Adam Collins posted on October 28, 2011 00:00
The last two Shrek films have paled in comparison to the first two, which were phenomenal. Ever since making his debut in Shrek 2, rumors of a Puss in Boots spin-off film have been floating around. Seven years later, it became a reality. Antonio Banderas reprises his role as the frisky womanizing feline.
Puss in Boots opens on Puss escaping from his captor. Puss is an outlaw with a hefty bounty on his head. He finds his way into a local pub where he learns that the criminal duo of Jack (Billy Bob Thorton) and Jill (Amy Sedaris) possesses legendary “magic beans.” Puss does not believe the story, as he spent years searching for the mythical beans. His curiosity gets the better of him, since he is a cat, and he goes to see for himself.
When the beans are within his grasp, Puss is foiled by a mysterious cat in a leather mask. Puss follows this new mysterious cat to a hideout. After a hilarious dance fight, it is revealed that the cat-burglar is a woman named Kitty Softpaws (Selma Hayek). She leads Puss into a backroom where his orphan brother Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) shares his scheme to steal the magic beans. Humpty and Puss have a rocky past that causes Puss to be hesitant in working with him. They grew up in an orphanage together, got into mischief together, then split after a line was crossed.
Armed with Humpty’s brains, the swift suaveness of Puss, and Kitty Softpaws’s thieving, the trio sets out to steal the beans from Jack and Jill. The legend of the beans tells of a goose that lays golden eggs in the castle in the sky, only accessible by a beanstalk that can only grow from the fabled beans. With the golden eggs, Humpy and Puss plan to set the past right.
Puss in Boots has a weird pedigree behind the scenes. The director was the writer of the first three Shrek films. The story is credited to two guys, who are individually responsible for American Pie 2, American Pie: Book of Love, Out Cold, and Shrek the Third. The screenwriter is making his theatrical debut after writing TV’s failed The Cape last year. This seems like a recipe for disaster more than success. Maybe that is why it works so well.
Unlike Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After, which went wrong in the plot and comedy, Puss in Boots firmly plants itself in the land of Fairy Tales and tells a clever funny story? Puss in Boots has its moments. It is a very entertaining, funny, touching family film. I would put this entry in the Shrek-verse above the last two installments, but not up to the level of the first two. While I do not think that it will make the money of Shrek 2, it could pass the last film. As it is supposed to get cold this weekend, you could spend your money on worse things this weekend than sitting in a warm theater auditorium.
RATING: 8/10