You saw the red carpet chat and then the SIDEWALKS interview. Now, what does J.P. thinks of “Puss In Boots”?
PUSS IN BOOTS
MPAA Rating: PG
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris
Studio Synopsis:
Long before he even met Shrek, the notorious fighter, lover and outlaw Puss in Boots becomes a hero when he sets off on an adventure with the tough and street smart Kitty Softpaws and the mastermind Humpty Dumpty to save his town. This is the true story of The Cat, The Myth, The Legend … The Boots.
J.P.’s Take:
He is known by many names. In French story–telling, he is Le Maître Chat, ou Le Chat Botté. In the English works, he’s known as Master Cat or The booted Cat. But, now in modern times, he will be remembered as a suave feline conquistador –“Puss In Boots.”
Created by Charles Perrault in the 1690s, the character is portrayed as a deceitful trickster who gains wealth, power and the hand of a princess for his penniless master. The manuscripts were later translated into English then inducted as part of the legendary Mother Goose Tales. DreamWorks, on the other hand, decided they were going to create their own bed time story … in the form of the “Shrek” quadrilogy.
Continuing with the twisted tales formula, Puss In Boots made his debut in “Shrek 2.” With the success of the “Shrek” franchise (which by the fourth film had quickly ran its course), DreamWorks figured it was time to start anew. The dream team of animation has found a way to revive a near dying franchise by spinning off with another family friendly adventure with its own personality. “Puss In Boots” offers a fresh story line, new characters and 3D imagery. Using various fairytales, including Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss and his comrades search for “the Golden Eggs,” while trying to stay ahead of mother goose and Jack & Jill.
With his own feature film, this is Antonio Banderas’ time to shine as he is quite fitting as Puss, with his suave Latin machismo and boasting of being a lover not a fighter. Joining Puss are other new characters, including a somewhat female version of Puss, Kitty Softpaws (voice of Salma Hayek). Then, there is his estranged best friend, Humpty “Alexander” Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis), who Puss left in bad terms. We are also have Jack (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jill (Amy Sedaris), a married couple who are characterized as greedy rough necked bean thieves.
I enjoyed the other characters, especially Kitty and Humpty. Kitty has the seductive qualities that even in animated form the lovely Hayek can exude though the character. Then, there’s Humpty Dumpty. The idea of an egg as a criminal is funny alone, especially when Humpty busts out with a cheesy line like, “I can’t help it, I’m just a bad egg.”
As I mentioned before, this is a family friendly animation, but it does have some references that adults may understand and will go over the head of kids under a certain age. For instance, there is a scene where Puss is taken to prison and all his belongings are placed into storage. As he takes of his boots and small bottle falls out of them, the guard then asks “a bottle of cat nip”? For which Puss replies, “it’s for my glaucoma.” It’s actually pretty funny because you don’t expect the writers to go there in such a movie as this.
As a standalone film, “Puss” actually works quite well. Although I enjoyed the 90-minute adventure, I still couldn’t help but to feel like it was slightly long winded. My guess is you can only take so much of Puss before the jokes start to wear thin and the adventure becomes more of a wild visual ride. The 3D touch really isn’t needed here; however, it doesn’t hurt to have a little fun with it either.
All-in-all, “Puss In Boots” is a worthy prequel to the “Shrek” franchise.