Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Em: 00:03:41

Hi everyone, I'm Em and Welcome to Verbal Diorama, episode 335, Puss in Boots: the Last Wish.

This is the podcast that's all about the history and legacy of movies you know and movies you don't. That's now on her 335th life. Welcome to Verbal Diorama.

Whether you're a regular returning listener, whether you're a brand new listener, thank you for being here. Thank you for choosing to listen to this podcast. I am so happy to have you here for the history and legacy of Puss in Boots, the last wish.

And just a huge thank you to everyone for the lovely comments, just general well wishes about the seventh birthday of the podcast, which has now been and gone. This podcast is now seven years old.

It genuinely means so much to have the support that I have and as an indie podcaster, genuinely need all of the support that I can get. But it is lovely to hear so many people just being so kind. Thank you so much.

This is a labour of love for me, but just hearing kind comments and well wishes, it just really kind of makes all of the hard work worth it. So thank you very much. This is the final episode of the sixth annual animation season.

So so far on this season we've had episodes on Monsters, Inc. K Pop, Demon Hunters, Paprika, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mutant Mayhem, Princess and the Frog, An American Tail, the Land Before Time, and All Dogs Going to Heaven. Regular listeners of this podcast will know that I'm a huge fan of animation.

I think more podcasts should talk about animation, and animation season is a way for me to celebrate animation in all of its forms. The verbal diorama animation season mantras are the animation is not just for children. Animation is for everyone.

There are some things that are just for children. There are some things that are clearly just for grown ups. But animation as an art form is not just for children. Animation is also not a genre either.

Animation season is here to highlight incredible animated movies you may not have seen, you may have seen, but you've forgotten about, or you might have discounted seeing them at all. But I would argue that you're missing out on incredible filmmaking and incredible storytelling.

And this movie has both of those things in bucket loads. And so every January and February on this podcast, I do animation season.

This is the last episode of this animation season, but it's been so much fun to go through and talk about a wide variety of different movies from different studios, and it is genuinely such a joy. So, as I say every year, Animation season will return. But before we end animation season, we have to talk about Puss in Boots: the Last Wish.

too cold and Puss in Boots in: 2011

Em: 00:09:13

While hosting a party in the town of Del Mar, legendary hero and outlaw Puss in Boots accidentally awakens a sleeping giant. He subdues the creature, but is crushed by a bell.

Waking up in a hospital, the town doctor informs him that he has lost eight of his nine lives and suggests Push should retire. That night in a bar, Puss meets a black hooded wolf who disarms and wounds him in a sword fight. And Puss is scared for the first time in his life.

Traumatized, he flees to the house of cat lady Mama Luna and meets optimistic Chihuahua Perrito. But Puss becomes isolated and depressed. Goldilocks and the three Bears crime family arrive at Mama Luna's to hire Puss to find the wishing star.

And Puss decides to use the star to restore his lost lives. But all the while, the personification of death is following him. Let's run through the cast of this movie.

We have Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots, Salma Hayek Pinault as Kitty Softpaws, Florence Pugh as Goldilocks, Harvey Guillen as Perrito, John Mulaney and as Big Jack Horner, Ray Winstone as Papa Bear, Olivia Colman as Mama Bear, Samson Ko as Baby Bear, Wagner Mora as the wolf, Da'Vine Joy Randolph as Mama Luna, and Kevin McCann as the ethical Bug.

Puss in the Last Wish has a screenplay by Paul Fisher and Tommy Swerdlow, a story by Tommy Swerdlow and Tom Wheeler, and was directed by Joel Crawford as a sequel to a spin off from a sequel Hut in Boots. The Last Wish really didn't need to go very hard. It could have just been your run of the mill animated Shrek verse movie.

But I'd wager this is the best movie of the entire Shrek verse, if not the whole studio. But first, let me tell you a story. Once Upon a Time. That was a podcast. I'm kidding.

But anyway, the last episode was an all dogs go to Heaven where a dog who's a bit of a scoundrel, let's be honest, is ultimately redeemed by being decent for a change and ends up in heaven. It wasn't my intention to go from dogs to cats and continue to talk about mortality. To be honest, I just wanted to talk about this movie.

It just so happens that death is a character in both and this time very literally. But let's talk about Puss in Boots.

Puss first appeared in Shrek 2 as the standout side character in that movie, and he brought about a whole new set of challenges for Shrek 2. The original inspiration for the character was Shrek 2 director Andrew Adamson's cat, who was grey.

But having a grey cat next to a grey donkey wouldn't work. So Puss was instead modelled on visual effects supervisor Ken Bielenberg's orange tabby cat.

The animators researched extensively, studying videos of real cats to understand their natural movements and behaviours. They paid particular attention to how cats move their body during different actions.

Walking, running, pouncing, and even subtle movements like ear twitches and tail swishes. The team frequently brought in real cats to the studio for live observation sessions for the character's bipedal movements.

The animators found a careful balance between human and feline motion. They created a hybrid style that maintained cat like grace while allowing the character to perform human actions convincingly.

This included studying how a cat's spine and shoulders would adapt to upright posture whilst retaining distinctly feline characteristics. For the sword fighting sequences, the animators referenced both cat movements and traditional swashbuckling films.

They studied how legendary screen sword fighters like Errol Flynn moved and adapted these movements to work with Puss's feline physiology. The Shrek 2 version of Puss was more realistic. This version of Puss is more stylized.

ould have his own spin off in: 2011

Now, usually on this podcast, I am a completionist and I would prefer to do an episode on the first movie before I do the sequel, but sometimes there's really no need. For example, I've done Grease 2 without feeling the need to do an episode on Grease, mostly because I see Grease too, as the superior Grease.

Feel free to agree with me.

On social media, I see Puss in Boots the Last Wish as the superior Puss in Boots, because I don't actually remember if I have seen the original Puss in Boots or not. So therefore, it's clearly the superior Puss in Boots movie.

And technically, this movie, although it is a sequel to that movie, also specifically works as a standalone movie in its own right. So you don't actually have to have seen the original to even watch this movie in the first place.

Puss in Boots: 2011

Guillermo del Toro was an executive producer. He also had a small role in the movie as well. It was also the first DreamWorks animated movie that was partially made in India.

It meant 40% fewer labour costs than the U.S. but the primary reason for outsourcing to India was the lack of personnel due to the studio producing as many as three films a year.

me, A sequel to Puss in Boots: 2011

It was reportedly inspired by the Arabian Nights folktale Ali baba and the 40 thieves, and it showed Puss on his last life and going on one final adventure in Northern Africa where he encounters the 40 thieves. And then the project got stuck in development hell.

But really, we need to talk about what was happening at DreamWorks at the time because in many ways the success of Shrek 2 would ultimately lead to the downfall of DreamWorks, because nothing ever reached those highest heights again.

In: 2004

In: 2015

In: 2015

ired by Universal Pictures in: 2016

And in: 2018

And Joel Crawford was announced as replacing Bob Paschetti as director.

done well during the November: 2020

st grossing film worldwide in: 2020

From seeing him in: 2004

ssed between Puss in Boots in: 2011

Tybalt, who is the prince of cats, says what wilt thou have with me? And Mercutio replies, good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives.

There's also an English proverb that states a cat has nine lives, for three he plays, for three he strays, and for the last three he stays. Cats don't always have nine lives either.

In Spanish speaking cultures they're said to have seven, and in Turkish and Arabic culture they're said to have six. Nine has traditionally been considered a magic number, which could also help to explain why cats are associated with nine lives.

In ancient Greek, the number nine referred to the trinity of all trinities and a supernatural number that invokes tradition and religion. Cats have been both worshipped and feared over the ages, including in ancient Egypt where cats were revered.

The sun God Atum Ra, who took feline form for visits to the underworld, was considered the progenitor of eight other gods, so basically representing nine lives in one form.

But of course the idea of having nine lives and wasting eight of them was a fascinating idea to explore, as well as the idea that darkness makes you appreciate the light and there was nothing darker than being followed by the personification of death. Inspiration for death as a wolf came from the Brothers Grimm as wolves were used in those stories to depict fear.

Other inspiration from this movie came from spaghetti westerns and films of Akira Kurosawa.

Heidi Jo Gilbert, head of Story, cites the Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the west as major influences, especially in moments where Puss faces the wolf and his own fears of death. Even the wolf's whistle was like the traditional Western harmonica sound that you hear in those films.

The sort of whistle that makes Puss freeze on the spot, instinctively know where the wolf is and his demeanour changes from confidence to pure fear.

Unlike other music that represents death, which is usually in a minor key to reflect the sombre topic, Death's whistle in this movie is at a major key which makes it sound almost happy, like he's trying to mock Puss, which we know he is. Now, obviously this film's design can be attributed to into the Spider verse and how that movie revolutionized how animation could be depicted.

And while that movie was a literal moving comic book, this one would be a moving storybook illustration. Some of the concept art for the movie was based on Painting by 19th century Spanish artist Mariano Fortuny.

And Disney's older movies like Bambi with its watercolour backgrounds, were also studied. Because beautiful animation, specifically beautiful computer generated animation, doesn't have to be photorealistic animation.

ssy CG animation of the early: 2000

They started with the core look of Puss, and Ludovic Buancho, head of character animation, was at the forefront of that change.

Buancho had been an animator for the original Puss in Boots, so had to take what they'd done previously and rip up the rulebook to make the characters more illustrative. The filmmakers also looked to fairy tales for the style of the environments where the story would take place.

Which leads us to production designer Nate Wragg, who, because they were taking references from fairy tales and spaghetti western films and Akira Kurosawa production design could take a more artistic and bold approach to the cinematography and compositions. There's a distinct anime look to the fight scenes too. Anyone who's seen Attack on Titan can see the similarities in the giant attack.

And mostly it was all about enhancing movement.

Puss's features were updated too, with updated facial features, eye size and silhouette of the fur, even his shoulders were changed from the previous version. But they wanted to ensure he still looked and felt like a cat. For so many years, studios had aimed for photorealistic fur.

I spoke a little about that in Monsters, Inc. But making stylistic fur was a big challenge.

The techniques they were using to make the work look artsy worked on hard, flat surfaces, but not really on textures or fur. Ultimately, though, it wasn't about losing detail and richness. It was about controlling it.

So they ended up adding stylized elements to existing fur, including guard hairs, which were thickened like a real cat would have. And while most of the movie was filmed on ones, it transitions to twos or fours in action sequences.

They called it stepped animation because it wasn't just going to twos. It was whatever worked for the shot. They had used it before on Trolls World Tour and the Bad Guys.

But for Puss in Boots, they built an arbitrary stepped animation pipeline with two key tools to give them the look they were going for.

One tool they had was called Stamp Map, which effectively could build a point cloud around an object and project texture maps with orientation as any sort of map channel that they wanted. The second key piece was called CEO, a new version of an existing tool called CIA, which stands for Crap in the air.

CEO stands for crap Encapsulating objects.

Basically, if you take an object and build a bunch of point clouds around it, if all those sample the closest point material on that object, they can lift off the surface and extend, and you can group them to get shapes. This gave them the look they were after. And then lighting controlled everything else, and it gave it a cohesive look across the whole movie.

And this movie was partially made during the pandemic. So many people worked from home, which makes the achievement ever more impressive.

There was also a first for DreamWorks in this movie, and that was having the main character bleed Hiccup in How to Train You Dragon had lost a limb, but there was never any blood.

It would add to the intensity of the first scene where Puss meets the wolf and the design of the wolf, which was intentionally monochromatic and sharp in his lines. But they gave him large 2D graphic red eyes, and red would become his signature colour.

Makes sense, really, with who he is, with flashes of red in the battles with Puss and red flames surrounding him at the end. Even though Puss was introduced in a Shrek movie, the filmmakers wanted this movie to be his without ignoring the characters who made Puss a thing.

We get fleeting glimpses of Shrek and Donkey, as well as small cameos from Gingy and Pinocchio.

And the studio was supportive of the story that the filmmakers wanted to tell and were happy to include as many or as few Shrek references as necessary to support Puss's story. Mostly, they were focused on having a story that could work standalone or as a sequel to the original.

And bringing back Kitty's soft paws was one way to link it back.

But they also introduced brand new characters that were recognizable to anyone who has ever read a fairy tale or a nursery rhyme, like Goldilocks and the Three Bears or Little Jack Horner, all the while reminding people of Puss's bravado and playful nature, but also taking the opportunity to make him vulnerable.

And one of the many ways this movie excels, and there are so many ways this movie excels, is in those vulnerable moments where Puss struggles with fear and anxiety and ultimately ends up having a panic attack. He's just been in the cave of souls, facing down his eight previous lives as the wolf scolds him for wasting every single one.

And as Puss runs away from the wolf and the walls narrow in and turn blood red, the film's setting is transformed by Puss's in panic. Now, if you've never had a panic attack, you don't know what it feels like. It's not just heavy breathing or your heart racing.

It's a feeling that your heart is going to burst out of your chest. It's a feeling of, am I dying? It's sweaty palms and starting to feel dizzy from the heavy breathing.

That just adds to the level of panic, and it just makes it worse and worse. Everything around you becomes muted and incomprehensible. And the scene sound was as important as what they were portraying visually.

Sound designer Jason Jennings and supervising sound editor Julian Slater collaborated with director Joel Crawford to create a sound palette that grounded the panic attack. Jennings was able to pull from personal experience, along with many of the other creatives. They wanted to focus on the heartbeat and the breathing.

Antonio Banderas really did the breathing that's accelerated as the panic attack is happening. And when Perrito puts his head on Pussy, the breathing slowly comes back down.

They did take some artistic license with the sound of the heartbeat, making it feel fuller and more low frequency, more low energy, because just a normal heartbeat sound would be a bit underwhelming in the scene. They wanted the audience to feel what Puss felt about his own heartbeat.

He was hearing it through his entire body, like it took over his whole world, because that's what happens in a panic. Attack. It takes over your whole world, and in that moment, you are so scared and you're so paralyzed by it that you don't know what to do.

himself had a heart attack in: 2017

Indeed, when Joel Crawford pitched the sequel to Banderas, Banderas was the one who pushed for everyone's favourite fearless hero to show weaknesses and vulnerabilities. To make the anthropomorphic cat seem more human, of course, the character of Death had to be menacing, and he had to elicit these fears.

Unlike any other Shrek antagonist, Death has no comedic trait.

He is portrayed completely straight with a bit of snot, which makes him a legitimate threat and brings a darkness to this movie that we haven't really seen in a Shrek verse movie before. But the filmmakers also wanted to bring in light and hope.

And one of producer Mark Swift's favourite new characters was Perrito, the sweet little wannabe therapy dog who is the total opposite of every other character in the movie. Everyone else is trying to win a prize, whether it's the wishing star or Puss's final life.

And then there's this little unwanted dog who has led a very sad, very unfortunate life. He has every reason to be cynical, but he is the one character who looks at what he has and is grateful.

He may be naïve and innocent, but his innocence gives him a level of wisdom without cynicism. Perrito doesn't try to change anyone. He accepts everyone for who they are, and he believes in everyone.

And sometimes we should all be a little bit more Perrito. Casting wise Antonio Banderas would obviously return, as well as Salma Hayek Pinot as Kitty Soft Paws.

Joining them would be Harvey Guillen as Perrito, who is probably most well known for what we do in the Shadows, the TV series. And just on a note, this is a phenomenal cast.

Ray Winstone as Papa Bear, Samson Kayo as Baby Bear, John Mulaney as Big Jack Horner, and the legendary British might of Florence Pugh as Goldilocks and Olivia Colman as Mama Bear. And not only that, but Narcos' very own Pablo Escobar himself, Wagner Moura as the Wolf, AKA Death.

Speaking of death, this is a good moment to segue into the obligatory Keanu reference of this episode.

And if you're new here and you don't know what this is, this is where I try and link every movie that I feature with Keanu Reeves for no reason other than he is genuinely the best of men.

And Keanu Reeves has also, like Puss in Boots, faced Death, not played by Wagner Mora, but Death played by William Sadler in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. And that is the easiest way I can link Puss in Boots the Last Wish to Keanu Reeves.

d the music for Puss in Boots: 2011

Pereira was recommended by the film's executive producer and Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri, whom Pereira had worked with on other movies, most notably the Despicable Me and Minions films. The soundtrack for the movie featured five original songs. Carol G performed the track La Vida es Una.

Pereira co wrote the track Fearless Hero, which is performed by Antonio Banderas and co written by Dan Navarro and Paul Fisher. The soundtrack also featured the COVID of the Doors this Is the End performed by Dan Navarro.

al Animation film festival in: 2022

And as I mentioned earlier, this was a movie that was originally supposed to be released much sooner than it was and different to what it ended up being.

nd November: 2018

rd September: 2022

a remastered rendition of the: 2010

December: 2022

It dropped to third in its fourth week, but then climbed back up to second in its sixth week, then down to sixth in its ninth week before climbing to third in its tenth week.

This particular Puss in Boot seemed to have multiple lines at the box office because overall it stayed in the top 10 for 14 weeks and seemed to do well with word of mouth and became a sleeper hit on its modest 90 to $110 million budget. Puss in Boots the Last Wish grossed $186.1 million domestically and $294.4 million internationally, for a total worldwide gross of $480.5 million.

Puss and Boots didn't shy away from Avatar.

It benefited from it because there were no other family animated movies over that holiday period and so a fairly slow start soon started delivering Puss in Boots the Last Wish did the thing that movies aren't supposed to do.

It opened modestly, then grew and built an audience over a number of months before then transitioning to streaming and doing well there too, grossing $7.6 million in streaming rental revenue. It was also released on DVD, Blu Ray and Ultra HD Blu Ray.

on their list of: 2022

th highest grossing film of: 2022

Critically, it sits at 95% on rotten tomatoes, with a consensus of arriving more than a decade after the previous installment. This smart, sweet and funny Puss in Boots the Last Wish proves some franchises only get better with age.

Critics noted the darker tone but also the surprising comic moments that landed and basically said that the Shrek franchise had become revitalized. Puss in Boots the Last Wish was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in a competitive year.

Up against the Sea Beast Turning Red, which is episode 282 of this podcast, Marcel the Shell with Shoes on, and the eventual winner Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio, which I also did an episode on.

That's episode 239, Puss in Boots the Last Wish was also nominated for the BAFTA for Best Animated Feature, also losing to Pinocchio and the Golden Globe for Animated Feature, which, you guessed it also lost to Pinocchio.

It was also nominated for six Annie Awards, winning for Outstanding Achievement for Editorial in an Animated Feature Production and Outstanding Achievement for Storyboarding in an Animated Feature production.

February: 2023

Shrek movie due next year in: 2027

ek and it isn't Puss in Boots: 2011

It's an evolution showing that mature themes like death can be referenced in serious ways that are scary, but not too scary.

There are no Don Bluth style depictions at hell here, and the choice to make this stylized instead of photorealistic means you can broach serious topics without it feeling quite so real. One of the mantras of Verbal Diorama's animation season is that animation is not just for children.

It can be aimed at children like the Don Bluth movies that have been featured recently, or it can be definitely not like Satoshi Kon's Paprika from earlier in the season.

Or it can be something like Puss in Boots the Last Wish, which isn't an adult film like Paprika, but it contains depth and a message that appeals to adults, while children will also get a good message too. Plus pretty colours and fun music. Yay. Puss in the Last Wish contains some of the most beautiful animation ever put to screen.

Every sequence oozes passion and creativity, and it's very clear that this is not a sequel for the sake of a sequel. This is a team putting everything into a beautiful movie with engaging characters, a wonderful story and a real, genuine message to it.

If only every movie was made with such attention to detail and diligence and creativity and pure joy for the art form.

It has little things you don't notice on a first watch, like the eight empty glasses in the bar, the eight rings at the town bell and the eight chimes of the clock, all signalling Puss is on his final life. And in an animation era where Villains aren't really true villains.

You don't see villains quite like Death, nor Jack Horner, who is so bad even the ethical bug can't deal with him. I do adore the Three Bears, crime family and Goldilocks. But Death is fascinating because he's not a true villain in that he can't be defeated.

He will always come for you. Each antagonist in this movie is unique. Jack Horner is Machiavellian. Goldilocks and the Three Bears are sympathetic.

But Death is literally an unstoppable force. And he's annoyed that Puss has wasted his lives, so he's come to get him himself.

He's barely in the movie, too, but you'll remember him and the way he makes you and Puss feel he's that great of a character. And Wagner Mora is terrific as the voice, too. Now all of his past lives have been expunged.

Puss has the choice for his ninth life to either give up his arrogance, ego and disregard of mortality, or death will finish the job. Because you can't run from death. You can't fight it, you can't kill it. It will always be then.

But you can choose to fear what may happen, or you can embrace your life to the fullest and be present in the here and now.

On the surface, this movie is a colourful, imaginative animated film, but the way it deals with death is honest and real, following the lead character through his existential depression, through his fears and his anxieties, until he learns to embrace life again and live in the now with his friends Kitty and Perrito, who rather sweetly suggests that he only has one life, as do we all. And if only we could all look at life as optimistically as sweet Perrito. Harvey Guillem is the best, and Antonia Banderas just simply is Puss.

He keeps the character charming and likable and also really excels in the serious moments. But despite this being a fairy tale, it ends with no one getting the fabled Last Wish.

Puss decides to destroy it in order to save the lives of his friends. It would be easy for the filmmakers to give Puss his wish, but real life doesn't work that way.

And Puss decides to make his final life the best he possibly can. Death is inevitable. Each moment brings us closer. But life can still be fulfilling. Just maybe don't get into too many scrapes.

Dare I say it, But Puss in Boots, the Last Wish, is it. The best thing DreamWorks has ever made. Now I know how to train your dragon is still there. But honestly, this is outstanding. I adore it.

It's beautiful and honest and so much better than a sequel to a spin off to a sequel ever needed to be. But for the depiction of anxiety and panic attacks alone. I'm so happy that this is in the world.

Struggling with mental health issues of any kind is hard enough, but Puss in Boots the Last Wish tells us we know you're struggling. We understand it's hard, but you don't have to go through it alone.

And like Puss, you can be brave and talk about your fears to a good friend who's there for you. Gosh, this movie's great. And remember, like Puss in Boots, now we only have one life. Let's make it worthwhile. Thank you for listening.

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on Puss in Boots, the Last Wish and thank you for your continued support of this podcast.

The next episode of this podcast, I'm going to take a short break before I return with Scary, Sporty, Ginger Baby and Posh for an episode all about Girl Power. Yep, I'm gonna be spicing up your lives with Spice World the Movie, one of the most difficult movies I've ever had to source for this podcast.

So please join me in a couple of weeks time for the history and legacy of Spice World the Movie. If you want to show your support in multiple different ways, you could leave a rating or review wherever you found this podcast.

You could tell your friends and family about this podcast or you can find me and follow me on social media and you can share the podcast there that way. I am at Verbal Diorama. You can share posts like posts, comment on posts.

It all helps really to get the word out there and to hopefully get other people to know this podcast and know what I've been doing. I genuinely love doing this podcast and anything you could do to help would be so appreciated. Huge thank you to the amazing patrons of this podcast.

To Simon, Laurel, Derek, Kat, Andy, Mike, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Ian, Lisa, Sam, Jack, Dave, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Danny, Stu, Brett, Philip, M, Xenos, Sean, Rhino, Philip K, Adam, Elaine, Kyle, Aaron and Steve.

If you want to get in touch you can email verbal dioramail.com you can also go to the website verbal diorama.com and you can fill out the contact form. You can say hello, you can give feedback or you can give suggestions. I would genuinely love to hear from you.

You can also DM me on social media as well. I really love to hear from people and I always try to respond as quickly as possible. I'm hugely grateful to you all for your support. And finally.

Em: 00:51:27

Bye.