Spoiler warning! This article contains spoilers, so save the read for after you watch the movie!

How late is too late for a sequel? Twelve years ago the first “Puss in Boots” movie was released, a lighthearted adventure film directed towards a young audience. With such a long gap, the sequel, “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” may now seem like a late arrival. After all, who’s going to watch the sequel to a movie that was released 12 years ago? The answer to that would be the now teenage audience that was watching “Puss in Boots” as kids. In fact, with the direction this movie took, I’d argue that “The Last Wish” couldn’t have come out at a better time.
The story of this movie is heartwarming and lovely, but covers dark topics that are aimed towards an older audience. Puss has frivolously wasted eight out of his nine lies, and is now being chased down by Death, who is portrayed as a big bad wolf. This is a really interesting symbolic choice that caught my eye from his very first appearance, because you don’t see the topic of death covered in kids movies.
As for the story, Puss goes on a journey with a team of new and old friends. He’s accompanied by his old friend, Kitty Softpaws and a nameless dog, to find the wishing star, which can grant someone one wish. Puss wants the wish to get his lost lives back, because he is so afraid of death that he feels he cannot be the famous hero that he’s been in the past. The dog, who is later called Perrito, lives completely in the present, and is unaffected by what’s happened in the past, despite having a life of hardship and abandonment. All of the characters in the movie excluding Perrito, who doesn’t express any need for the wish, are looking for a particular wish to be granted, but through the story they discover that the things they are seeking are right in front of them. All except for Jack Horner, one of the antagonists of the movie. He was voiced by John Mulaney, and had some of the best line delivery I’ve seen in a while in an animated film. Another notable thing I’ll mention about Jack is that he’s a complete sociopathic monster, amongst a cast of characters who are full of redeemability. It’s a really stark difference that shocks the viewer.
Another thing I can’t go without mentioning, is the unique animation style Dreamworks chose to go with for this movie, involving a mix of 2D and 3D aspects, similar to movies like “The Bad Guys” and “Into The Spiderverse.” It was seriously captivating, and made fight scenes seem more dynamic and larger-than-life, another reflection of Puss’ legendary-hero lifestyle he clings to so tightly. The way the movie is directed is almost overly dramatic to reflect this. The score of the movie itself is one I’d give every last award to if I had the ability. The songs that play behind the scenes range from intense to soft and dreamlike, setting the atmosphere of scenes so well.
Throughout the movie I saw multiple scenes that I never would have expected out of a movie about a cat wearing boots. There was cut-off swearing, and even a scene with a whole tangent of bleeped-out profanity. There was a scene with real blood, opposed to the usual kids movie ‘it was just strawberry jelly’ trope. “The Last Wish” took a far different approach than I’d expect when you compare it to its predecessor, and I think it couldn’t have been better.