Fairy By 9lives

[Baldomero Prado]

Pussin Boots: The Last Wish is a 2022 American animated adventure fantasy comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures. The sequel to the spin-off film Puss in Boots (2011) and the sixth installment of the Shrek film series, the film was directed by Joel Crawford, co-directed by Januel Mercado (in his feature directorial debut), and written by Paul Fisher, Tommy Swerdlow, and Tom Wheeler. Based on the character introduced in Shrek 2 (2004) and inspired by the fairy tale of the same name, the voice cast includes Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek reprising their respective roles as the titular character and Kitty Softpaws, with new additions to the cast including Harvey Guilln, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, Samson Kayo, John Mulaney, and Wagner Moura. Set after the events of Shrek Forever After (2010), the story follows Puss in Boots, who teams up with Kitty and Perrito to find the Last Wish of the fallen Wishing Star to restore eight of his nine lives. They race against other fairy tale characters seeking the same treasure, while a sinister wolf hunts Puss himself.

Plans for a sequel to Puss in Boots began in November 2012 but languished in development hell until it was revived in November 2018, with Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri confirmed as an executive producer. It was announced in February 2019 that the film would be helmed by Bob Persichetti, head of story of the first film and co-director of Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). However, Crawford signed on and replaced Persichetti as director in March 2021, along with Mercado. The story draws inspiration from Spaghetti Western films, with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) cited as a particular influence. The film's style is inspired by Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. With new technology, the team was able to give the film a painterly style to resemble a fairy-tale story, diverging from the visual style of previous installments in the Shrek franchise.

While hosting a party in the town of Del Mar, legendary hero and outlaw Puss in Boots subdues a giant but is subsequently crushed by a church bell. After Puss recovers, the town doctor advises Puss to retire because he has already lost eight of his nine lives. Puss initially refuses, but relents when he is wounded and disarmed while dueling a wolf, whom he assumes is a bounty hunter, at the local pub. Traumatized by the event, Puss follows the doctor's directions to the house of Mama Luna, an elderly cat lady, and buries his clothes.

Months later, Puss meets an optimistic Chihuahua disguised as a cat, whom he calls Perrito.[a] Goldilocks and the Three Bears Crime Family soon arrive at Luna's home, intending to hire Puss to help them steal a map displaying the Wishing Star's location. They leave after finding his apparent grave. Puss decides to find the Star and wish to have nine lives again.

Perrito follows Puss to the factory lair of a corrupt pastry salesman and magical artifact collector "Big" Jack Horner, who intends to use the Star to control all of the world's magic. While stealing the map from Horner, Puss encounters his resentful ex-fiance Kitty Softpaws, who intends to take the map for herself. Goldi, the Bears, and Horner discover and chase the trio; during the chase, Puss sees the wolf in the distance. They all end up in the Dark Forest, a pocket dimension that manifests illusions of travelers' memories. During the subsequent clash, Puss suffers a panic attack and flees after the wolf reappears, allowing Goldi to take the map from Kitty. After Perrito finds Puss and calms him down, Puss confesses his fears and remorse for abandoning Kitty before their wedding. Kitty overhears Puss and tells him that she did not attend the wedding either, believing he loved himself too much to love her.

Reinvigorated, Puss and Kitty retrieve the map while Goldi and the Bears are distracted by a manifestation of their woodland cottage. As revenge, Goldi kidnaps Perrito, but Kitty rescues him. Meanwhile, Puss becomes trapped in the crystalline "Cave of Lost Souls", where reflections of his arrogant past lives ridicule him for changing his outlook. The wolf arrives and reveals himself as Death. Outraged by Puss' failure to value any of his lives, Death intends to take Puss' final life personally. Horrified, Puss runs out of the cave towards the Star, leaving Kitty and Perrito behind.

During an argument with the Bears, Goldi impulsively reveals she intends to wish for a "proper", human family. The Bears become disheartened but nonetheless agree to help her. Reaching the star, Puss begins to make his wish until Kitty arrives, berates him for his selfishness, and reveals her wish to find someone she can trust. Goldi, the Bears, and Horner arrive, and a fight ensues for the map. Goldi briefly obtains it but abandons it to save Baby Bear. Kitty traps Horner inside his magical bottomless bag.

Death arrives and challenges Puss to a duel. Having learned the value of life from his time with his companions, Puss forgoes wishing for more lives and accepts, temporarily disarming Death. Puss declares that he knows he can never truly defeat Death, but he will never stop fighting for his last life. Realizing Puss is no longer arrogant, Death begrudgingly spares him and leaves, though he and Puss acknowledge that they will eventually meet again.

Horner escapes the bag by eating a magic snack, which transforms him into a giant. Perrito distracts Horner, allowing Puss, Kitty, and Goldi to destroy the map, causing the Star to collapse and consume Horner before launching into the sky and exploding. Goldi affirms to the Bears that they are her true family. Goldi and the Bears decide to take over Horner's business. Puss rekindles his romance with Kitty. The two cats and Perrito steal a ship and set sail for the Kingdom of Far Far Away to visit "some old friends".[b]

In November 2012, executive producer Guillermo del Toro shared director Chris Miller's intentions to take the titular character on an adventure to a "very exotic locale". He also said a couple of drafts for the screenplay were completed.[12] In April 2014, voice actor Antonio Banderas said work on the sequel had begun.[6] On June 12, 2014, the movie was titled Puss in Boots 2: Nine Lives & 40 Thieves.[13] In March 2015, Banderas said the script was under restructuring. He also hinted at the possibility of Shrek appearing in the film.[14]

By November 2018, Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri had been brought on board as an executive producer of both Shrek 5 and Puss in Boots 2.[15][16] In February 2019, it was reported that Bob Persichetti was set to direct the film while Latifa Ouaou, producer of the first film, would oversee the development of the sequel with Meledandri; Persichetti and Ouaou previously worked on the first film as head of story and producer, respectively.[17] On August 19, 2020, DreamWorks trademarked Puss in Boots: The Last Wish as the new title of the sequel, which was approved in December.[18] In March 2021, Joel Crawford replaced Persichetti as director, having previously helmed DreamWorks' The Croods: A New Age (2020), with producer Mark Swift, editor James Ryan, and screenwriter Paul Fisher returning as collaborators along with Januel Mercado serving as the film's co-director.[7][19] Along with Salma Hayek (now credited as Salma Hayek Pinault) reprising her voice role, new cast members were announced in March 2022, including Harvey Guilln, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, Samson Kayo, John Mulaney, Wagner Moura, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and Anthony Mendez.[7]

While wanting the film to retain the adult humor from previous entries, Crawford also wanted the film to have a darker tone, with Puss' mortality and fear of death being the film's main focus,[20] wanting to use the concept of Puss being in his last life to tell a story about how to enjoy life.[21][22] Swift felt the Shrek franchise being over 20 years old by the time the project entered production allowed the film to explore darker themes than its predecessors.[20] He drew inspiration from fairytales by the Brothers Grimm and how they were "cautionary tales that took you somewhere dark to make you appreciate the light".[23] This also influenced the decision to depict Death as a wolf, as wolves in Brothers Grimm's stories were depicted as "the personification of fear".[23] Other influences for the film include Spaghetti Westerns films, due to how those films managed to balance between different tones.[23] The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (1966) was cited as a particular influence on the film's plot.[20]

Crawford said he wanted the film's comedy to be "edgy" in the vein of Shrek (2001), aiming to honor what audiences loved from previous entries, although still wanting to do something different with the franchise instead of retreading familiar ground.[21][24] He also was interested in including more characters from the franchise, but not at the expense of the film's story.[21] He also felt that "one foot of Puss in Boots is dipped in the Shrek fairy tale world, but another one is in the spaghetti western world", and aiming to balance both aspects influenced certain decisions for the film.[24]

For the film's opening sequence, the producers didn't want to simply re-introduce the character to general audiences, but also to "[introduce] the world to where the character is now" by establishing him as a celebrity, with the writers drawing inspiration from Mick Jagger.[20] Crawford wanted Puss to start the film as a "larger than life"-type of figure who comes to embrace his vulnerability.[25] Swift described the story as being about Puss "[having] to figure out who am I without all the things that people value in me?".[20] The idea of featuring a scene of Puss having a panic attack was conceived after the team deemed Puss expressing his vulnerabilities verbally as "insincere", whereas a panic attack was seen as a "natural point" for the character that would force Puss to "let down the facade of being a fearless hero". For the scene, Crawford and storyboard artist Taylor Meacham drew from their personal experiences.[25]

3a8082e126