Puss in Boots is a 1999 animated film, produced and animated entirely by Phil Nibbelink. It is an adaptation of the classic fairy tale Puss in Boots, starring the voices of Judge Reinhold, Dan Haggerty and Michael York
Tropes in this film:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: While most of the backgrounds are flat pictures, the Ogre's castle is notably 3D, which stands out conspicuously.
- Adaptation Expansion: The movie adds a couple extra plot elements, like the ogre trying to marry the princess, and the princess eventually discovering Gunther's true identity.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: The ogre's goal is to force the princess to marry him.
- Ascended Extra: While the Ogre is a major part of the original story, he's promoted to a proper Big Bad in this film.
- Captain Ersatz: Gunther and the Princess' cat look suspiciously like Aladdin or, for some viewers, Taran and Duchess, respectively, no doubt due to Phil Nibbelink having previously worked for Disney, with The Black Cauldron being one of the movies he worked on during his time there.
- Convection, Schmonvection: Fire and lava don't seem to work the same way in this movie's universe as it does our own, as despite sometimes charring people, other times people can stand right near lava or right in flames without getting burned.
- Dead Guy on Display: The path to the ogre's castle includes charred skeletons hanging from trees.
- Decapitation Presentation: It also includes, of all things, still-living severed heads on poles.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: The ogre explodes, complete with a mushroom cloud when he's finally killed.
- Deranged Animation: Due to the limited capabilities of the Amiga workstation Phil used, a lot of the animation is, well, strange, with the characters constantly waving weirdly like paper strips blowing in the wind.
- Dung Fu: When thrown in the dungeon, Gunther and Puss begin throwing what is certainly shit at each other, considering it's dripping out of sewage pipes.
- GIS Syndrome: Most of the backgrounds are digitized photos with various edits to make them less obvious.
- Improvised Catapult: Used several times in the movie, most notably a windmill and a pipe.
- Limited Animation: Since it was made by one man using Image FX for the Amiga, the animation is rather cheap-looking and limited. Most notably, the background remains static in a couple of shots despite the characters changing, and the characters sometimes rotate weirdly without moving otherwise. In this case, this is justified, since an Amiga computer could only do so much.
- Manchild: The king acts (and looks) like a baby, despite supposedly being an old man.
- Miniature Senior Citizens: The old king is about a quarter of the size of his daughter.
- Scaled Up: One of the Ogre's preferred forms is a dragon, and is also the final one he assumes.
- Still Sucks Thumb: The king sucks his thumb frequently, fitting his baby-like appearance.
- Up, Up and Away!: Puss spends his several flying scenes in this pose.
- Vocal Dissonance: Gunther has the surprisingly deep voice of Judge Reinhold for a young man.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Unlike the original book, the ogre actually manages to escape from Puss' stomach, and they're eventually forced to fight him.
