Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)
★★★½ — Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish arrived eleven years after the original 2011 spin-off, itself a product of the long-running DreamWorks Shrek franchise that had been running since 2001. The sequel was directed by Joel Crawford, who had previously helmed The Croods: A New Age (2020), and it was produced during a period when DreamWorks Animation was consciously pushing toward a more stylised, hand-drawn-influenced aesthetic, partly in response to the critical and commercial success of Sony's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). Antonio Banderas returns to the title role he first played in Shrek 2 back in 2004, and the film's $484 million worldwide gross made it a considerable surprise hit, performing well beyond studio expectations and prompting renewed interest in the franchise.
The real MVP is the cricket. Yes, really. That tiny, flamboyant, pitch-perfect therapist bug who shows up for two minutes and steals the entire film. Worth the price of admission alone. The rest is solid, but not spectacular. It’s got heart, some surprisingly dark themes (mortality! therapy! fear of death!), and some truly gorgeous animation especially in the fairy tale forest and the Wishing Star sequences. It’s a step up from the first sequel, no doubt, and Antonio Banderas still purrs his way through every scene with maximum charm. But aside from the cricket and a few clever gags, it plays it pretty safe. Familiar Shrek-verse humor wrapped in a slightly edgier package. Good, not groundbreaking. But hey, any movie that makes me laugh at a cricket deserves points.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2022 | Watched: 2025-07-22
Where to watch (UK)
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
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Physical: Amazon UK
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Related on Movies With Macca
More with Antonio Banderas: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) · Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) · Desperado (1995)
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More animation: Fantastic Planet (1973) · Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)
