shrek film started to dip a little bit after that. I remember being fairly excited for Shrek the Third and pretty disappointed after seeing that one. I don't think I've revisited since I saw it in theaters. And then I went a long time before even attempting to watch Shrek forever after. I think it had been out
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for a good four or five years before I found it free on some streaming service and decided to give it a go and I fell asleep during it and I haven't gone back. And then yeah for whatever reason by the time Puss in Boots 2011 came out I was just 21 years old so pretty preoccupied with living my life and you know I
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didn't swear off the cartoons or anything like that. I just did, I did not prioritize seeing that film at all. And I don't think the reception towards it did anything to kind of bolster my excitement. And the fact that it's been this long since we've had a film and the Shrek franchise, you know, it's had direct to home video release and little short films and little TV series here and
DreamWorks' Other Successful Franchises
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there.
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It was kind of on hiatus as far as being a theatrical release goes. And DreamWorks has worked on other stuff in the meantime. I think the Kung Fu Panda series is probably the strongest for me. I know the How to Train Your Dragon series has a lot of positive reception. I saw the first two films and enjoyed those. But yeah, this was a nice return to form to me. So I'll just get into it now. I really enjoyed this film. Like I said, I kind of went in with measured expectations.
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heard positive buzz but didn't really know what to expect. I liked the trailers that I saw. I thought they were pretty humorous and did a good job of setting me up for what we were in store for. But that is one thing I got to say. I do think a few of the jokes were kind of spoiled, especially with the character of Perrito voiced by Harvey Guillen. And I just got to say Harvey Guillen is having
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a hell of a upstart to his career. He is somebody I'm super excited to watch because not only is he in what we do in the shadows as Guillermo, and he's absolutely stellar in that performance, but he also popped up on the Harley Quinn animated series,
New Antagonists: Goldilocks and the Three Bears
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which we covered on this show earlier this summer. He popped in as Nightwing for a few episodes. So I hope this is a boon for his career. I hope the movie does well.
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because he is a highlight in this film for me. He's hilarious. But going back to the trailer, aside from a couple of the jokes that got spoiled, I think the trailers did a really good job of explaining parts of the story without spoiling too much. It kind of laid out the story that Puss in Boots has lived his nine lives. He's down to his last life.
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And he's kind of concerned about that, so he goes and tries to live this life as a regular cat. And the trailer kind of introduced Goldilocks and the Three Bears as these would-be bounty hunters and kind of set them up to be the antagonist. And I was pretty delighted that that was not...
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entirely the case. Those characters are antagonistic, but they are not the main antagonists. They are kind of more of an obstacle and they're kind of in competition with Puss in Boots. And they're not bounty hunters. They wanted to hire Puss in Boots originally to help them find this map that would lead them to the star that would grant the last wish.
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Speaking of Goldilocks and the three bears, they deliver some of the best comedy, especially the bears. Ray Winstone as Papa Bear, Olivia Coleman as Mama Bear, and then a newcomer. Yeah, a newcomer for me, Samson Kyo.
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voice Baby Bear, and he's not someone I'm familiar with, but just kind of looking at his filmography here, he was in
Voice Acting Highlights: Florence Pugh and Antonio Banderas
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Our Flag Means Death, which is a series I have not seen in its entirety, but I've seen a few episodes and liked what I saw. That came from Taika Watiti and was on HBO Max or HBO, so yeah. And then, of course, How Can I Leave Out Goldilocks, voiced by Florence Pugh. And I just got to say, Florence Pugh is one of those, right now for me, she can do no wrong.
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She's done a pretty good job with her ability to act and all the things that I've seen her do in accents. She's done American accents. I've heard her do a more posh British accent, but she's kind of doing a cockney thing here. And of course she did the Russian accent in Black Widow, which, you know, you can take her leave, but I thought it was pretty serviceable. But yeah, nice to hear her do something different. And I like the fact that she's willing to
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go different places. She's going to be in the second installment of Dune, which I'm very, very excited for. But it's nice to see that she can, you know, do more family-friendly content and not be so, I guess, beholden to these festival darlings, like, you know, things are going to get nominated for awards. And this very well could get nominated for
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the best animated film of the year. I think it's got a golden globe for that, but don't quote me on that. But anyway, while I'm talking about the voice cast, I just gotta say Antonio Banderas continues to embody Puss in Boots. He has the swagger, he has the charisma, he has the chauvinistic charm, but he gets to showcase some vulnerability here and I think he does an excellent job with it. That's one of the strengths of the film for me. They introduce a lot of characters,
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But nobody really feels wasted, and especially Puss in Boots. He goes on a relatable, emotional journey. He's kind of, you know, he's got this front as this legendary, fearless hero that people celebrate, and he's kind of the life of the party. But now that he's down to his last life, he's kind of realizing what was the point of all this? What is the point of Puss in Boots kind of like doing his own thing for so long? If when push comes to shove, he has nobody to rely on when he doesn't want to die alone.
Supporting Characters: Kitty Softpaws and Big Jack Horner
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Outside of that, Salma Hayek as Kitty Softpaws, his counterpart and love interest. I thought she was excellent, a very good, a very good counterbalance to him, to Puss in Boots, and kind of kept him on his toes. And I liked their interactions quite a lot. But then going back to Harvey Guillen as Pirito, he is absolutely hysterical, has some of the most laugh out loud moments in the movies when he's trying to
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do the same kind of cuteness that the cats do with their eyes making their eyes big and like people consistently say it looks like he's about to have a hernia and then there's a couple times where you know people are kind of ragging on each other and then he he's just such a fun loving innocent kind of wants to be a part of things that he he takes it as fun ribbing and then he really goes in and they're like some explicit explicit is that they bleep out because it's a family film but it's it's it's really funny
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And then John Mulaney voices the, well, I don't want to say true antagonist because I think there are two.
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true antagonist. John Mulaney is Big Jack Horner coming from the nursery rhyme and they're careful to distinguish that. He's not even in a fairy tale. He's from a nursery rhyme. Little Jack Horner sat in a corner eating his pie. He stuck his thumb and pulled out a...stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plum and said, oh, what a good boy am I. Anyway, he is not Little Jack Horner. He is Big Jack Horner and he is kind of this criminal underworld like kingpin type character and his whole goal is to
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get this last wish so that he can have all of the magic in the world, all the magical powers and ability in the world so they can be for him and for no one else. And John Mulaney is great. I think between this, his voice performance in Chip and Dale, the movie that came out earlier this summer on Disney Plus, and his previous appearance as Spider-Ham in
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into the Spider-Verse, he's really got something going there. I think he should really continue to do this voice acting thing because he's hilarious and it's kind of interesting to see what kind of range he has from being lovable, funny characters to, you know, a actually intimidating villain. And he is, you know, not without his humor, but I think he does a great job playing this kind of
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whiny, entitled man-child. And Jack Horner has these interactions with Jiminy Cricket. And Jiminy Cricket is one of the highlights for the film for me too. Pretty much any time he was on screen, I'd get a laugh. Just his horror and disgust with the depths that Jack Horner is willing to go to in terms of like the way he treats his henchmen and treats them as completely disposable.
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Finally, when he's had enough, he gets to have a great moment at the end. But prior to that, when he just kind of realizes how irredeemable Jack Horner is, he has this hilarious moment where it's just like, you're a irredeemable, horrible monster and your wish is awful.
Horror Elements in a Family Film: The Grim Reaper
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It's pretty great. But then the other antagonist that I kind of referred to is Wagner Mora as
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death. He's this wolf that is basically the Grim Reaper. He's got the black cloth, he's got the size, and he's kind of stalking Puss in Boots throughout this entire film. And Puss in Boots initially thinks that he's just a bounty hunter, has a little interaction with him. But this, this iteration of death is like pretty chilling. And I was actually kind of surprised that it was willing to go that
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delve that far into horror tropes for a kid-friendly, family-friendly film. I found myself being pretty enticed by the scary nature of this character and just how chilling he was. But I liked how at the end of the film they have a final confrontation and death ends up having a grudging respect for Puss in Boots.
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and acknowledges the emotional journey that he's been on, that he no longer laughs in the face of death, but he's going to cherish this one last life that he has. And he reminds him like, hey, you know, we're going to see each other again. And Posenbut says, yeah, yeah, hasta la Muerta. Until death, death comes for everybody.
Animation Style and Influences
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But yeah, I made allusions to Spider-Verse with John Mulaney, but I think it's worth mentioning that this movie does borrow from the Into the Spider-Verse style and the style that we're going to see continued with Across the Spider-Verse, but
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I think it works. For the majority of the film, when we're just having like character interactions and whatnot, it kind of harkens back to that, you know, classic DreamWorks style where it's just 3D characters, pretty highly detailed with the fur details and the fidelity. But then whenever the action gets heavy, it kind of delves into this kind of stop motion.
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action that does remind me of like just like with Into the Spider-Verse it was kind of like flipping through our comic. This kind of feels like you're flipping through the pages of like a storybook and I think some sequences work a little bit better than others. The ones that come to mind as really standing out are the final interaction between death and Puss in Boots at the end and then the kind of opening sequence where Puss in Boots is fighting
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a giant and that's just got a lot of great spectacle and yeah I really appreciated how the movie was kind of able to go back and forth between these two disparate styles of animation but it felt fairly seamless.
The Film's Memorable Music Theme
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Yeah, other than that, I would say one of the other kind of like standouts for me as far as this movie goes is the music. There's one kind of theme in particular that, you know, the movie kind of opens with Puss in Boots kind of celebrating himself with this anthem.
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Who is your favorite fearless hero? And it's pretty catchy. I found myself kind of singing it and humming it to myself after leaving the theater. So definitely enjoyed that and thought it was really well done. So all that to say, I think all these parts really work together to deliver a very enjoyable film, one that was better than I expected.
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I would just highly recommend it if you've listened this long to the spoilers and everything like that. I haven't watched it yet. I would still just really recommend it to you. I know it faces some competition this weekend with it being a holiday weekend, but I think I did see that it opened at number two behind Avatar Way of Water, which is not that
A Humorous Screening Experience
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surprising but hopefully with the word of mouth and this being like a return for the Shrek franchise, it'll garnish some steam and have some legs and get some momentum going because I think it's worth it. I talked about how I kind of had a funny interaction with this film. I will say I tried to see this movie a day before I initially saw it and I sat down, the movie started and I noticed like the opening title was in Spanish in the first like
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opening sequence was all in Spanish. And I was like, okay, I know Puss in Boots, like Antonio Banderas, he has kind of like a Spanish flair to him, not unlike Zorro. So I kind of went with it. I was like, okay, I'll just like wait for the opening sequence to be over and for the English to kick in or subtitles or something like that. And it never happened. And sure enough, when I went out to check with the theater manager, I bought tickets to a Spanish
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Spanish showing and went back and looked and there was no evidence of that when I bought the tickets online. But they were kind and reimbursed me or credited me so that I could go to another showing where it was in English. But I would kind of be interested actually to go back and listen to the Spanish performance because it was definitely Antonio Banderas' voice from what I heard.
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But I'd be curious to see how they tackled some of these other characters that I mentioned. I know Harvey Guillen and Sama Hayek can obviously speak Spanish, but I'm thinking of like Ray Winstone, Olivia Colman, Florence Pugh, what they did in those instances if they got those people to speak Spanish or had other people come in.
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just how they tackled that. So yeah, I think I've already gone longer than I initially planned to, but Puss in Boots, the last which is a big recommendation for me. What do you think? Have you seen it? Do you want to see it? Do you have any reservations? Let me know. Let us know. And you can do that at animationdeliberationpodcastatgmail.com or hit us up on Facebook, facebook.com, animationdeliberation.
Engaging with the Podcast on Social Media
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We're on Twitter, animationdelib1 and Instagram at animationdeliberation.
00:18:16
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With that said, I'm going to bring things to a close here, but just a reminder, we do have our New Year's episode special coming out, so we want to know what were your favorite animated series moments from 2022, as well as what you're looking forward to in 2023.
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So again, thank you for listening to this reaction review. And if you like what we're doing here, please share the show with someone. Give us a rating. Give us a review. All of those things help the show grow. And as always, thanks for tuning in. That's T-double-O in IN.
00:18:52
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Animation Deliberation Podcast, a proud member of the Strandepanda Network. If you would like to contact us, you can email animationdeliberationpodcast at gmail.com or follow us on Twitter at animationdelib1. For this and other great shows, you can visit Strandepanda.com or join the great community that is the Strandepanda Chat Facebook group at facebook.com slash groups slash spchat. Tune in next time and remember, stay well.
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