Puss In Boots: The Last Wish - Turbine Collector Series 3D Blu-ray

As I’ve expressed my woes in previous reviews for seeing kids’ films, it’s pretty rare for me to go see an animated flick in the theaters these days. I’m 42. If my little son doesn’t want to go see it, it’s just awkward for a guy my age to sit down in a dark theater alone. As a parent, even I’d look at me with a questionable side-eye. As the chosen human of a former street urchin, one orange brain cell feline, I sadly didn’t get to make it to the theaters for Dreamworks’ Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. I heard great things, but home video was my first go around, and I instantly wished I’d seen this film in theaters in all its 3D glory.

While the Hollywood sequel machine loves to churn and burn its intellectual properties and grind them into dust to bake their bread, Puss in Boots was something of an oddity. In 2011, the first film was a successful spinoff away from the Shrek universe, allowing Antonio Banderas’ frisky Friskies fan feline to go on his own swashbuckling adventure. And the film did pretty damn well for a solo outing. Maybe not Shrek the Third or Shrek Forever After numbers, but still pretty damn good - and it was a great time in 3D (14 years ago, I didn’t have the hangup about seeing kids’ movies in theaters). But then there was nothing for a long time. 3-5 years between sequels is an eternity in this business. A decade or longer? It’s like the last film never happened. Maybe that's a good thing?

While not strictly a reboot, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish feels like something of a franchise refresher. At the opening of the film, our titular moggy is in fine form, singing, dancing, and swashbuckling away while entertaining all those around. Until he dies. When he awakens, he’s faced with the grim reality that he’s burned eight of his nine allotted lives. But the adventurous hero is unfazed, that is, until the deadly bounty hunter Wolf (Wagner Moura) picks up his scent. Feeling fear for the first time, Puss escapes into the warm lap of a cat lady only to be tracked down by Goldilocks (Florence Pugh) and Papa (Ray Winstone), Mama (Olivia Colman), and Baby Bear (Samson Kayo). If Puss is going to survive, he needs to find his courage. He needs to find his swagger. He needs to find the mythical Last Wish star to get all of his lives back! But he'll need a little help from his new pal Perrito (Harvey Guillen) and his thieving former flame Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek). 

And it’s a delightful adventure. Front to back, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is one of those rare films that slapped a smile on my face at frame one and kept it there to the credits. Banderas again gives Puss a voice of vigor, echoing his time as that other famous derring-do swashbuckler Zorro (I’d seriously love to see a legacy sequel for that franchise). Salma Hayek returns as Kitty Softpaws and is just as delightful as ever. The new voices and characters lend well to their roles, giving this adventure a fresh new feeling. 

Part of that is thanks to co-directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado giving this older franchise cat a new look and feel. Aping a 2D/3D hybrid animation style akin to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the film obviously belongs in that universe started by Shrek, but now feels apart from it. It’s not trying to tie the two franchises together with any sort of visual conformity. Puss in Boots truly gets to become its own entity. And it’s a visual riot! 

All of this is just a long way of saying that Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a lot of fun, and entertainment that's genuinely geared for the entire family. Certainly aimed at the little folks in the room, the film has plenty of great gags for the Moms and Dads out there. My favorite gag early in the film that just cracked me up was Puss sending the barkeep into the back for the “hard cream” like he was ordering a rare-aged bourbon. Kids won’t get that joke. I got that joke, and many others like it keep the humor alive. It's a great adventure with a lot of heart. 

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray 3D
Leave it to the Germans to bring this film to full 3D glory. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish slices its way onto Blu-ray 3D as the 18th entry in the ongoing and (hopefully) growing Turbine Collector Series. As with all previous entries, this 3D adventure is pressed on a Region Free BD50 disc and housed in a clear case with reversible, optional English Language insert cover artwork. The disc loads to a fully-animated 3D main menu with basic navigation options. German audio is the default, so you’ll have to select English, which isn’t a problem at all.

Making his global debut on Blu-ray 3D, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a visual feast of furry fury in three dimensions. Again, similar to that hybridized animation style of Into the Spider-Verse, Puss in Boots offers an interesting range of depth experiences. At any given time, you’re seeing something that’s a full 3D rendered object intermixed with 2D accents and highlights. These elements populate the Z-axis nicely, giving a little wiggle room for some screen-penetrating objects while allowing for near, middle, and deep-placed objects to populate any given scene. The layering might not always be dynamic; some scenes where you’d expect more depth are a bit more restrained, whereas others get that full spacing spread. 

For fans who love the pop-outs, there are some fun highlights - pretty much every time a sword or claw or snout comes at the screen. My caveat there is that sometimes the editing isn’t favorable to the full effect. Like when Puss is battling the giant at the beginning. He’s flying at the screen with his sword drawn, and just as the point is really about to protrude out from the screen, it cuts to the giant running at him. When it cuts back to Puss, he’s already ¾ down the blade, so a lot of the effect was negated; they don't hold the shot quite long enough for it to be fully effective. Moments like that crop up from time to time, and are my only real quibble. It’s a small quibble when you get moments like Puss burying his outfit to become a “regular cat,” and the 3D just adds more humor to the gag.  

The transfer felt nicely graded for any darkening of the glasses. Colors might not be as vivid as the 4K HDR transfer, but they’re perfectly suited for this film.  Details for fur, leather boots, and a feathered hat are all nice and clean. A lot of the 3D benefits will boil down to how well you take to this animation style. I enjoyed the hell out of it!

On the audio front, we get to enjoy the film in Dolby Atmos - and it sounds just like the previous 4K UHD release. Flipping discs, I felt the need to pop the volume up a notch or two for this version, but not a severe amount or anything to get huffed about. Object placement was identical. Spacing within the soundscape for key audio elements like dialogue, score, and so forth all hit the same beats. This is a very active film, but I wouldn’t call it manic either. There’s enough of a pace to let the atmosphere settle in and allow channel movement to have a natural feel. The best moments like this is when Puss is charging, jumping, or flying towards an opponent. Sometimes the journey is fast, and others are quick, but the imaging is nicely detailed and deliberate. Likewise, height channels aren’t just there to add space to a scene and get their own moments for dynamic object specificity. The Heitor Pereira score is a delight and hits all the right notes. All around great mix.

None this round. 

I’m finding that the more time you have between sequels, the better the experience. I know that flies in the face of a number of franchises and their respective cinematic universes, but if there isn’t a need to make another film immediately, let the story breathe a little. You might not need eleven years, but there’s no rush if the end result is a highly entertaining film like Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Truth be told, I fell out of the Shrek franchise after the third film. I caught the first solo Puss in Boots way back when and thought it was a fun adventure, but I never felt the need to revisit it. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, on the other hand, feels fresh and new and exciting, complete with a dynamic animation style that sets it apart from the franchise that spawned it. I’ve gone through this film a few times in the last three years, and it remains a charming rip-roaring adventure for our favorite feline - and it looks great in 3D! The 2D/3D hybridized animation style lends itself to some interesting three-dimensional visuals for a very satisfying Blu-ray 3D experience. Add in the excellent Atmos track, and you’ve got another great disc for the multi-dimensional collection. If you love your 3D glasses and fancy yourself a fan of mischievous swashbuckling cats, you can rest easy calling this one Highly Recommended 

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