The Greatest Villain in Animation
I was a little skeptical when Puss and Boots the Last Wish came out. So naturally, I went in with extremely low expectations, because:
DreamWorks had scammed me on more than one occasion, and I wasn’t about to let that happen again.
It was a Shrek film. And a spin-off Shrek film for that matter.
So, I grabbed my buttery, extremely overpriced popcorn and sat down in the massive, heated movie theater seats.
Fast-forward 1.7 hours: I was utterly blown away.
In an unbelievable turn of events, DreamWorks had created one of the greatest animated films to date. With my popcorn bucket nothing less than a few measly kernels, I exited the theater in a daze.
I couldn’t believe it. They had done it.
Death…
One of the reasons I love this film is because of it’s terrifying antagonist: Death. He looks like he stepped into the wrong film, with a menacing demeanor and terrifying eyes. If I was a kid, I would’ve had nightmares for weeks. Luckily, I’m a little more mature than that, so it was only for a few days.
Anyway, the first scene he’s in is brilliantly crafted and is really all I want to talk about.
Our protagonist Puss just found out that he had wasted away eight of his nine lives out of arrogance and recklessness (yup sounds like Puss). He finds solace in drinking. Not like drinking drinking. He’s drinking milk. He’s not an alcoholic. At least not yet.
Anyway, Death appears, his enormous wolf form taking up half the screen in a brilliant symbolic display of how woefully outmatched Puss is.
Death strikes up a conversation, you know as immortal beings usually do. Puss has no idea who he is, so Death gives him a hint by tapping the word Dead on a wanted poster.
Puss doesn’t get the hint, so in his hubris, he starts fighting Death. Previously in this film, we’ve seen Puss easily outmatch anything he comes across, all while cracking jokes and doing Olympian-level Gymnastics.
This fight’s different.
Death is infinitely more experienced than Puss, casually evading anything he attempts.
And then Death fights back, creating the two most iconic frames of the entire film.
For the first time, Puss feels the cold tip of a blade, and the second shot shows him bleeding.
I was floored when I saw this in theaters. I didn’t think DreamWorks even knew what blood looked like.
Since Puss is in his last life, his mortality hits him like a train car. Not literally, that would’ve been the end of his ninth life.
Death only gets about seven minutes of screen time, but his presence as a relentless assassin is felt throughout the entire film. I have never seen an animated villain who commands the screen as much as Death does.
So to conclude
This movie is amazing, way better than what I expected.
You could remove Death from the film and still have a coherent plot, but that’s like building a post out of wood and duct tape instead of metal. Death makes this film great. It’s refreshing to see a completely evil antagonist, unlike the twist villains and redeemable villains of recent animated movies.
So watch this movie, otherwise death will hunt you down. I guess he’s already doing that, but you know what I mean.
—Charlie