DVD Reviews

Kids’ View Review: Puss in Boots

By Tanner D. Luce (13 Years Old) Mar 5, 2012, 20:07 GMT

Puss in Boots: You loved him in Shrek...now see where the one-and-only swashbuckling feline found his fame - and a very big pair of boots - in the "hilariously funny? (Associated Press) animated epic! Lover, fighter and outlaw Puss In Boots (Antonio Banderas) is off on the adventure of his nine lives as he teams up with Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) and Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) for the ultimate showdown ...more

Would you like to see another Shrek-related movie Dreamworks has rushed out or would rather watch something new? Puss in Boots doesn’t feel new. It just focuses on a different character.

It’s a bunch of fairytale characters dumped into Mexico (or Spain) with hopes of finding some magic beans so they can climb into the sky to find some gold eggs! That, in a nutshell, is the entire plot.

The beginning was too slow and confusing. Puss escapes jail and then tries to steal the magic beans. Then comes a girl kitty for Puss to fall in love with (like every other film), and an egg named (what else?) Humpty Dumpty.

Puss then tells his entire life story to the girl cat, and then they try to steal the beans again. The beginning was worse than the Tom & Jerry movie (Tom learns to talk, and then it turns into a musical), but the rest of it was okay.

I’d give the movie plot 3 out of 5 stars.

The character’s traits were pretty average. There are 2 villains (Jack and Jill), but they just run around trying to shoot Puss and his friends (and they aren’t kids, FYI).

As mentioned earlier, there is a girl cat (Kitty Softpaws) for Puss to fall in love with, but she acts like every other girl in every other movie I’ve seen.

She’s cunning, unwilling to share her thoughts, and then she’ll fall in love after the protagonist saves her. I wasn’t talking about Kitty Softpaws by the way; I was talking about every single girl in this movie genre.

The only characters who had any kind of originality were Puss and Dumpty. The characters get 2 out of 5 stars.

The visuals didn’t impress me until the middle of the movie. The bean stalk scene was really impressive, the camera showed every angle, the leaves had a nice reflection, and the sky was the perfect style.

After that, Humpty put on a shiny gold suit for whatever reason, and that showed off the lighting. However, the beginning had virtually no attempt on visuals. I also noticed that Puss’ tail seemed to always have the wrong color and shading, and that got really annoying.

All I could see of the “monster” guarding the gold eggs was a red eye. I’d give the visuals of Puss in Boots 4 out of 5 stars. They were really good.

The voices for Puss in Boots weren’t anything special. Antonio Banderas did really well. He really gave Puss a lot more personality, and Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris did well with Jack and Jill (the villains).

However, nothing else about the cast really stood out. I’m giving the voice work 3 out of 5 stars.

The background music was quite a different story. It was very nice and had a Spanish style to it. The film’s music really did help make the movie stand out and be entertaining. Henry Jackman did really well so I’m giving the music 4 out of 5 stars.

Overall, Puss in Boots was a good movie. It’s got action, humor, and can be enjoyed by cat lovers and cat haters. It is a good sign that Dreamworks will finally stop making awful Shrek movies and start with something new.

I wouldn’t mind a sequel! I did some math with what I gave each category (2+4+3+4+3/5) and it came out as 3.2 overall.

This is definitely a 3 star movie. It is fun to watch, but still has flaws. The cat could easily lead himself to another successful franchise - if he hasn’t already.