Puss in Boots

Puss in Boots is a 2011 3D computer-animated adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Chris Miller, from a screenplay credited to Tom Wheeler, with a story by Wheeler, Brian Lynch, and Will Davies. The film serves as a prequel and spin-off to DreamWorks’ Shrek series, focusing on the sword-fighting cat before his appearance in Shrek 2. Antonio Banderas reprises the title role after voicing Puss in Shrek 2, Shrek the Third, and Shrek Forever After. Salma Hayek voices Kitty Softpaws, while Zach Galifianakis plays Humpty Alexander Dumpty. Set in the fairy-tale town of San Ricardo, the story presents Puss as an orphan raised in an orphanage alongside Humpty Dumpty. As adults, their friendship is damaged after Humpty schemes to steal magic beans from the outlaw duo Jack and Jill. Years later, Puss learns that the beans can grow a beanstalk leading to a castle in the sky, where golden-egg-laying geese are kept. He joins Humpty and Kitty Softpaws in stealing the beans and climbing the beanstalk. Their plan leads them to a giant goose and a chase through San Ricardo, while revealing that Humpty had engineered Puss’s earlier disgrace. The film’s score was composed by Henry Jackman. It opened in the United States on October 28, 2011, after premiering in Russia on October 23. Puss in Boots earned more than $554 million worldwide against a reported production budget of $130 million. Its domestic opening weekend was affected by a major snowstorm in the northeastern United States, but the film remained at number one at the North American box office for two weekends. It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature at the 84th Academy Awards, losing to Rango. At the 69th Golden Globe Awards, it was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film. A sequel, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, arrived in 2022. Directed by Joel Crawford, that later film returned Banderas as Puss and Hayek as Kitty Softpaws, and it follows Puss confronting the consequences of having used eight of his nine lives. The 2011 film also inspired the Netflix television series The Adventures of Puss in Boots, which ran from 2015 to 2018. DreamWorks had considered a Puss-centered project during development of Shrek 2, but the character’s standalone feature was announced years later. The production used the character’s familiar fairy-tale world while giving him an distinct origin story.