Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Nobody expected this. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a spinoff sequel to a spinoff of Shrek, the kind of franchise extension that should have been a cynical cash grab. Instead, DreamWorks delivered one of the best animated films of the 2020s, a visually stunning, thematically ambitious, and genuinely moving adventure about death, identity, and the terrifying beauty of a life you can’t take for granted. It came out of nowhere and reminded everyone that DreamWorks, at its best, can produce work that stands with the finest animation in the world.

Puss in Boots has burned through eight of his nine lives with reckless abandon. When he loses the eighth in a casual bar fight, a doctor tells him what he’s never had to consider: the next death is the last one. Shaken for the first time in his life, Puss retires, grows a beard, and hides in a cat lady’s house. But when he learns of a Wishing Star that could restore his lost lives, he’s drawn into a quest that pits him against multiple villains, reunites him with his ex Kitty Softpaws, and forces him to confront the one opponent he can’t charm or fight his way past: Death itself.

Death Walks on Two Legs

The Wolf, Death’s physical embodiment, is the film’s masterstroke and one of the great animated villains. Voiced by Wagner Moura with quiet menace, he appears throughout the film as a bounty hunter tracking Puss, whistling a haunting tune and wielding twin sickles. Every encounter escalates the threat, and the film takes the unprecedented step for a family film of making Death genuinely frightening. The Wolf doesn’t want to destroy a kingdom or steal a treasure; he wants to collect a soul that has been wasting its lives through arrogance. He’s death as moral consequence, and the film plays him completely straight.

The animation style is revolutionary. Drawing clear inspiration from the painterly, stylized approach pioneered by Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the film uses reduced frame rates, visible brushstrokes, and expressionistic backgrounds to create something that looks like a moving storybook illustration. Action sequences explode into graphic, almost comic-book-style compositions, while quieter moments settle into softer, more watercolor-inspired palettes. It’s the best-looking DreamWorks film ever made and arguably the most visually innovative animated film since Spider-Verse itself.

The emotional depth is the real surprise. Puss’s confrontation with mortality is played with genuine weight. His panic attacks, his attempts to hide from his fear, and his eventual acceptance that a single life lived fully is worth more than nine lives wasted, these aren’t just themes for a kids’ movie; they’re themes for any movie. The film earns its emotional climax because it takes Puss’s fear seriously rather than treating it as a joke.

A Crowded Fairy Tale Road

The film juggles multiple villains and competing quests in a way that occasionally feels overstuffed. Goldilocks and the Three Bears crime family are entertaining and well-voice-acted, but their storyline competes for screen time with the Wolf, Jack Horner’s path of destruction, and the Puss-Kitty relationship. Jack Horner, while funny as a purely irredeemable villain played by John Mulaney, is tonally simpler than the rest of the film and his scenes can feel like comedic breaks from the more interesting story.

The Perrito character, a therapy dog who attaches himself to Puss and Kitty, walks a fine line between endearing and irritating. His relentless optimism and backstory of abandonment are clearly designed to contrast with Puss’s cynicism, and the dynamic works, but some viewers may find his guileless sweetness cloying in a film that otherwise has sharp edges.

The pacing in the second act sags slightly as the various factions converge on the Wishing Star. The map-based quest structure, while visually creative (the Dark Forest shifts between fairy tale environments based on each character’s deepest desire), creates a video-game-level progression that can feel mechanical. The film is at its best in the character moments between set pieces rather than during the set pieces themselves.

One Life, Lived Well

The film’s philosophical core is surprisingly mature: the realization that mortality is what gives life meaning. Puss has treated existence as a game precisely because he had lives to spare. When that safety net vanishes, he discovers both fear and, eventually, a deeper appreciation for the life he has left. The climax, where Puss faces the Wolf not by running or fighting but by standing his ground and declaring that his one remaining life is enough, is one of the most powerful moments in recent animation. It transforms a cartoon cat into a genuine dramatic figure grappling with the most universal of human fears.

Should You Watch Puss in Boots: The Last Wish?

Absolutely, regardless of your feelings about the Shrek franchise. This film stands completely on its own and works on every level: as an action-adventure, as a comedy, as a visual showcase, and as an emotionally resonant story about what it means to be alive. If the Spider-Verse-inspired visual style isn’t to your taste, or if you find the multiple-villain structure cluttered, those are fair reservations. But this is one of the best animated films in years, and it will surprise anyone who writes it off as a franchise cash-in.

The Verdict on Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a stunning achievement that elevates its franchise, its studio, and the medium of animation. The Wolf is an all-time great villain, the visual style is gorgeous and innovative, and the film’s engagement with mortality gives it a thematic weight that most animated films don’t dare attempt. The crowded cast and occasional pacing issues are real flaws, but they’re minor against a film that manages to be funny, thrilling, beautiful, and genuinely profound. It’s proof that great art can come from the least expected places.