Kids will get a kick out of the sprightly and silly Puss in Boots: The Last Wish – but really, this one is for the millennials. Antonio Banderas’s pint-sized feline rogue, with his thigh-high boots and eyes as big as saucers, became an instant hit when he was introduced in 2004’s Shrek 2. But his follow-up appearances, in the later Shrek sequels and a 2011 spin-off, have played as either wrung out or purely cynical. The Last Wish offers something different and unexpected: Puss has grown up with his audience.
He is now, in exquisitely millennial fashion, suffering from feline burnout. Having already torn through eight of his nine lives (reminder to never go running with the bulls in Pamplona if you’re 15in tall), Puss must now face his mortality. And so, he slinks into his crisis era, complete with a sizable beard and an unshakeable malaise. His end-of-life stupor is interrupted, however, by Goldilocks (Florence Pugh) and her three bears (Ray Winstone, Olivia Colman, and Samson Kayo). The Cockney-accented bandits are searching for the fabled Wishing Star, which can grant one person their heart’s desire.
