Puss In Boots Review

This thing about Puss In Boots is that it's not bad. It's not a masterpiece - but way, way better than the last few execrable Shrek films. It has a certain charm, doubtless because a cute kitty can melt the stoniest of hearts, and also a bit of swagger in its action set-pieces, and sharp pacing.

It's a sequel that elicits groans - a spin-off from a franchise that has miraculously survived long past its expiry date. To top it, this is a Dreamworks animation, which means barely any gravitas, an emphasis on big-name actors over real voice talent, and an entirely unhealthy obsession with merchandising.

It has all that, and the celebrity voice actors detract more than they add, but it holds up mostly due to the emphasis on creating a heist flick. The set-up is straight. Puss in Boots (Antonia Banderas) is an orphan kitty who gets sweet-talked by Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) into robbing a bank, which obviously goes wrong. After years in jail for Dumpty, and exile for Puss, the egg-head has another scheme up his completely round shoulder - steal the magic beans from Jack and Jill (Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris), and use them to steal the eggs laid by the Golden Goose.

It helps that despite the franchise's reliance on known fairy tales and nursery rhymes, the setting is much more interesting. The village of San Ricardo evokes a wild western theme, which keeps going till Puss In Boots effortlessly moves to being a heist/caper film. When Kitty Softpaws, voiced by Salma Hayek is thrown in the mix, the banter between Banderas and her almost always pick up the pace whenever the film feels a little sagged down by shifts in tone.

The storytelling is the star here - the action set-pieces come fast and often, with some really sharp editing, and strong voice-acting by the stars supporting it ably. It isn't something you haven't seen before, nor does it have the cultural weight of something from the Pixar Stable, but it is a good time at the cinemas, that's for sure.

A word on your preference of formats: the 3D is utter garbage, despite animation affording them the luxury to do it properly; this is the same dim and unwatchable mess most post-processed 3D films find themselves in. Watch this good old fashioned heist film with talking kitties in good old fashioned 2D, and you're guaranteed a fun, albeit familiar, time.