Why Puss in Boots The Last Wish is a Modern Classic

funding for shaper Elis is provided by Squarespace the sponsor of today's video oh by the way I have a second channel for YouTube poops and amvs so now you know about that you have no excuse to say that I don't make them anymore okay on to the video you know if there's one movie that I don't see people talking about enough it's Puss and Boots The Last Wish It uh it really flew under the radar and I figured I should do justice to this underrated gem okay but honestly though this has easily been dreamworks's most talked about film in over a decade everyone's praised in it everyone's in love with it I made a little review of it when it first came out and I've been talking about it on Twitter and in a lot of my videos as well it doesn't really need much more attention but like after overanalyzing the entire Shrek Saga do you really think I'm going to stop there nah we got to give this masterpiece the long form analysis it deserves Puss and Boots The Last Wish is a movie that defies all possible expect ations the Standalone sequel to The not super loved 2011 Shrek spin-off film that kind of went forgotten after its release no one was clamoring for a follow-up but it came out anyway and blew everyone away not only outdoing the first film by a wide margin but also putting 90% of the rest of dreamworks's catalog to shame it boggles the mind like why did you put so much effort into the story characters and animation of a puss in boot Sequel and also can you do the same thing for Kung Fu Panda 4 pretty please but I'm getting ahead of myself let's unpack every aspect of this wonderful return to form for DreamWorks and see what there is to say about it starting [Music] with if there's one thing I can say that applies to both of the animated movies DreamWorks released in 2022 it's that the animation was very good well that's everything I have to say about the bag guys there you go I reviewed it huzzah anyway back to puss in Bobs so the thing about the Shrek movies and the original Puss and Boots is that they came out during the time when realism was the main goal of computer animation this made for some revolutionary visuals at the time but looking back on them uh yeah I mean Shrek 4 kind of holds up okay animation wise but everything else is noticeably dated looking which makes the sudden style shift present in the last wish utterly jarring in the best possible way like this is how puss used to look and this is how he looks now what a glow up the character designs are just generally more expressive and colorful which is bolstered by the gorgeous new painterly aesthetic that the entire film's visual style aderes to there are so many scenes that just feel like a story book came to life either through the way the environments are laid out or the stunning Vivid colors like just look at the Garden outside Mama Luna's place this has got to to be one of the most gorgeous looking environments I've ever seen in an animated film and this isn't even like a magical place or anything this is the outside of a cat's retirement home and they went this hard on making it look so pretty imagine what they can do with some legit magical locations oh wait you don't need to imagine it it's in the movie dumbass keep watching look at the vibrancy of these posies or the stunning setting of the final battle at top the Wishing Star it's unbelievable how above and beyond the animators went on these incredible backgrounds and details but like many classic fairy tales this one has a lot of dark elements to it and the animation supports this many scenes with the wolf or other somber moments along the way are lit in a sufficiently dark manner to really let the intention of the scene set in it's a movie that Embraces the full Gambit of how fairy tales can make you feel taken in by Whimsy 1 second and then being terrified the next but then there's the obvious bonss to this animation style the action scenes I've said it before but as soon as you see characters start dropping frames that's how you know you're in for some good it happens as early as the opening action scene against the giant it really lets you know yeah we're going to go ahead and push the capabilities of the medium of Animation harder than any DreamWorks movie has ever done before that's on top of the impact shots where the backgrounds reacts to the giant getting hit as well as the way the camera follows puss as he Dodges the bell and makes his way over to s giant the cinematography does as good a job at immersing you into the scene as the animation style it really is something special by the standards of this franchise and Studio they also go all out with simple traveling scenes like the one where Jack hoer is pondering the orb only for it to zoom into silhouettes of all the other characters God just talk about a movie with full confidence in its visual style there's never a dull moment visually every frame just conveys a complete Mastery over what's needed for the scene to pop but this is pretty obvious to anyone who has eyes fortunately there's a plethora of substance in this film that does a great job of matching its incredible style let's go ahead and talk about what each character brings to the narrative starting with Squarespace they were my favorite character in the movie I like when they said it's Squarespace in time and then they squares spaced all over Jack Herer I really hope Squarespace comes back for Shrek 12 okay let's talk about them now Squarespace is an amazing online website builder that enables you to create beautiful websites for your business or personal hobby create your own online store to sell your products whether they be physical digital or service products you better believe Squarespace has the tools you need to start selling online hop on in with one of their professional website templates with designs for every category and use case then make it your own by customizing the design updating contents and adding whichever features you need any Squarespace template can do anything you want allowing your idea brand or business to stand out and on any device too you can even host video content using Squarespace organizing your video library showing off your content on Beautiful video pages and selling access to exclusive videos with member areas the possibilities are near Limitless check out squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're ready to launch go to squarespace.com sheris to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain in addition to having an awesome and distinct visual style this film also has the distinction of telling one of the best stories in any DreamWorks movie and as much as I enjoy the way the Shrek series subverts classic fairytale tropes and stories I think that right off the bat you can really see the emotional maturity of this story in comparison when it proudly proclaims this story is a fairy tale without any sense of irony or cynicism just simply hearing Puss and Boots recount the legend of the Wishing Star is very much the opposite of what you'd expect from a Shrek film's opening and that's kind of this film's main Mo not electing to subvert fairy tales but instead to embrace them and kind of make them cool again in a much more sincere way than what Shrek did the entire concept of the film revolving around a magical forest that terraforms and changes the obstacles in everyone's path based on who's holding this map that's genius it's the kind of incredibly creative fairy tale concept you'd want to see an entire movie built around and it manages to say a ton about its characters in the process speaking of said characters why don't we kick things off with Team friendship starting with the doggo who named the team perito I love this pup so much I was really dreading his character going into the movie cuz the trailers made him look like the obligatory generic comic relief sidekick that would really drag down the movie and make it more kid-friendly then I watched the movie and oh munching stupid little yeah so not only is parito hilarious but his presence honestly enhances the film in incredibly unexpected ways he's basically this film's equivalent of donkey without being a complete rehash of that character he brings a different vibe while still serving as a vital Confidant for the main characters disarming them and allowing them to open up to other people much like how donkey was a great shoulder to vent on for both Shrek and Fiona in the first movie Pito allows both puss and kitty to lower their guards and start trusting each other again all because they allowed themselves to trust him he's crucial to both of their character arcs plus his incredible optimism serves as a welcome contrast to their pessimism I mean this poor Papo has the most tragic backstory in the entire Shrek franchise and he's so innocent and trusting that it doesn't even register to him that he's supposed to feel sad this leads to a scene that's funny but also setting at the same time a crazy feat to pull off it's also the first time Kitty expresses concern for another character she goes from not trusting Pito and assuming him being nice as a facade to actually getting wrapped up in the emotional turmoil he doesn't seem to have she even suggests that he should have a wish even though her entire goal was to get the wish for herself speaking of which let's turn our analysis over to Kitty she sure was a character from the first Puss and Boots and I sure do remember what she did in that movie I'm just you know not going to talk about anything relating to her from that movie not because I don't remember just cuz uh this analysis is long enough as it is yeah okay fine I watched the stupid ass first movie again that was kind of mid but Humpty was the greatest character ever conceiv for Cinema so 10 out of 10 anyway Kitty in the first movie is fine she's whatever she's just there to be puss's love interest and oh no she's sneaky she double crosses him and wow they're both very horny whoo boy she has like no character in this first film as well as no real relevance since the story is entirely focused on the relationship between puss and the stupid egg you could take her out of the movie with very minimal retooling and not much would change we get one interesting bit of backstory with her that being how she was unexpectedly declawed by her previous owners the movie then proceeds to do nothing with this information even though it would be the perfect catalyst an arc where she doesn't trust anyone and has to learn to open up to others and hey that sounds like a certain actually good movie doesn't it yeah Kitty went from being Bland and static in the first movie to one of the most dynamic and interesting characters in the sequel her bickering with puss is consistently hilarious it really does feel like they have a ton more history at this point and they come across like an old mared couple but she also has a nice Arc where she starts learning how to put her trust in others again she starts off ready to shank Pito at a moment's notice but as I mentioned earlier she eventually accepts that he genuinely is that nice and she briefly mentions her declawing as one of the reasons she avoids trusting people in general but a lot of the unresolved conflict with puss specifically relates to something that happened in Santa Coloma the mailman's here I got to pause I should invite the mailman into this analysis I should ask if he has anything to say about Puss and Boots oh too late he's going away no okay bye after numerous references to this mysterious event puss finally reveals to Pito that it was their wedding day he left her at the altar and she overhears how remorseful and guilty he feels about it and so she resolves his conscience by admitting to him that she didn't show up either since puss was incredibly ego-driven and too in love with himself you might wonder why she so adamantly holds Santa Coloma against him when she wasn't there anyway and I feel like there are two possibilities here one she was lying maybe she did show up at the wedding only to get her heartbroken and pretending she wasn't there is her way of forgiving puss or two the one I personally prefer is that she didn't show up because her mistrust of puss stems from his huge ego and lack of interest in other people she's not actually mad about puss not being at the wedding that's just a symptom of the larger problem which is how much puss values himself over her she doesn't want to be with such a self-obsessed guy in general and when you combine puss's selfishness with her General mistrust for the whole world that stems from her declawing it's entirely understandable why she assumes puss only has his own best interests in mind and I really like how we don't actually know if Kitty went to the wedding or not they never show a flashback of her there it's like a schinger cat wedding she was both there and wasn't there finally we get to puss himself and unsurprisingly I have the most most to say about him among our Central Trio first of all can I just say that in the context of the larger Shrek Universe I was really worried about puss's character for the past 20 years or so like in Universe it felt like he was this famous hero SL Bounty Hunter SL ogre Slayer for a while there and then as soon as Shrek picked him up by the collar he lost all agency as a character for all time it made sense in Shrek too he owed Shrek a life debt and thus assisted him during his quest in this movie but then during the standing phenomenal Undisputed champion of all Cinema I need a hero sequence he says this today I'll repay my debt okay cool debt repaid I guess so why the is he still around with Shrek in the following movies it never feels like he has a reason to accompany Shrek anywhere outside of The Producers saying well Everyone likes puss and Shrek too so we got to keep him around in the other movies but it never really made sense for his character to still be hanging out with Shrek at least donkey doesn't really have anything better to do aside from his wife I guess but the way that Shrek for concluded it really just felt like puss was already retired and never really did anything cool again so thank God this movie takes great strides to reinvent puss showing us that eventually he did get back to heroism and being this legendary almost mythical figure it's a far cry from how thoroughly the Shrek sequels diluted his character and look I love Shrek 4 more than any other person on planet Earth but you could remove puss from that story and nothing would change you could also do the same thing with struck the third but to be fair you could also remove that whole movie from existence and nothing would change anyway back to the cool the opening action sequence is how you reboot a character having him pull off way more impressive Feats than we've ever seen before I especially love the way his sword swings are in time with the song which Speaking of fearless hero is a Bop but this opening sequence has a more important role than making puss cool again it makes him arrogant he loves being a hero mainly for the recognition it gives him he doesn't even remember what town he's in he throws a huge party in his honor and he's the one who awakens the sleeping giant by carelessly setting off fireworks his arrogance really comes to a head once he slays the giant but stays behind for an oncore performance of his song and this is what kills him he would have been fine if it wasn't for his hubris which we see in his past deaths Montage he wastes almost all of his previous lives in incredibly stupid ways and even when the doctor advises him to stop and start taking his mortality seriously he doesn't do that since his ego drives everything he does it isn't until his literal encounter with death when he starts to reconsider he goes to the cat home and his dignity collapses I guess one of the few problems I have with this movie is that it feels like we spend a while here and you could have cut that time down but it's still a necessary way to break the hero down and show him at his lowest point thus far I mean I guess technically his lowest point was being in Shrek thei third but let's not worry about that it's also a great idea to take away his sword for the majority of the movie A crucial aspect of his heroism is now gone and he's unable to reclaim it until he proves himself in the final showdown and it's nice how in addition to all these outside factors breaking down puss's ego and humbling him he also comes to his own realizations about himself you can see in the cave of lost souls scene how much he doesn't connect with his previous lives anymore seeing them as arrogant jerks to Value living up to the legend over forming bonds with others a great Showcase of his growth overall the last element of puss's character I want to touch on right now is a certain scene now this is going to blow your mind but did you know that this movie has a realistic depiction of a panic attack again much like the movie itself no one really talks about this scene but seriously before it got memes to high heaven try and remember that at one point this was just a really mature and well done scene puss has established his outward Persona to be this Fearless hero someone who never gets scared by anything but the fear of death both the concept and the character has finally broken him in the midst of this chaotic battle with Jack Corner's Bakers dying left and right in front of him push sees the mysterious wolf yet again and succumbs to the pressure of staying alive so he runs off eventually stopping at a tree to do nothing except hyperventilate he can't communicate he can't move he can't think he's just overtaken by fear and despair it sticks out is one of the truest moments of the movie it's here because it feels like a natural progression from the last scene and puss's character and it leads to Pito fulfilling the desire he expressed earlier in the movie to be a therapy dog he lays his head on puss's lap and just supports him calming him down in the process and allowing him to finally open up about his fear it's such a smart and natural payoff and I like it even better because they don't mention the therapy dog thing here Paro doesn't have a line like wow I guess I am a real therapy dog now or well that just happens good thing you've got your therapy dog puss my boy no they show rather than tell they trust Their audience to get it they let a serious character moment play out without dumbing it down in any way or undercutting it with a joke obviously there's a lot more to say about puss's character and journey throughout this movie but I'll save it for when we discuss a certain other character that puss's Arc is intertwined with there's plenty of other peeps we should take a look at first like why don't we see what a certain orphan girl and her bear family are up [Music] to I feel like if there's any aspect of this movie that's just kind of good and not outstanding it would be everything with with Goldilocks and the Three Bears their presence is welcome and enhances the movie for sure but I feel like they're some of the least talked about characters from it for a reason not cuz they're bad there's just so many other things to talk about here they build them up as ominous bounty hunters that subverts everything you know about them from their fairy tale kind of like Jack and Jill in the first movie except actually memorable and not as embarrassing but as it turns out there are a bunch of incompetent goofballs masquerading as a crime family oh and the Bears can talk it's genuinely funny how they wait a little bit to reveal that in general it's really fun to see a bunch of amateurs do their best to commit crimes the only thing that can get kind of old is the number of Just Right jokes they make like there's got to be some other joke material they could have pulled from cuz it really loses its charm after like the 12th time but for the most part they remain a fun goofy antagonist team for puss and Pals to contend with it isn't until Goldie finally gets her hands on the map halfway through the movie that we start to see some of the de fit play with these characters see throughout the first half it's pretty unclear what horse this team has in the map race we don't know what wish they're interested in making hell the Bears themselves don't even really know they just trust Goldie's secret wish to be something spectacular one that'll make them a big time crime family with all the pies they could eat but soon enough the map tells her that what she seeks might be right in front of her and oh look at that it's their cabin back home the Bears quickly lose all motivation for getting the wish since as it turns out they have all they want already and Goldie sees an echo of her younger self on the day she first wandered into the cabin and became a part of the Bear's family usually in this fairy tale Goldilocks escapes and never crosses paths with these Bears again but it's pretty novel of the fairy tale subversion franchise to subvert what it usually does and instead spin this story into a more positive and wholesome outcome and said outcome is the found family troll R ooh I love it it serves as a nice parallel to the found family forming between puss Kitty and Pito and this scene in particular is where the movie finally tells you yes you're absolutely not wrong for finding Goldie and the Bears endearing that was our intention you're welcome and Goldie is further smacked in the face with evidence that her adopted family is all she really needs courtesy of who else Pito they end up kidnapping him and he has the time of his life watching Goldie and baby bear bicker joining in with some colorful vocabulary my foot grab it he then expresses how much he would love a family like this and that Goldie has truly won the orphan Lottery yet another indication to Goldie that she has everything She Wants already and it once again doesn't quite sink in cuz in the next scene with these characters she finally reveals that her wish is to have a proper family cuz apparently she's just too good good for living with bears It's a cruel motivation for her to have and as hurt as the Bears are they nonetheless vow to get her that wish it's nice to avoid the characters breaking up before getting together again in the climax cliche even though this probably is a justifiable reason for the Bears to temporarily leave but Puss and Boots laughs in the face of play out cliches so instead they accept that Goldie wants to move on after all she's not a bear hey wait a minute just wish to be a bear problem solved we can even have a spin-off of this spin-off sister bear the first DreamWorks film to make negative money at the box office since Disney proved twice that audiences hate it when people turn into Bears so armed with the knowledge that sister bear would utterly bomb Goldie resolves to wish for human parents but ultimately she lets the wish go when she has it in order to save baby renouncing the wish since she realizes that the Bears were her true family all along it's a very simple Arc and predictable conclusion for this side story but I think it's nice to have it in here I think I said in a previous Shrek analysis that I'm all for redeeming villains whenever it's appropriate and that's very much the case here Goldie and the Bears may have had the weakest storyline in the film for me but the way it wraps up is just right the Bears even got their unofficial wish of wanting a bunch of Pies since they get to take over a certain Pie Factory and as for everyone else officially buying for the wish it's nice that they all realized that none of them actually needed it this whole time Goldilocks already had the family she was looking for Kitty already had someone she could trust in puss puss already had enough with one life and he just needed to Value it and there's one other character who should have been satisfied with the abundance of magic he had but just wasn't he just needed more he had the shallowest wish and yet he's the only one who couldn't give said wish up let's talk about back when the movie first came out I was a tad bit worried that I was going to be the only Jack Herer enjoyer since I didn't really see anyone else talking about him online the discussion was all about the wolf and Goldilocks and puss himself and I figured I would just have to be Jack's main promoter much like how I am with crab boy but for fortunately the public reaction to this irredeemable monster was merely a bit delayed I guess people just needed time to process all this villainy goodness but yeah a few weeks later everyone started talking about how much they enjoyed Jack corer to the point where he's probably the second most disgusted character in the movie after death which is funny since there isn't a whole lot to analyze about him he's just a fun pure evil villain with no emotional baggage or compelling backstory to make him relatable or understandable which is wild since having a one-dimensional villain could be considered a knock against the movie and yet it's an aspect that's been universally praised here why do you suppose that is well let's explore that shall we first of all let's not forget what franchise this is It's a Shrek the certified anti- Disney franchise ever since its conception it has existed to push back against and subvert Disney and their signature brand of fairy tales traditional musical numbers get replaced with pop music the beautiful princess becomes an ogre and stays that way the characters swear and make inuendos and all that goofy stuff it's a rejection of the ultra familyfriendly Traditional Values depicted in Disney's earliest and simplest fairy tales and it worked wonders when it came out a few years after the Disney Renaissance concluded but times have changed for the studio lately they've made their princesses more proactive their stories more layered and For Better or Worse their villains more complex not only do many of them have motivations for the things they do now but a lot of them hide their true intentions from the protagonists and the audience until the big reveal this means that none of them really have a chance to be unabashedly evil since the evil versions of these characters barely get any screen time all for the sake of serving a lame twist yada yada yada come on this is chaurus 101 you should know this already between all the twist villains and movies with no villains in them we haven't actually seen a real honest to goodness main villain from beginning to end since King Candy in Wreck-It Ralph and that was 11 years ago needless to say everyone misses solely evil antagonists and they kind of resent Disney for removing them from their stories I swear to God if they do a fake out with wish and Chris Pine turns out to be a Twist hero I am going to lose my marbles so with all that said isn't it fitting that the Shrek franchise one-ups Disney yet again giving us one of the most deliciously evil irredeemable villains any animated movie has had in years and the anti- Disney element of his character goes a step further than him being a reaction to the current climate of Disney films you see Jack is a hoarder of all sorts of magical object objects from different familiar fairy tales just looking at his impressive Trophy Room collection wouldn't you think he's the guy the guy who has everything but who cares no big deal he wants more this gluttonous Maniac will never be satisfied until he gets all of the Magic in the world is this starting to seem pretty allegorical to something else Jack corner is Disney he collects all these fairy tales and brings them underneath his umbrella often misusing or misunderstanding them Disney frequently changes the stories of certain fairy tales in order to make them more marketable like I bet some of you didn't even know that the little mermaid dies in the original version of the story and don't even get me started on the snow queen versus Frozen it's totally fine to change stories around and make new adaptations out of them but the thing is Disney is so huge that their versions of certain fairy tales kind of overwrite The Originals in the public Consciousness but it doesn't really matter to them does it the little mermaid is a nice happy story with no murder now Aladdin has a genie doing celebrity Impressions now Chicken Little is a shitty Alien Invasion story now a noble Phoenix is a flamethrower now Excalibur is a sword with a big rock stuck to it now hey look at that Jack corer and Disney both missed the point of Excalibur and finally you know back when track initially ended in 2010 Disney didn't have much just loving fans and stability and a seemingly endless catalog of classic hit animated films both from their own studio and from Pixar useless crap like that but uh over the course of the 2010s Disney sure has been buying a lot of Brands huh between Marvel Star Wars The Simpsons robots 2005 and all the other Blue Sky films it's pretty clear that there's nothing Disney wants more than all of the IPS in the world for them and no one else gets any is that so bad yes the answer is yes agree to disagree Jack corer is easily the most aggressively anti- Disney villain in a franchise whose first villain was literally a caricature of former Disney CEO Michael Eisner it's so nice that we're keeping this tradition alive even after 21 years years of this franchise existing but of course Spidy Disney isn't the only reason Jack corer is such an absolute Banger villain the dude is just consistently hilarious often providing the film with some of its best onliners which are all delivered excellently in John meany's trademark goofy voice I also love his grotesque baby face and awful haircut just top-notch work on his design it should also be noted that Jack joins the pantheon of villains who are both silly and funny yet also serve as a legitimate drastic threat this type of villain is my favorite by far you know your gastons your bill ciphers your kakaris Hades Jack corer easily secures a spot among their ranks being consistently hilarious but also someone who does some real damage and provides some Stakes to the story like without him yes puss is still being chased by death but the only other threat in terms of the wish plot line is Goldie who it turns out only once her family back Jack provides some crucial Stakes to the story while also being the Catalyst for Goldie and the Bears forgoing all pretense of antagonism and joining forces with Team friendship so he's funny he's threatening he's crucial to the stakes of the story what am I missing oh yeah a certain idiot one of my favorite Jack jokes is undoubtedly that hilarious ass Cricket not only is his chemistry with Jack great and his voice and manner of speaking just perfect for comedy mAh chef's kiss but it's conceptually a great comedic idea to adapt Pinocchio's conscience except this time task him with finding the good in a maniacal irredeemable monster that's what I call a classic shrekism a fun subversion of a fairy tale we all know in love hell the cricket even gets an arc of his own realizing that sometimes people just suck and there's no redeeming them this leads him to kind of get the last blow on Jack in the final battle so to speak when he burns up the last piece of the map and prevents Jack from getting his wish and he even gets an epilog scene with the Bears like they really went above and beyond for a gag character in fact now that I'm discussing all the funny Jack and his cricet buddy give us now would be a good time to mention that this is just generally a funny ass movie it really isn't fair how this movie much like spiderverse just has it all Stellar gamechanging animation gripping drama a mature tone compared to its contemporaries John meany and really strong humor nearly every Jack and Cricket line is comedy gold of course we all know this but there's a lot of funny to be had from Puss and Kitty's bickering the Bear's bumbling attempts at being threatening that one Cameo from the oh cat since that's one of the only memorable gags from the first movie and paro's innocence and optimism oh and also his swearing yeah I think those sensor beeps took all of us off guard as did the surprising frequency of mild swears like crap hell Kitty almost saying Etc director Joel Crawford has stated that these were an intentional way to hearken back to the edginess of the Shrek Saga and they're a very welcome addition so are the hilariously gruesome ways Jack's Bakers keep dying like holy having so many characters perish like this adds some texture to the Dark Forest while also allowing for some excellent comedic timing with some of these deaths hey wait a minute something about all these Dead characters reminds me am I forgetting to talk about someone in this movie as you might have guessed I've been saving the best part of this movie for last let's talk about death undoubtedly my pick for the best villain in any DreamWorks movie and I want to clear that up right now yes death is a villain not a mere antagonist if he was merely a force of nature who comes to take puss's last life after he loses it legitimately then yes death would be the antagonist who's merely doing his job a lot like Terry from Soul but that's not what's going on here death is actively tormenting puss and attempting to prematurely kill him one of puss's past lives even notes that this is cheating the fact that he changes his mind at the end doesn't change that for most of the movie he is overstepped the boundaries of his job and doing something legitimately evil he is a villain stop correcting people who say that because they're right it's kind of funny though if you think about it the story could absolutely function without the character of death in it like puss could still be motivated by his fear of death to get the Wishing Star and he could still get into this Grand Adventure for it with Goldilocks and Jacko perfectly serving the film's villain roles you don't actually need death the character for this film story to work but with that said holy does his presence enhance the film so much I mentioned in my video on the lack of villains in modern Disney movies how Disney doesn't really have any more villains because they want to have their protagonists go through and overcome internal struggles but DreamWorks went ahead and proved you could do both with this character since death is the physical manifestation of puss's anxiety and greatest fear as a result puss gets a great Arc and compelling struggle in this film while we also get one of the most badass intense villains in any animated movie in recent memory many people have noticed and pointed out that his first appearance is in the crowd during the giant fight which is badass is all hell you never knew it puss but he was always there quietly waiting for the chance to take puss's lives away and his proper introduction scene is so quietly Sinister at the beginning with the lights blowing out the ominous now iconic whistle starting and the big guy himself seemingly appearing out of nowhere you can just feel how much this Beast is savoring every moment of this first conversation with puss all leading up to him tapping the word dead on puss's wanted poster another great detail about the scene is how puss finished eight glasses of milk and now he's currently on his ninth which he doesn't finish before he confronts the wolf that's probably a metaphor for something Je I don't know what it could be though during the fight we get to hear puss's signature heroic theme as he attempts to fight what he assumes is a simple Bounty Hunter even though he consistently can't land a hit on him this all culminates in the wolf doing just that to him Landing a blow with his Scythe there's even hyper realistic blood to really signify that holy our favorite Fearless hero catboy is in legitimate danger here I shouldn't have to tell you how hard this shot goes or this one the direction and the way this moment is framed heightens the intensity and makes for one killer scene pun entirely intended it also hearkens back to the opening song where Puss arrogantly sang about how he's never been touched by a blade before he really Prides himself in this fact it makes him feel Invincible which is why this moment of death finally breaking this streak and proving to puss once and for all that he is indeed mortal is huge and is appropriately given all the weight it deserves from a directorial standpoint it causes puss's hair to stand on end and turn gray all death talks about how much he enjoys the smell of fear mocks puss for having his lives Flash before his eyes and of course tells puss to pick up his sword knowing full well that puss won't I also really like how this brief shot of one of puss's lives is the only appearance of Shrek and Donkey in the whole film like this is the first time since 2010 that a movie has featured Shrek in it you'd think that would be a celebratory moment or in other words a Nostalgia bait moment but they don't play it up at all it was a big part of one of puss's lives it deserves to be shown here but they're not going to linger on it because it's not what this story is about I appreciate the restraint especially considering how the opening logo had boss baby in it so it's nice to know that the movie can use Legacy characters appropriately even if the logo can't it's also fun how it kind of sort of resembles that shot of toone Pumba and Simba walking across the bridge and Lion King continuing the trend of Disney parallels and riffs but none of that really matters right now we're not meant to cheer at the fact that we just saw Shrek and Donkey We're Meant To Fear the fact that puss might not see them again he runs away and you can just tell that the wolf is relishing every moment of the this torture puss manages to escape through the toilet and again let's just appreciate the restraint that DreamWorks of all Studios had to not make a joke out of this they're taking this moment seriously as they should from this point on death informs nearly every action puss takes in the film he scoffed at the notion of giving up adventuring until this monstrosity showed up and absolutely bodied him now he's hanging up his hat and boots and resigning himself to retirement until he learns of The Last Wish and he forms a new plan to cheat death his entire motivation revolves around death the two are intrinsically linked to the point where death doesn't interact with anyone in the whole film outside of puss Jack Herer and his entire team of Bakers literally die but death doesn't sweep in to reap their souls or anything he's only here for this one gate and no one else is even aware of his presence until the final fight which makes him feel all the more Sinister it's like yeah no he isn't just here because this is his job he is a malicious Relentless Hunter hellbent on torturing one guy he also shows up incredibly sporadically only having about 7 Minutes of screen time in the whole film and yet his shadow looms over all of it using him so infrequently makes every encounter distinct and memorable and then there's the scene in the cave with all of puss's past lives where we get a glimpse of his motivation how he feels slighted by puss treating his lives so frivolously and not valuing any of them plus calling the whole idea of Nine Lives absurd which it totally is cats are op please Nerf we even get one of his only comedic lines in the film where he finally reveals himself to be death and clarifies that he doesn't mean it metaphorically or rhetorically or theor theoretically or poetically and that he's just death straight up way to make a genuinely funny line that also manages to fit the tone of a dark character and a dark scene it just feels so natural and it doesn't take anything away from the terror of the character the scene also has delightfully frightening imagery and now it's probably a good time to mention that there are kids watching this movie like technically it was made for them the fact that it goes this hard with the dark imagery and actually earns a PG rating rather than just being handed one by default is a very refreshing change of pace Don Bluth once said that kids can handle dark stuff as long as the film has a happy ending which is a sentiment you can easily apply to this movie Once kids are out of like the preschool demographic I think it's a good idea to challenge them with imagery like this that might be outside their comfort zone since it can really stimulate their creativity and Imagination and from an adult perspective you can really just appreciate the Artistry that goes into how they present this cunning villain as well as get invested in how he directly ties into puss's Arc which of course comes to a head in his final showdown with death this is notably the first time any character other than puss notices him likely because death doesn't care about hiding anymore and tormenting puss from afar he declares this to be puss's Last Stand so he lets the others watch from the other side of the fire that makes up his boss Arena as these Flames spout you can hear a far more intense orchestrated version of his theme which previously only appeared in its chilling whistle form he offers puss the choice of taking the coward's way out and using the wish to get his lives back or finally picking up his sword and fighting and as puss's first life starts flashing before his eyes again it quickly gives way to moments from his current life and the adventure he went on with Kitty and burito he finally accepts that his previous lives came and went and that instead of clinging to them and obsessing over his mortality he vows to continue living the one life he has left it's a beautiful Revelation that brings him to tears while also enabling him to pick up the sword for the first time since the beginning of the movie as well as spout his signature catchphrase fear me if you dare then after that we get the best fight scene in the whole movie Everything comes together here the emotional Stakes the fiery backgrounds the choreography the way death's weapon strikes hit the ground in time with the score the reveal of the gatito blade Kitty gave puss the way puss uses the same spinning move he did in his previous encounter with death only to fake him out with a swift kick to the face oh so good and then the most satisfying line in the whole movie pick it up I legitimately wanted to cheer when push said that I never cheer at Movies mind you but ooh that was just strange straight fire after that puss finally admits that he can never defeat death but that he'll never stop fighting for this life which is the most mature and perfect conclusion to this storyline possible instead of him actually killing death or knocking him off the platform and winning the smash battle puss accepts that death is inevitable but proves that he should be allowed to live out his final life and death agrees no longer finding any fun in this Pursuit since no longer sees puss as an arrogant little Legend who thought he was Immortal this line not only comes after an entire movie dedicated to humbling puss and enabling him to let go of the legend he feels he has to live up to but it's also a direct parallel to a line Kitty has earlier when she tells him she didn't come to the wedding either she says she wasn't going to show up to marry the Legends but he doesn't seem like that guy anymore she noticed the exact same thing death does in this scene after all death's entire character is intrinsically linked to puss's Arc throughout this movie and nothing makes that clearer than the fact that once puss's Arc is complete and he vows to ignore being a legend and value his remaining Life Death just leaves they both agree that they'll meet again and he pieces out it's a beautiful conclusion for the character one that doesn't devalue him as an Unstoppable Force since it was wholly his decision to let puss live in a way he kind of falls in the category of redeemed villains since he lets go of his evil desire to end puss's last life prematurely and returns to just doing his job waiting until puss dies without his involvement to finally take his life and puss is content with that fact just perfect would not change a thing about anything death related in this film it makes for one of the most mature and compelling storylines I I've ever seen in an animated movie and it's going to stick with me for quite some time everything after the death fight resolves in a spectacular way Jack corner is dispatched in hilarious fashion which it's really a testament to how well this movie juggles multiple villains that the battle with giant Jack manages to still fit and work even after the perfect death battle Goldie and the Bears remain a family and get their pie Enterprise the cricket gets a new purpose or maybe he was squished here at EK Pito sticks with that name since that's what his friends call him a and we get a nice little bookend Stinger with the governor where team friendship steals his ship and sails to holy now we're talking some have argued that the movie didn't need to end with a Shrek teas since it has so much of its own identity but I like it it's the filmmaker's way of saying imagine how lit Shrek 5 is about to be boy I hope hope it lives up to the legend and that's Puss and Boots The Last Wish a movie that came out of nowhere and blew everyone away after 11 years in and out of development hell it somehow emerged with an unbelievably creative premise surprisingly rich and layered characters a tone that both pays tribute to the Shrek franchise while also managing to warmly Embrace its fairy tale Heritage a stunning new animation style that follows in the footsteps of spiderverse while also feeling distinct and memorable in its own right and of course one of the greatest villains ever included in an animated film I love this movie with all my heart and I really think it's going to stand the test of time in the same way the first two Shrek films have and the fourth film deserves to 20 years from now I think we're all still going to be talking about it it's humor it's animation it's drama the whole shebang it's one for the ages and I hope it's just the beginning of a new creative Renaissance for DreamWorks again don't up Kung Fu Panda 4 good night Dark [Music] [Applause] Forest

Channel: Schaffrillas Productions

Views: 2,093,375

Keywords: Schaffrillas Productions, Shrek, Shrek 2, Puss in Boots, Puss in Boots The Last Wish, Kitty Softpaws, Perrito, Jack Horner, Goldilocks

Id: fUkRmhcbIoA

Length: 48min 24sec (2904 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 29 2023