Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (G)



The next three months are going to be pretty sparse because I was pouring a lot of my free time into researching and writing Part 4 of the Deltarune/Grant Morrison project. And during covid I had amassed a lot of comics from those Ollie's blind bags and they'd just been kind of sitting around, so in July I decided it was time to finally start reading through them and choosing which ones to keep and which ones to discard.

Thankfully, the one solid piece of media I went through this month slapped.

For the record, I barely remember what happened in the first Puss in Boots movie. I remember Humpty Dumpty was in it and there was a dance-off with Kitty Softpaws. And I think there was a giant chicken? Maybe The Last Wish has some easter eggs for fans of the first movie but the only thing that carries over from that movie that really matters is Kitty Softpaws.

While I struggle to remember what the last movie was supposed to be about, the major theme of The Last Wish is the value of life and stopping to consider that maybe what you want is right in front of you. Puss in Boots is down to his last life after recklessly throwing away the other eight so he resigns himself to a life that's safe but utterly meaningless. But when the chance to be back to nine lives comes along, he's on that like an unguarded fish market. Set pieces ensure, inner demons are confronted, and along the way Puss realizes one fulfilling life is worth more than nine squandered ones.

I was reminded of The Book of Life in how both movies handled their antagonists. Both movies have three antagonists (if we count Goldilocks and the three bears as one) but only one true villain (Chakal and Big Jack Horner) with the other two being a rival chasing the same thing as the protagonist and an avatar of death.

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