Puss in Boots The Last Wish

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a 2022 American animated adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is the sequel to 2011's Puss in Boots and the sixth feature in the Shrek franchise. Joel Crawford directed the movie, with Januel Mercado serving as co-director. The screenplay is credited to Tommy Swerdlow and Tom Wheeler. Antonio Banderas reprises his voice role as Puss, the swaggering orange cat introduced in Shrek 2. Salma Hayek Pinault likewise returns as Kitty Softpaws, Puss's skilled thief companion. The film opened in U.S. theaters on December 21, 2022, through Universal. The plot begins after Puss has spent eight of his nine lives in adventures. When a falling church bell kills him, a doctor tells him that he has only one life remaining. Puss adopts the name Pickles and hides in Mama Luna's cat sanctuary, but he returns to adventure after the Wishing Star is discovered. He wants the Star's magic to restore his lives. Kitty Softpaws and Perrito, a cheerful Chihuahua, join him on the journey. Perrito is voiced by Harvey Guillén. Their quest is complicated by Goldilocks and the Three Bears Crime Family, who also want a wish themselves. Another pursuer is Big Jack Horner, a nursery-rhyme character collector of magical objects. John Mulaney voices Jack, whose bag contains items fairy tales. The danger, however, is the wolf, voiced by Wagner Moura. He carries twin sickles, whistles before appearing, and refuses Puss's attempts to dismiss him as a bounty hunter. The film identifies the wolf as Death, explaining why Puss cannot defeat or outwit him by gaining more lives. In the climax, Puss rejects the Star's promise, destroys the map leading to it, and chooses to value his single life. Goldilocks abandons her wish after already recognizing her real family. Visually, The Last Wish moved away from the earlier Shrek films' more uniform computer-animation finish. Its action scenes use a storybook-inspired style, including brushstroke-like textures and reduced frame rates during movements. The production became a commercial success, grossing more than $480 million worldwide against a production budget of $90 million. 95th Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best Animated Feature, losing to Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio. It earned a Golden Globe nomination. Its ending sends Puss, Kitty, and Perrito by boat toward Far Far Away, where they plan to visit friends, reconnecting the sequel with the larger Shrek franchise setting.