Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a 2022 American animated adventure comedy film directed by Joel Crawford and written by Paul Fisher and Tommy Swerdlow. Produced by DreamWorks Animation, it is the sequel to Puss in Boots (2011) and the sixth installment in the Shrek film series. As with its predecessor, the film is based on the character introduced in Shrek 2 (2004) and inspired by the fairy tale. Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek reprise their respective roles as the titular character and Kitty Softpaws, with Harvey Guillén, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, Samson Kayo, John Mulaney, Wagner Moura, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and Anthony Mendez joining the cast. Set after the events of Shrek Forever After (2010), the story follows Puss in Boots, who teams up with Kitty Softpaws and a dog named Perrito to find the Last Wish of the fallen Wishing Star to restore eight of his nine lives. They race against other fairy tale characters seeking the same treasure, while a sinister wolf hunts Puss himself.
Following the success of Puss in Boots, planning for a sequel began in November 2012, but languished in development hell until it was revived in November 2018. In February 2019, it was announced that the film would be helmed by Bob Persichetti, head of story of the first film and co-director of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). By March 2021, Crawford had replaced Persichetti as director. The story draws inspiration from Spaghetti Western films, with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) cited as a particular influence. The film's style was inspired by Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. With new technologies, the team was able to give the film a painterly style to resemble a fairy-tale story, diverging from the visual style of previous installments in the Shrek franchise.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish premiered at Lincoln Center in New York City on November 25, 2022, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 21 by Universal Pictures. It received acclaim from critics and was a commercial success, grossing $484 million on a production budget of $90–110 million, becoming the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2022. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, the Critics' Choice Awards, and the British Academy Film Awards.
Plot
Many years after his adventures with Shrek, Puss in Boots is accidentally crushed by a church bell after subduing a giant during a party in the town of Del Mar. As he recovers, the town doctor advises him to retire because he has already lost eight of his nine lives. Puss initially refuses but relents when he is wounded and disarmed while dueling a wolf bounty hunter at the local pub. A traumatized Puss decides to follow the doctor's advice and move into elderly cat lady Mama Luna's home to live as a house cat.
Months later, Puss meets an optimistic chihuahua disguised as a cat, whom he calls Perrito. Crime family Goldilocks and the Three Bears soon arrive at Mama Luna's home, intending to hire Puss to help them steal a map displaying the location of the Wishing Star. They leave after finding his apparent grave, and Puss decides to find the Star to wish for another nine lives.
Puss, joined by Perrito, starts his quest by heading to the factory lair of the corrupt pastry chef and magical artifact collector "Big" Jack Horner, who intends to use the Star to control all of the world's magic. While stealing the map, Puss encounters his resentful ex-fiancée Kitty Softpaws, who also wants the map. Goldi, the Bears, and Horner discover and chase down the trio, and Puss briefly sees the wolf in the distance. They all end up in the Dark Forest, a pocket dimension that manifests illusions of travelers' memories. During the subsequent clash, Puss suffers a panic attack and flees after the wolf reappears, allowing Goldi to take the map from Kitty.
After Perrito finds Puss and calms him down, Puss confesses his fears and remorse for abandoning Kitty before their wedding. She overhears and tells him that she did not attend the wedding either, believing that he loved himself too much to love her. Reinvigorated, Puss and Kitty retrieve the map while Goldi and the Bears are distracted by a manifestation of their woodland cottage. While escaping from Goldi and the Bears, Puss discovers the cave of lost souls, where reflections of his past lives ridicule him for changing his outlook. The wolf arrives and reveals himself to be Death, who, insulted by Puss' failure to value any of his lives, intends to take his final life personally. Horrified, Puss flees the cave, leaving Kitty and Perrito behind.
During an argument with Baby Bear, Goldi reveals that she intends to wish for a human family, feeling that she does not belong with her adoptive bear family. Though hurt by her confession, the Bears still agree to help her. Puss arrives at the Star and begins to make his wish, but a heartbroken Kitty arrives, berating Puss for his selfishness and revealing that she would have wished for someone she could trust. When Puss confesses his turmoil over his mortality, Kitty is understanding but remains frustrated with his carelessness. Goldi, the Bears, and Horner arrive, and a fight ensues for the map. Goldi briefly obtains it but abandons it to save Baby Bear, while Kitty traps Horner inside his magical bottomless bag.
Death arrives and challenges Puss to a duel, and Puss, having learned the value of a single life from his time with his companions, forgoes wishing for more lives and accepts Death's challenge. They duel and Puss temporarily disarms Death, declaring that, while he can never truly defeat Death, he will never stop fighting for his last life. Realizing that Puss is no longer arrogant, Death begrudgingly spares him and leaves, though they both acknowledge that they will eventually meet again. Puss selflessly allows Kitty to make her wish, but she declines it, now able to trust him again.
Horner escapes the bag by eating a magic snack that transforms him into a giant. Perrito distracts him, allowing Puss, Kitty, and Goldi to destroy the map, which causes the Wishing Star to consume Horner and explode. During the aftermath, Goldi affirms to the Bears that they are her true family, deciding to take over Horner's business; Puss and Kitty reconcile, adopt Perrito, and steal a ship to head to the kingdom of Far Far Away.
Voice cast
Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots – a swashbuckling anthropomorphic tabby cat fugitive from the law and a hero of San Ricardo who has lost eight of his nine lives. In Mama Luna's Cat Rescue, Mama Luna named him "Pickles". Salma Hayek Pinault as Kitty Softpaws – an anthropomorphic street-savvy tuxedo cat and Puss' ex-fiancée who seeks the Wishing Star to find somebody she can trust. Harvey Guillén as Perrito – a friendly and naïve anthropomorphic Chihuahua who is initially disguised as one of Mama Luna's pet cats and wants to become a therapy dog, serving as the film's comic relief character. Florence Pugh as Goldilocks – known as Goldi, the adopted member and leader of the Three Bears Crime Family. Kailey Crawford as Young Goldilocks Ray Winstone as Papa Bear – an anthropomorphic grizzly bear who is Mama Bear's husband, Baby Bear's father, and Goldilocks' adoptive father. Olivia Colman as Mama Bear – Papa Bear's wife, Baby Bear's mother, and Goldilocks' adoptive mother. Samson Kayo as Baby Bear – Papa Bear and Mama Bear's son, and Goldilocks' adoptive brother. John Mulaney as "Big" Jack Horner – a feared pastry chef who plans to use the Wishing Star to gain control of all magic. He has collected various magical items, creatures and people ever since being denied fairy-tale fame by being known as "Little" Jack Horner as a child. His group of henchmen cooks is called "the Baker's Dozen". An unapologetically insane and psychopathic killer, he is an egomaniacal and megalomaniacal man who regularly kills his own men to further his goals. Wagner Moura as the Wolf / Death – a white wolf who is initially presumed to be a bounty hunter before revealing his true identity as Death himself to Puss, whom he wants to personally kill as punishment for Puss wasting eight of his nine lives. He wields twin sickles that combine into a double-bladed glaive. Da'Vine Joy Randolph as Mama Luna – an elderly cat lady who initially takes Puss in. Anthony Mendez as the doctor who tells Puss to retire after informing him of his eight deaths. Kevin McCann as the Ethical Bug – a parody of the Talking Cricket, who attempts to act as Jack Horner's "conscience" As the film progresses, he loses his faith in Horner, eventually deeming him as "horrible" and an "irredeemable monster". McCann's performance was strongly influenced by Jimmy Stewart's voice and speech patterns. Bernardo De Paula as the Governor of Del Mar Betsy Sodaro and Artemis Pebdani as Jo and Jan Serpent – twin criminal sisters who deliver the map of the Wishing Star to Horner.
Additionally, Conrad Vernon and Cody Cameron reprise their roles as Gingy and Pinocchio from previous Shrek films in cameos during flashbacks. Shrek, Donkey, and Imelda from Puss in Boots (2011), meanwhile, make non-speaking appearances in flashbacks.
Production Development
Following the success of Puss in Boots, in November 2012, executive producer Guillermo del Toro shared director Chris Miller's intentions to take the titular character on an adventure to a "very exotic locale". He also stated that several drafts for the screenplay had already been completed. In April 2014, voice actor Antonio Banderas said work on the sequel had begun. On June 12, 2014, the movie was titled Puss in Boots 2: Nine Lives & 40 Thieves. In March 2015, Banderas said the script was under restructuring. He also hinted at the possibility of Shrek appearing in the film.
By November 2018, Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri had been brought on board as an executive producer of both Shrek 5 and Puss in Boots 2. In February 2019, it was reported that Bob Persichetti was set to direct the film while Latifa Ouaou, producer of the first film, would oversee the development of the sequel with Meledandri; Persichetti previously worked on the first film as head of story. On August 19, 2020, DreamWorks trademarked Puss in Boots: The Last Wish as the new title of the sequel, which was approved in December. In March 2021, it was announced that Joel Crawford had replaced Persichetti as director, having previously helmed DreamWorks' The Croods: A New Age (2020), with producer Mark Swift, editor James Ryan, and screenwriter Paul Fisher returning as collaborators along with Januel Mercado serving as the film's co-director. Along with Salma Hayek (now credited as Salma Hayek Pinault) reprising her voice role, new cast members were announced in March 2022, including Harvey Guillén, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, Samson Kayo, John Mulaney, Wagner Moura, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and Anthony Mendez.
Writing
While wanting the film to retain the adult humor from previous entries, Crawford also wanted the film to have a darker tone, with Puss' mortality and fear of death being the film's main focus, wanting to use the concept of Puss being in his last life to tell a story about how to enjoy life. Swift felt the Shrek franchise being over 20 years old by the time the project entered production allowed the film to explore darker themes than its predecessors. He drew inspiration from fairytales by the Brothers Grimm and how they were "cautionary tales that took you somewhere dark to make you appreciate the light". This also influenced the decision to depict Death as a wolf, as wolves in Brothers Grimm's stories were depicted as "the personification of fear". Other influences for the film include Spaghetti Western films, due to how those films managed to balance between different tones. The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (1966) was cited as a particular influence on the film's plot.