Puss in Boots: The Last Wish / YMMV

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A-C

Alternative Character Interpretation:
- The cheerful way Perrito recounts his backstory. Is he blissfully unaware that his previous owners were trying to abandon and eventually kill him? Or does he perceive it as a "funny story" because he knew what his owners were trying to do but they kept failing?
  - Alternatively, could he be laughing at it as a way of coping with his traumatic past?
- Was Kitty telling the truth when she said she wasn't in Santa Coloma either? Or did she lie to make Puss feel better? Compared to Puss, whom we actually saw leave the church, all we have to go off of is her word. And if she wasn't there, how could she even know about Puss' actions or be as upset about the incident as she was when they met again?
  - Possibly by hearing about it.
- Later in the movie, Puss is confronted with the realization of how lonely his daredevil lifestyle truly was. In addition, we see a flashback on how sad Puss was being alone. And since this movie takes place after Shrek Forever After, this brings a new question: after leaving Kitty at the altar and Shrek and co., was his recklessness and disregard for his lives Puss’ coping mechanism to deal with the loneliness of it all?
- Jack Horner has several of these:
  - Is Jack's treatment of his men due to sheer callousness, or a deliberate attempt by him to ensure none of them ever possibly claim the wish for themselves?
  - Does Jack actually believe that his very good childhood was "useless crap", or is he just trying to get a rise out of the Ethical Bug? He's very much aware of his own moral failings (not that he considers them failings), and he did keep the bug until he was confirmed as irredeemable; it's possible Jack didn't just splat him as soon as he proved useless solely to break his idealism for a laugh. And did he actually have a good childhood with loving parents? In his flashback brought on by the taunts of one of the Serpent Sisters, his parents seemed completely loveless towards him, though it could just be boredom of having to hear him sing the same nursery rhyme over and over. Was he just lying to defy Freudian Excuse and troll the Ethical Bug?
  - While he clearly doesn't like or care for him, Jack is willing to keep the Ethical Bug on his shoulder until the latter finally declares him an "irredeemable monster", at which point Jack casually flicks him away without a second thought. Was Jack keeping the Bug around because he was only a minor annoyance at first, or was he actively trying to destroy the Bug's belief that there was good in all people? The fact that Jack mockingly asks what took the Bug so long to come to his conclusion could suggest the latter.
- Is Mama Bear as bumbling as her husband and son or is she acting like that to get Goldie to slow down and loosen up?
- The Wolf in general.
  - While it is clear that Death wants to take Puss' last life, does he also want Puss to learn the value of life? Considering how visibly and audibly frustrated he is when Puss learns his lesson, the implications may lean toward the more murderous option. On the other hand, it could also more charitably be interpreted as Death putting on a front due to being reluctant to admit that he underestimated Puss and is proud of him.
  - When Death reappears at the Cave of Lost Souls, he looks livid and proceeds to take down Puss' lost eight lives. Was this a Kick the Dog act to put fear back into Puss or a Pet the Dog act to prevent Puss from being influenced back to his Jerkass self by his eight lives? Or both?
  - Was Puss really safe from the Wolf at Mama Luna's, considering how easily the Bears are able to track him there? If not, was the Wolf planning to eventually finish the job he started, or was he content to let Puss spend his last life in a meaningless, repetitive existence? Puss had buried his gear and given a eulogy to his past self, so in a sense, Death had already metaphorically killed "the legend", lending credence to the second option.
  - Was The Wolf actually death or was he just a regular bounty hunter in the human world and the star just made an agent based on him. Puss first meets The Wolf in a bar in the human world and loses a duel against him, then he sees the wolf again after escaping from Jack Horner. It's only when Puss is in the wish realm that The Wolf introduces himself as Death so "Death" might actually be an agent of the star. The star based his appearance on the bounty hunter because he managed to defeat Puss in a duel and make him fear for his life.
- When he finds out Puss is on his final life, the doctor asks if he has anyone he can turn to for emotional support. Puss says "yes," but is clearly fibbing, which the doctor picks up on, and Puss never considers going to his friends from the main series. Does this imply Puss had a falling out with Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey, or have they simply drifted apart due to his friends now having young children and Puss being a traveling adventurer? Or, does Puss choose not to involve them because he doesn't want his friends to know he's on his last life? Notice how long it took him to admit it to Kitty. If so, is it a pride thing, or not wanting his friends to worry about him and eventually see him die for good?
- The Serpent Sisters. After Jo is turned into gold, Jan is last seen wheeling her out of the room and asks Jack if she's free to go. Was Jan planning to find a way to turn her sister back to normal, or just sell her off, making good on Jack's promise of "her weight in gold?" We know so little about her character that both outcomes are possible.
Alternative Joke Interpretation: Jack Horner claiming he never had much as a kid, only "loving parents, stability, and a mansion, and a thriving baked goods enterprise for me to inherit. Useless crap like that". It works two ways: Either Jack Horner is so deeply evil he truly cannot see the value in such things in life... or he's simply evil enough to have a deliberate laugh at the Ethical Bug's expense for even thinking there could be a Freudian Excuse involved when he's a Card-Carrying Villain through and through; the fact Jack kept the bug until the realization he was an "irredeemable monster" helps the latter. In a completely different viewpoint, his brief taunt-induced flashback shows his parents as looking completely loveless towards him and their business being out of a run-down wagon, calling into question if his childhood was really as good as it was. After all, it wouldn't be out of character for him to stamp out any hints of a troubled past, which would give him sympathy.
And You Thought It Would Fail: Many box office pundits were skeptical of the film's prospects going into release, citing the diminished profile of both DreamWorks Animation (generally seen as having been usurped by Universal stablemate Illumination Entertainment as Disney's chief animated competitor) and the Shrek franchise (dormant for over 11 years thanks to this film's Development Hell). The middling reputations of the later installments of said series (including the first Puss in Boots) didn't help much, either. Making matters worse, on opening weekend, much of the United States was blanketed by severe winter storms as well as the potential threat of yet another deadly coronavirus outbreak, significantly limiting audiences' ability to reach this film for much of the Christmas holiday season; as a result, The Last Wish opened with just $26 million over its opening six-day frame, which looked like a disastrous drop from the first Puss and led pundits to speculate it would fail to hit even $90 million domestic, which would put it among the company's worst flops. As the storms subsided, however, and the film's very positive word of mouth spread, the box office began to rebound, and The Last Wish more than doubled its gross by New Year's Day. It continued to hold extremely well as January progressed, surging well past $100 million domestic, and box office pundits changed their tune, comparing the performance to fellow holiday box office long-hauler The Greatest Showman. With otherwise little other competition at the box office and no new major animated films out in theaters until Universal/Illumination's The Super Mario Bros. Movie was released in April 2023, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish ultimately surpassed the first film's domestic gross. The international performance still isn't as strong as that of the first, and the film is long removed from the record-breaking performances of the mainline Shrek installments, but The Last Wish did prove the series, unlike Puss himself, isn't on its last life just yet, with many calling it the greatest film to come out of DreamWorks since the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy.
Awesome Music:
- "Fearless Hero", Puss' "I Am Great!" Song that Antonio Banderas personally sings, containing many Badass Boasts and plays all throughout the opening fight scenes, ramping up its intensity in a way that perfectly captures his swashbuckling personality.
- "The Fight With Death" is a climactic sounding battle theme that is blood-pumping, fitting for the final duel against The Wolf, the scariest villain of the movie. In the flames. Even more incredible the score also contains leitmotifs of Fearless Hero prominently during the part when Puss changes the tide of battle in his favour.
- "La Vida es Una" by KarolG, playing during the credits, serves as a rhythmic coda for the film's major themes of mortality and love.
Captain Obvious Reveal: The film tries to play up the Wolf being actual, non-metaphorical Death as a stunning reveal, except that quite literally zero subtlety is given to hiding it in his first appearance, where the first thing we see him do is supernaturally appear in a Mirror Scare and speak about how Puss can only elude him for so long.
Common Knowledge: The insect that tries to give Jack a conscience is not Jiminy Cricket. He is never once addressed as Jiminy Cricket, and the credits call him "The Ethical Bug." But given just how obvious the inspiration is (down to the Jimmy Stewart impression), along with the fact that Pinocchio already exists in this universe, you can't exactly blame people for making the assumption.
Complete Monster: In the novelization by Cala Spinner: "Robbin' Big" Jack Horner lacks most of the comedic elements of his film counterpart to become something far more sinister. Once a lonely baker's boy who sought true happiness, Jack hopes to use the power of the Wishing Star to acquire all the magic in the world, uncaring that it would incite chaos, mass panic, and total destruction just as long as he can hold the whole world under his thumb. Carelessly killing and abusing his own Baker's Dozen until they're all dead, from burning one alive, to whipping them for fun, Jack proves himself one of the cruelest characters encountered by Puss and friends.
Crack Pairing: The Wolf x Big Bad Wolf has gained a small following due to both being wolves in the Shrek franchise, especially since The Wolf was marketed as being the Big Bad Wolf as well.
Creepy Awesome: The Wolf who nearly kills Puss in their first meeting, even drawing blood with a narrowly avoided swing over the top of his head. From that point forward, he continues to quietly stalk the little cat from the darkness and is able to send him into a state of utter panic and terror just by whistling and staring at him ominously with his glowing black and red eyes and murderous smile. He even outright revels in how much Puss fears him. He's also an unmatched, unstoppable fighter with a creative weapon; has a very smooth, charismatic yet intimidating voice and manner, and all of his scenes are filled with incredible animation that emphasize just how terrifying yet cool he is. Genuinely one of the coolest depictions of The Grim Reaper ever put on film.
Crosses the Line Twice:
- Perrito's backstory is absolutely horrifying, but the cheerful way he tells the story combined with Puss and Kitty's reactions make it absolutely hilarious as well. Plus the revelation that the sock which Perrito was nearly drowned in is now his sweater.
  Kitty Softpaws: That is the saddest "funny story" I've ever heard!
- Jack Horner is so over-the-top and exaggerated in how evil he is that he ends up being one of the funniest characters in the film.
  Ethical Bug: Y-you're not gonna shoot a puppy, are you Jack?
  Jack Horner: Yeah, in the face. Why?
- Almost immediately after that. We see Jack brutally shooting at his own crew who explode. On itself is a lot, but the fact instead of blood and gore, they turn into confetti makes it seem even more brutal and hilarious.
- Perrito's cheerful tirade of swearing after Baby Bear threatens to "gut him from pooper to snooter", as Goldi and her family look on in Stunned Silence. It ends with Perrito collapsing in laughter while Papa Bear admits that he found it Actually Pretty Funny.
- The Three Bears trying to torture Puss's location out of Mama Luna by giving her the "piano treatment", which involves shoving her headfirst into a piano while Papa Bear plays a jaunty tune on it. It's the one scene in the movie that reminds us they're a crime family, but it certainly is a hilarious way to torture someone, especially when Mama Luna briefly pops out of the piano just to criticize Papa Bear's playing.
Crossover Ship: Wolf x Loona from Helluva Boss has gained a small following. This is mostly due to their similar fur colors as well as being other-worldly canines associated with death, Loona being a hellhound secretary for an infernal assassination company and The Wolf being Death himself.

D-F

Designated Villain: The Governor of Del Mar is certainly a classist Jerkass, but the worst he does is try to arrest Puss for breaking into his house, throwing a party, and vandalizing his property.
Do Not Do This Cool Thing: The movie portrays Puss In Boots's life as a Living Legend as empty causing him to lost connection to anyone that he ever could connect with and the egocentrism gained for the absolute adoration he receives from everyone thanks to his heroic achivements is pretty much what causes everything wrong that happens in the movie. But Puss in Boots's first scene in the movie is him singing "Fearless Hero", which is an absolutely kick ass song portraying every aspect of his life that the movie criticizes and makes it look awesome.
Draco in Leather Pants:
- Most fans portray The Wolf as one. Specifically, they portray Death as a Well-Intentioned Extremist who was trying to get Puss to humble himself into being a better person when in contrast to the narrative, Death himself admits he was intending to kill Puss due to being personally slighted by Puss' hubris against him and already having a bias against cats for their nine lives. And when Puss shows humility, Death initially throws a tirade and is not happy that Puss has changed, becoming a reluctant Graceful Loser in the end. Fans holding this belief assume that this was largely an act meant to Scare 'Em Straight, since Death gives up pretty readily once Puss affirms his newfound respect for his life. There are also people who claim that Death was just doing his job as The Grim Reaper, but if anything, Death was actually overstepping the boundaries of his job, and was actively trying to pre-maturely kill Puss before his time is actually up.
- While fans admit that "Big" Jack Horner revels in his villainy, some believe that he was lying about his childhood to the Ethical Bug, as his one flashback scene depicts him traveling by stagecoach with his bored parents, failing at garnering attention with his nursery rhyme act; for them, this serves to make him a much more tragic figure.
Ensemble Dark Horse: The Ethical Bug, despite being a minor character, has become a fan favorite, due to being a hilarious deconstruction of The Conscience. His horrified reactions to Jack Horner's many heinous deeds are comedy gold, and him finally turning on Horner by burning the last part of the map to the Wishing Star is the icing on the cake.
Evil Is Cool: All of the villains are awesome in their own ways:
- The Wolf is regarded as one of the highlights of the movie, thanks to his intimidating design, Wagner Moura's chilling voice performance^note, and the fact that every one of his scenes are accompanied by some truly jaw-dropping cuts of animation. The fact that he's literally Death only adds to his coolness.
- "Big" Jack Horner. In spite of his comedic nature (although this is also praised by most of those who like him), he's surprisingly effective and intimidating, from his versatile use of various magical items in extremely unorthodox (or outright irreverent) ways to his absolutely merciless treatment of others, particularly his henchmen. Alongside that his aesthetic isn't too shabby, from his outfit that compliments his role as a crime boss, his rather varied designs and weaponry of his Baker's Dozen and even his giant Fury Road-style carriage. His personality also earns him a surprising amount of fans, as his absolute vileness combined with his total self-awareness about it makes him stand out from the sea of more sympathetic and complex villains in modern media.
- Goldilocks and the Three Bears. What's not to love about an Affably Evil British crime family where three of the members are bears?
Fandom Rivalry: Developed one with Turning Red ahead of the Academy Awards, especially when both films were nominated for Best Animated Feature, as a revival of the longstanding "Dreamworks vs. Disney" (or in this case, Pixar) rivalry. The sharp contrast between both films (with Turning Red being a female-focused Coming of Age Story vs. The Last Wish being an action-adventure film with darker themes) especially accentuated this, as both films were competing for the same reward. Fans of The Last Wish wanted one year where Disney didn't take home an Oscar, while fans of Turning Red felt that a deeply personal film about Generational Trauma deserved just that. Ultimately both films lost out to Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, something that fans of both were largely okay with.
Fandom-Specific Plot:
- A common fan art scenario involves Perrito having encountered the Wolf before or meets with him like a close friend. Particularly with how Death was there during Perrito's near drowning.
- One-shot fanfics showing Kitty losing one of her lives are common, usually having Death show up to have a brief chat with Puss or Puss and Kitty having a heart-to-heart about their mortality.
- Another common plot is Puss having another encounter with the Wolf as an old tomcat with Puss treating Death as an old friend due to having a life well lived.
Fanfic Fuel:
- Gingy's cameo in the Death Montage confirms that Puss lost at least one of his lives after meeting Shrek. Did Puss' friends know about or witness any of his other deaths before the oven incident? And how would they feel knowing that he was recklessly endangering himself and losing his lives on a regular basis?
- The existence of Death in the Shrek universe has spurred new ideas on how he's used and interacts with the fairy tale inhabitants. Especially with how he played witness to every major villain's demise. What could he have thought of the deaths of Lord Farquaad, the Fairy Godmother, Prince Charming, Humpty Dumpty, and even Jack Horner himself? Also, if he exists, do the other Horsemen of the Apocalypse exist as well?
- What were the unseen locales in the Dark Forest like? And what other locations might appear if a new character touches the map, changing the forest's layout in accordance with their heart?
Fan Nickname:
- Since the Ethical Bug's name is only listed in the credits and his inspiration is obvious, many fans just cut out the middleman and call him Jiminy Cricket. Others like to refer to him as "Jiminy Stewart," thanks to his voice resembling that of Jimmy Stewart.
- Boris Johnson for Jack Horner, due to his "Wanted!" Poster making him look like a caricature of the guy.
Fans Prefer the New Him: The beard that Puss grows after his time at Mama Luna's has gotten some love for giving him a mature edge and making him look, as Puss puts it, "distinguished", despite Kitty and eventually Puss himself deriding it for being gross.
Foe Yay Shipping: Puss/Death became a popular pairing once the movie came out, due to Death's obsession with finally killing Puss and the mutual respect the two eventually develop for each other.
Fountain of Memes: "Big" Jack Horner has started to become this to his role as an entertaining "irredeemable monster". Naturally, this sparked comparisons to the "Sigma Male Grindset".
Friendly Fandoms:
- People who have seen The Last Wish are very likely to have also seen The Bad Guys (2022), as both films were DreamWorks animated films released in 2022 focusing on Anti-Hero main characters. Both movies feature more stylised animation compared to earlier DreamWorks movies. They also have wolf characters who are Popular with Furries (the protagonist in The Bad Guys, one of the villains in The Last Wish).
- Plenty of fans of this movie also tend to be fans of Sonic the Hedgehog, even citing that portions of the film, specifically the action scenes, give them vibes of the game series. A contributing factor to this that fans cite is how Puss's recklessness in the film is somewhat reminiscent of Sonic's in some games. The fact that the movie was released around the time Sonic Frontiers was, Puss fighting giants in this film, much like how Sonic did in Frontiers, as well as both featuring a personification of Death as their respective villains, likely helped with this.
- Fans of The Last Wish and M3GAN have bonded over getting higher critical and audience scores than Avatar: The Way of Water. As such, expect to see plenty of overlap between the two fandoms.
- There is major overlap between the fandoms of this film and Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, which came out shortly before it. Not only do both films have similar themes (such as the personification of Death having a major role, and the protagonist learning to appreciate his final life after being brought back from the dead multiple times), but The Last Wish even has one of the villains being upstaged by Pinocchio as part of his backstory, and features a parody of the Talking Cricket attempting to act as a conscience for him. Even when Pinocchio beat The Last Wish at the Oscars for Best Animated Feature, most fans weren't particularly upset by it.

G-M

Genius Bonus: Big Jack Horner being so unapologetically evil makes even more sense if one is familiar with how the nursery rhyme was received throughout history. From the start, Moral Guardians have criticized the poem as an endorsement of greed, and political satirists have used it for mocking self-serving politicians.
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Jack's envious rivalry with Pinocchio became rather self-fulfilling when another Pinocchio beat The Last Wish out for the 2023 Oscar for best animated feature.
- At one point Jack pulls out Excalibur and it basically has the stone still attached to it so he uses it like a club. Then came The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom that allows you to fuse swords with stones at the end of them that works the same way.
Hollywood Homely: Puss' new bearded look is meant to come across as gross and unkempt. But not only is he still a Badass Adorable cat, some fans actually find his beard rather attractive.
Hype Aversion: Due to sheer worship of this film amongst its fanbase, it has turned some viewers away from seeing the movie, finding the fans insufferable. This reaction usually ties into the fanbase dogpiling on Avatar 2.
Hype Backlash: After countless months of hearing how awesome of a villain Big Jack Horner is and how much of a breath of fresh air he is from animated films having either no villain or a sympathetic Anti-Villain, it's possible for new viewers to watch the film and find his cartoonishly sociopathic personality ridiculous and unconvincing, not helped by how almost every time he's on screen he has another Kick the Dog moment which makes him seem like a Dastardly Whiplash rather than a real character.
Idiosyncratic Ship Naming: Certain fans of the Wolf x Big Bad Wolf pairing have coined the name "Deathbed". Referring to the fact that the Big Bad Wolf appeared in someone's bed in the first two Shrek films, but also that the Wolf in The Last Wish is The Grim Reaper himself, creating a darkly humorous ship name.
Iron Woobie: Perrito has had it very rough despite his All-Loving Hero status. Born into a family where he was outright disliked, his owner constantly tried to get rid of him, but always came back for them. Furious, the owner eventually put him in a sock along with a rock, and threw him into the river to drown, which he would later survive and use the sock as a disguise to enter a Crazy Cat Lady's house. When he tells his story to Puss and Kitty, he's rolling in the floor barely containing his laughter because he thinks all of that were just good memories.
It Was His Sled: By this point, pretty much everyone knows that the Wolf is actually the literal personification of Death, which was considered a twist when the movie first came out.
Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: All of the villains in the movie are very enjoyable for many reasons (Jack Horner for being Laughably Evil, Goldilocks and the Bears for their complex relationship and the Wolf due to Evil Is Cool). The one character people can despise is the Governor of Del-Mar at the beginning and end of the movie for his jerk-like treatment of everyone around him.
Just Here for Godzilla: Many Big Mouth fans have only shown an interest in this movie just to see John Mulaney play Jack Horner.
Love to Hate: Big Jack Horner is, in the words of the Ethical Bug, "an irredeemable monster". The closest thing he has to a quality is his honesty and awareness about how utterly selfish and amoral he is. Yet many viewers, while not rooting for him still enjoy his screen time for the dark humor he provides in addition to being a surprisingly believable character in spite of his simple personality. Another reason for his praises is that he's a breath of fresh air for many who are tired of Tragic Villains or Graying Moralities that have become overused in the Disney movies of the last few years; with Big Jack being a return to the tradition.
Magnificent Bastard:
- The Wolf introduces himself as a Bounty Hunter come to claim Puss's life. He ends up inflicting a Curb-Stomp Battle on Puss, before letting Puss flee intending to build terror and humiliation in him. Throughout the rest of the film he appears taunting Puss with his presence and psychologically tormenting him. Finally confronting him again, he reveals himself to be Death, come to punish Puss for his arrogance and cavalierness towards his past eight lives. Puss flees again to wish for nine more lives but the Wolf confronts him. Facing his fears, he battles the Wolf and acknowledges that while he can never truly beat the bounty hunter, he'll never stop fighting for this life. Briefly throwing a tantrum, the Wolf quickly calms down, noting that he came to kill an arrogant legend, but he doesn't "see him anymore." Acknowledging they'll meet again, he walks off into the night, whistling.
- Goldilocks is the leader of a gang of her and three bears. Hoping to find the Wishing Star, she tracks Puss down so he can help her steal a map to it from Jack Horner, only to find his apparent grave. Deciding to steal the map herself, she ends up there too late as Puss and Kitty have stolen it first. Following them while Jack trails close behind, she ends up in the magical forest where the Wishing Star resides. She proceeds to use her wits and combat skills to keep the bears on track, especially when they get into conflict with Jack or Puss and Kitty, and eventually reveals her wish is to have a real human family. Hurt by this, the bears still decide to help her, and when given the choice between saving the youngest bear or getting her wish, she chooses the bear. She then decides to help defeat Jack Horner, and afterwards leaves with the three bears to take over Jack's pie empire.
Memetic Mutation: Has its own page here.
Moral Event Horizon: Lampshaded. Both are played for (dark) laughs, especially with how Horner is aware of how bad he is, but still...:
- The Ethical Bug finally gives up on Jack and proclaims him an "irredeemable monster" after he uses his remaining mooks as a human bridge and rolls his heavy carriage over their backs, sending all but one of them to their doom.
- The fact that Perrito's original owners tried to kill him by drowning him in a river rightly horrifies both Puss and Kitty.
More Popular Replacement: While Humpty Dumpty has his fans for his complex relationship with Puss, many prefer Perrito as the third member of Puss' group due to him being an endearing Nice Guy and The Pollyanna who supports Puss and Kitty every step of the way.
Most Wonderful Sound:
- The film's final scene, where Harry Gregson-Williams' Shrek theme "Fairytale" plays as Puss and his friends approach Far Far Away, implying that the beloved ogre will finally be returning at some point, has prompted cheers from audiences at many screenings.
- The Wolf's whistling is just as terrifying as it is hauntingly beautiful, making it a pretty endearing sound.

N-W

Nausea Fuel: Jack Horner manages to make sticking his thumb into a pie, pulling out a plum and eating it absolutely disgusting. Doubly so when one considers his thumb is perpetually stained purple, meaning he keeps sticking it into his pies and never washes it.
Older Than They Think:
- This version of Little Jack Horner isn't the first Jerkass version with an endless sack of magical items that causes a scene in a land of Fractured Fairy Tales. Jack Horner of Fables predates this one by 20 years, except this Horner somehow has less redeeming qualities than his M-rated counterpart.
- This is not the first time a western animated work featured a cat-themed character finding out they're down to their last life, forcing them to give up their risky, daredevil lifestyle. While technically a white lie rather than the truth, this is the basic premise of the Fairly Oddparents episode "9 Lives", which aired 13 years prior to the premiere of The Last Wish.
- This is not the first time a giant Starter Villain gets the sword-wielding protagonist crushed upon defeat while the latter is boasting, leading to the rest of the plot.
One-Scene Wonder:
- Basically any of the cameos by Shrek characters (namely Gingy and Pinocchio) could count, but especially the brief memory of Shrek and Donkey themselves as Puss's lives flash before his eyes, which is the first cinematic appearance of the characters in over 12 years.
- The "Oooh!" cat, a Running Gag from the first movie, makes a brief return when Puss introduces himself to the rest of Mama Luna's cats, reprising the same gag. Notably, he and Kitty are the only characters introduced in the first film to return in The Last Wish (aside from a brief cameo by Imelda in the flashback scene).
Paranoia Fuel: The Wolf is a frighteningly competent bounty hunter who is always able to creep up on Puss no matter where he is. The paranoia increases tenfold once it's revealed he's Death itself, and that he's been watching Puss foolishly waste his previous eight lives for years. Then there is that eerie whistle he does whenever he makes his presence known.
Periphery Demographic: Many adults and teenagers have openly admitted to enjoying the movie just as much as its intended younger audience thanks to its fair share of Black Comedy and serious moments. It also helps that it's part of a franchise that's been around since the early 2000s, meaning a lot of kids who grew up with the original Shrek movies went to see this one as adults (that, and the Shrek series had a prominent teen and adult fanbase to begin with).
Popular with Furries: The Wolf made waves despite, or even because of, his deadly imposing demeanor. Furries have even made jokes saying that Dreamworks had blessed them with two handsome wolves in the same year, the other being Mr. Wolf. Main attractions are his smooth voice and his physical build.
Rooting for the Empire: Due to his sheer badassery, unstoppable nature and all the good points he makes about Puss, quite a few fans admitted to rooting for the Wolf throughout the movie.
Sacred Cow:
- Upon its release, this movie became universally acclaimed for how perfectly it executed its mature themes, its characters, and its Spider-Verse inspired art direction, becoming not just one of the best Dreamworks films (and sealing their comeback after the positive reception of The Bad Guys (2022) earlier in the year), but also one of the best animated movies period. It's to the point where what little negative criticism there is of this film, it gets dogpiled for it.
- The Wolf/Death is universally considered to be one of the best villains in any animated feature film due to his unstoppable nature, amazing design, stellar voice performance by Wagner Moura and the fact that he makes several good points about Puss. Saying anything bad about him is asking for the fans to tear you a new one. Even if you don't like the rest of the movie, you are expected to at least like him.
Shocking Moments: The scene early on when the Wolf wounds Puss enough for what seems like a drop of blood to run down his face, which many viewers admitted to thinking was a setup for the fake blood gag so often found in family-friendly animated films and shows... only for the pan-out to show that it really is blood in a family-friendly film.
Signature Scene:
- The Wolf's first appearance, and the following vicious Curb-Stomp Battle where he absolutely trashes Puss, makes him bleed, orders Puss to pick up his sword when he disarms him, and makes him run away in fear. The scene took viewers by surprise because it's a huge Mood Whiplash, both in the context of the movie and in the context of the Shrek saga, because of the Wolf's intimidating presence and the intense fight in which Puss actually bleeds from a small cut. The drop of blood itself has become famous for both effectively setting up the Darker and Edgier tone and for being truly shocking for most viewers just for being blood in a children's film. Many viewers believed it to be a gag involving jam until proven otherwise, and there's reports of audiences gasping when they realized it's actual blood.
- In a movie full of memorable action sequences, one scene everyone has talked about is the relatively quiet one of Puss having an anxiety attack, due to how realistically it is portrayed. It also got frequent comparisons with the much-hated Velma's panic attack scenes for how a family film depicts the subject matter more accurately than an adult series.
- The scene where Jack gets most of his Baker's Dozen killed while trying to cross his carriage over them, to which the Ethical Bug finally realises Jack's irredeemable nature, is famous in Internet circles for its memeable nature.
- Puss' final duel with Death, for the fight choreography, beautiful animation, rousing music, and cathartic completion of Puss' character.
Squick: Both times Puss uses the "Spanish Splinter" technique (forcing his blade under his opponent's fingernail).
Surprisingly Improved Sequel: While the first Puss in Boots film was generally considered alright at best and middling at worst, The Last Wish blew many expectations out of the water with its handling of story, themes and characters being a giant step up from the first one, often being assessed as the sequel nobody thought they needed. It sports at least 92% on both critic and audience ratings at Rotten Tomatoes, compared to the first film's decent critic rating of 86%, but a 68% audience rating. It also outperforms all four films of its parent franchise on these metrics as well.
Spiritual Successor: The movie can be a fantasia animated adaptation to Borderlands 2. Both are about carless protagonists that have been known to die repeatedly. The antagonist in a successful sociopathic Manchild with a inferiority complex named "something" Jack. The comic relief (Claptrap and Perrito) is a overlay cheerfully companion with a tragic history of being abused and sward at. The whole plot is about finding a out of this world power that can give them anything they want so they can be set for life.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
- The Baker's Dozen are very much unlike your usual copy-paste henchmen; each has a unique design and they're surprisingly diverse with both male and female members and various skin tones. Despite this, all they really do is serve Jack Horner and end up being killed off in various ways by Jack's actions. Special mention goes to the final member, who has one of the most distinctive designs and weapons of the bunch and survives everything, but just gets disintegrated at the very beginning of the final battle to establish the dangers of falling off the Wishing Star's arena.
- Similarly to the Baker's Dozen, the Serpent Sisters have outstanding designs, distinctive voices, and established personalities each, which separates both of them from the usual run-off-the-mill lackeys and could've made them a credible threat to the heroes' adventure on Jack's side, especially since they have apparently murdered a lot of people in the past. However, they only get a single scene of screentime in the whole movie, and one of them even gets killed by Jack before they can do anything relevant other than delivering the magic map.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: By the time Jack Horner finally holds the map, everyone else is already at the Wishing Star. One can only imagine what kind of environments the Dark Forest would've created for him had he grabbed it earlier.
Tough Act to Follow: This movie brought DreamWorks Animation under the spotlight again, with many people praising its quality, especially in comparison to its contemporary Disney and Pixar productions. However, it also means that the studio's following movie was unfavorably compared to The Last Wish, since it didn't measure up to The Last Wish's standard of quality in the eyes of many.
Ugly Cute: Perrito is very dirty and unkempt.^note Even his first attempt at doing Puppy-Dog Eyes falls flat, since it only makes him look constipated and his eyes bulge out even more. Despite all that, he's by far the kindest of the characters in the movie, always looking on the bright side of things and trying to help people whom he considers his friends.
Unexpected Character:
- Gingy appears in the final trailer, in a way that signals that this film is not another prequel to the main Shrek series.
- When Puss's lives flash before his eyes while facing the Wolf, Shrek and Donkey are there with him.
- Pinocchio appears briefly in the flashback of "Big" Jack Horner's backstory.
- In a broader sense, while the fact that the Shrek franchise is set in a magical world of literal fairy tales come to life makes the concept not so outlandish when you think about it, the fact that the true identity of the Wolf is an incarnation of The Grim Reaper (making him by far the most powerful character to ever appear in the entire series) certainly caught many viewers off guard.
Visual Effects of Awesome: Reactions to the updated Cel Shading-esque visual style have been extremely positive, with favorable comparisons to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and DreamWorks' previous film The Bad Guys (2022).
The Woobie:
- Perrito. Apparently, his family abandoned him, but he kept coming back, thinking they were playing a game with him. Eventually, they threw him in a lake and while he did make it to the surface, he couldn't find his family anywhere. Even worse, he's oblivious to the whole point of them putting him in different places.
- The poor Ethical Bug does his best to see the good side of Big Jack Horner and encourages him to do the right thing, but to no avail, and ends up being broken by Jack's horrible actions. It makes it all the more satisfying when the Bug ends up getting Jack killed in the end.
Woolseyism:
- The scene where Puss and Perrito meet for the first time, in which Puss brushes him off by saying "No hablo inglés," only for Perrito to respond in fluent Spanish, was predictably changed in both Spanish dubs. The Latin American dub instead has Puss say "I don't talk with my mouth full" before shoving his face in kibble, while in the European dub, he says "I'm not here."
- In the original, Goldilocks and the three bears all have British accents. To contrast this well in the Latin American Spanish dub, they used thick Argentinian accents for them, with both often sounding as they would be more foul mouthed than they are.
- The Polish dub ended up changing the "You wanna see something cool?" line (the one that Puss says right before the giant gets hit by a bell in the intro) to "Wybacz, ale ci przydzwonię," - meaning "Sorry but I'll [now] hit you", but the used verb is derived from "dzwonić", meaning "ring [a bell]" among other things.
- Similarly, the Brazilian Portuguese dub has Puss asking if the giant wants to see a "badalada", which means both something cool and exciting and the sound bells make.
- The Polish dub renames Jack Horner to Jacek Placek (literally "Jack Pie") — named after two main characters from a Polish children's-book-turned-movie. The reference wasn't particularly relevant by the time the movie came out, but to a Polish viewer it works better than an allusion to an English-language nursery rhyme — in addition, it fits with Jack's character in the film, as the book is about two selfish children who plot to steal the moon, and Jack has stolen countless items from fairy tale characters. Both stories also feature a gang of robbers who are turned into gold.
- Kitty's last name is changed in the Japanese version to "Fuwa-Fuwaa-te". "Fuwa-fuwa te" means "soft hand", while "fuwaate" is an approximate Japanese pronunciation of the Spanish "fuerte" for "strong".

YMMV / Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

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