The first Shrek film? Good. The second Shrek film? Very good. The third? Not so good. The fourth? Good, but not as good as the first one. As for the first Puss in Boots film, I haven\u2019t seen that yet, so I\u2019ll reserve judgement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
All the films in the Shrek quartet (look! I did a rhyme! Well, a half-rhyme. Kind of) are fun, child-friendly affairs that, like the best examples we can see in films such as Toy Story<\/em>, manage to straddle that fine narrative line that appeals to both younger audiences and adults. While Puss in Boots: The Last Wish<\/em> manages to achieve this feat, its thematic focus nonetheless leans more on the adult side as we witness the titular feline experience a crisis of conscience when he, uh, dies. Whoa there. That\u2019s not a spoiler. It\u2019s just a key part of the plot that makes him reconsider his life choices. Or, at least, the previous eight lives he lost, with only one now remaining. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Departing to a local drinking establishment, he has a chance encounter with a scary presence referred to only as The Wolf, who happens to be one of the creepiest baddies in animated cinema for a while thanks to his minimal dialogue and a scary whistle motif. A whistle that is potentially the scariest whistle since Bernard Herrmann\u2019s \u2018Twisted Nerve\u2019 that is synched by Elle Driver in Kill Bill Vol 1<\/em>, and before that, the child murderer\u2019s eerie whistle of \u2018In the Hall of the Mountain King\u2019 in Fritz Lang\u2019s M<\/em>. Like F. W. Murnau\u2019s eponymous vampire in Nosferatu<\/em>, his brief appearances make the antagonist, who is simply but expertly designed with cold white fur and bright red eyes, all the more intimidating. It was also interesting to read the Western undertones in the wolf\u2019s characterisation, particularly with his mysterious title, so it was nice to discover that The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly<\/em> was a key influence in the film\u2019s narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond the ever-reliable voice work from Antonio Banderas, the supporting cast is particularly impressive, and rather starry too. Florence Pugh is brilliant as always, voicing Goldilocks, the charismatic and forthright leader of the three bears, with mama bear given some particularly emotive charge from Olivia Colman, as only Olivia Coleman can. Spirited verve is also provided by Harvey Guill\u00e9n as hyperactive therapy dog Perrito, although it\u2019s difficult not to draw comparisons between Up<\/em>\u2019s talking pooch Doug. In a similar fashion, John Mulaney commits in his role as secondary big bad \u201cBig\u201d Jack Horner, but again, it\u2019s hard not to associate his bulky character design with recent, superior animation designs such as Kingpin in Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which is not to downplay The Last Wish<\/em>\u2019s <\/em>overall brilliant, fluid animation style. In a world of The Mitchells and the Machines<\/em> and Arcane<\/em>, it\u2019s a challenge to compete in a world of novel and creative animation styles, but it\u2019s safe to say that Puss stands on his own two feet, particularly in the film\u2019s striking opening scene. Animation technologies have come on in leaps and bounds since the release of Shrek<\/em> back in 2001 (damn I feel old), and puss speeding across the screen as he battles a sleeping giant that he is responsible for awaking is a joy to behold. If you want another fun fact, the opening scene of Puss\u2019s bravura performance in front of his excited audience apparently drew inspiration from Mick Jagger. The more you know, eh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n With its dynamic animation, fun characters and dedicated voice cast, The Last Wish<\/em> is an ameowzing treat for all the family. No, I\u2019m not getting my coat. I\u2019m leaving it right on for all to see. Adios amigos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The first Shrek film? Good. The second Shrek film? Very good. The third? Not so good. The fourth? Good, but not as good as the first one. As for the first Puss in Boots film, I haven\u2019t seen that yet, so I\u2019ll reserve judgement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=766"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1310,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766\/revisions\/1310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}