There is one last film (that I am aware of) with the Shrek franchise for me to review, and that is Puss in Boots (2011).  I already discussed Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) because I have nieces and they wanted to see it in the theaters.  If it was my last wish, it would be that they stopped making these movies.  As has been stated, I do not enjoy animated films, for the most part.  Given that they are not aimed at me, that should not be surprising.  This includes when Puss in Boots inserts the existence of Catholicism by talking at a church of St. Michael and the Virgin of Guadalupe.  May the rest of this review explain why they are not my favorite.

For Puss in Boots (voiced by Antonio Banderas), his favorite activity is being an outlaw.  Or at least that is what I guess he is.  At any rate, this is how he describes himself as the film begins, though he also desires to rebuild his reputation.  This commitment is why when he sneaks into a town that is seemingly somewhere in Mexico.  While talking to the patrons of a bar, he resists their suggestions to rob St. Michael’s.  What does tempt his imagination is the rumor of the existence of magic beans.  They are in the possession of Jack (voiced by Billy Bob Thornton) and Jill (voiced by Amy Sedaris).  And yes, those magic beans, but in this story, in addition to giants, they lead to the Golden Goose.  By gaining access to its precious hatchlings, Puss believes he can retire from a life of crime.  However, as he is about to take them from Jack and Jill, Puss is stopped by Kitty Softpaws (voiced by Salma Hayek).  She is a professional thief who is in the employ of Humpty Alexander Dumpty (voiced by Zach Galifianakis).  I hope you get the idea as to what is going on with this story.  Yet, the backstory of Humpty Dumpty and Puss is a complicated one.  The two had grown up in the same orphanage full of other fairytale creatures.  There is some suggestion that Puss had been responsible for Humpty Dumpty’s great fall.  Before this, though, they had been great friends.  When they were not causing trouble in the neighborhood, they were looking for any kind of bean that might match with the legendary legumes.  They fail repeatedly in locating the right ones.  Humpty Dumpty remains obsessed with his mission, continuing to lead a life of crime in the process, but Puss earns the respect of the local constabulary when he saves the Comandante’s (voiced by Guillermo del Toro) son.  Despite Puss’ newfound notoriety, he is framed by Humpty Dumpty during a bank heist, forcing Puss to escape and leave Humpty Dumpty behind.  Nonetheless, for the potential financial windfall and for old time’s sake, Puss agrees to help.  Once they are able to catch up with Jack and Jill and take the beans, they plant them and create the vine that leads to the giant castle in the sky.  Once there, the Golden Goose turns out to be a chick, but it lays appropriately sized eggs at an alarming rate.  Thus, this is what they abscond with from the sky.  As happens so often in these movies, this is the point at which the plot twist comes.  It turns out that Humpty Dumpty and Kitty had been in league with one another to set up Puss.  It is part of a revenge plot by Humpty Dumpty because of Puss leaving his friend to be arrested years ago.  When Puss finds Humpty Dumpty in their old town, Humpty Dumpty is waiting with the Comandante to have Puss arrested and thrown in jail.  While there, Puss meets Andy “Jack” Beanstalk (voiced by Mike Mitchell), the original owner of the magic beans, technically speaking.  If you know that fairytale, you will be aware of the truth of that statement.  What Jack tells Puss is that the Golden Goose’s mother will come to destroy the town in order to retrieve her chick.  Wanting to warn the town’s folk, Puss breaks out of confinement with some help from Kitty, who asks for forgiveness for her betrayal.  With that Puss finds Humpty Dumpty and appeals to the egg’s sense of friendship to help prevent a disaster from a monster-sized water fowl.  Following a bunch of cartoon nonsense, it comes down to Humpty Dumpty and the chick hanging from a rope held onto by Puss, who has a decision to make: save the chick and the town or Humpty Dumpty.  After confessing to his mistakes, Humpty Dumpty makes the decision for Puss, letting go of the rope.  With that, even though he has just saved the town, Kitty and Puss must make a hasty retreat as the end credits begin to roll.

There is not much to Puss in Boots from beginning to end.  I suppose there is a certain genius in them in terms of using familiar fairytales for their comedic value.  It is all just a little too silly for me.  And what I had hoped would lead to more of a Catholic spin turned out to be merely the mention of churches and iconography.  That is not to say there is no value to the film from this reviewer’s perspective.  If there is any lesson to be had in it, it is forgiveness.  It is good to forgive those who wronged you, although the Church does make the distinction between forgiveness and reconciliation.  The only one with whom we can be sure of true reconciliation is God.  With others, it depends on the situation.  There is a great deal of betrayal between Humpty Dumpty and Puss, although they seem willing to let bygones be bygones, which is great.  That is not the case for every situation.  To make it so, there has to be a willingness to do something extraordinary.  We can see this when Humpty Dumpty is doubting whether he will ever be absolved of his misdeeds, and Puss reminds the egg that it is never too late to do the right thing.  There is a lot of wisdom in this statement.  The Church supports this idea, particularly when viewed through the lens of Confession.  A person can be away from the Church for years and decades, all the way up until the moment of their death.  Should such a person be in the presence of a priest, a final Confession can be made and that person can possibly be absolved.  I couch it in somewhat vague terms because we do not know what is in the heart of the person doing the confessing and God.  It could be that one about to die is simply trying to cover their bases spiritually speaking and does not actually feel remorse for their sins.  Such is not our job to decide.  At the same time, as strange as it might seem, you can see the right attitude on Humpty Dumpty’s face just before he lets go of the rope.  The egg appears to be sorry in his heart for what he has done, and it is the heart that God wants.

Again, what I want is no more movies like Puss in Boots, but I doubt that will happen.  Luckily, it is short, hence the brevity of this review relative to my other work.