A great big grin. That's what I had, as I almost skipped out of the cinema after watching Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Most films have a big impact on me but honestly, in the world today, when a film can transport me away, lift me up, enchant me and then let me float away home, that is what I want, that is my favourite feeling.
The first Puss in Boots film, a spin off from Shrek, was released way back in 2011. 12 years later, we meet Puss again, still as magnificent as ever, until he finds out he is on his 9th life. He reluctantly walks away from everything he knows so he can keep himself safe. He hears about a wishing star, which could set him back to his old ways with a wish for more lives. So he sets off on a quest, joined by some friends, old and new to find this magical star.
This is one of those films which is just delightful in every way. New characters to love, awash with Easter Eggs from many fairy tales, even featuring Goldilocks and the Three Bears as an East End gangster type bear family - voiced by Florence Pugh, Ray Winstone, Olivia Colman and Samsung Kayo to great effect. You even have (not so) Little Jack Horner as the main antagonist and an even more and very effective villain, in death, himself!
It's visually stunning in so many ways. Mainly for the mix of animation styles they've used, to make it look like a fairy-tale painting. It just looks amazing and it felt more like the old-style animation we used to know.
For kids it will be a beautiful spectacle. For adults it has subtext a-plenty and a wonderfully bleeped out joyous rant!
I didn't think I'd be saying this, but this is up there so far in my most enjoyed films of 2023! If you need cheering up and transporting to a land far far away, you won't go wrong with this!
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