Chris Miller
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But the folks at DreamWorks have taken a tip from the superhero universe and scratched out an action-packed origin story for the kitty – one that bears closer resemblance (in specific scenes) to Spaghetti Westerns, the Step Up dance movies, The Usual Suspects and Godzilla than it does to “Le Maître Chat ou Le Chat Botté,” the story penned by Charles Perrault for his 17th-century collection that popularized Puss (not to mention Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella et al.) for the ages.
Banderas embraces his comic chops once more, it’s as if he’s playing a live-action version of Puss in Boot here.
He’s just not big and silly enough to feel like a proper fit for this bear’s distinct style of adventure, which is a shame considering he’s shown the right kind of range over in the Puss in Boots films.
Screenwriters Irena Brignull (The Boxtrolls) and Bob Persichetti (Puss in Boots), who appear to rely on the novel’s most poetic translation by Katherine Woods, do a fine job with a movie that is aimed at the middle-school child, rather than the little ones.
This isn’t a straight retelling however, as director Mark Osborne (Kung-Fu Panda) and writers Irena Brignull (The Box Trolls) and Bob Persichetti (Puss in Boots) have framed a new story around the classic tale.
Directed by Mark Osborne (Kung Fu Panda), the script by Irena Brignull (The Boxtrolls) and Bob Persichetti (Disney's Tarzan and Mulan, as well as Puss in Boots) takes Antoine de Saint-Exupery's ageless, delicate 1942 story, deep fries it in hydrogenated fat and then encases it in a corn-syrup-based frame story that was clearly conceived to make the source material's unsettling message about mortality and the evanescence of innocence more palatable for contemporary audiences.
Even Timberlake and John Cleese, who previously played a reluctant hero and ailing king in Shrek the Third, respectively, essentially serve similar functions here.
Deakins' signature understanding of light and texture is so renowned that he even is sought as a visual consultant on animated films, such as "Rango" and "Puss in Boots."
…flipping through different styles of animation similar to “Smurfs” (2025)…
But 2011 saw DreamWorks’ surreal Puss in Boots , as well as Gore Verbinski’s Rango , which isn’t my thing, but you have to admit it’s one of a kind.
The film’s very loose plot does more to remind us of Shrek 2’s flaws than it does of the series’ strengths.
But it seems that when Andrew Adamson, who co-directed 2001’s “Shrek” and 2004’s “Shrek 2,” moved onto greener pastures (with 2005’s surprise hit “The Chronicles of Narnia”), he must have taken something with him.
As the film opens, Prince Charming (voiced by Rupert Everett), who was so close to getting the throne in Shrek 2, has been reduced to dinner theatre and in general is made a mockery of.
Shrek (2001) and Shrek 2 (2004) are nearing the $1.4 billion revenue mark, and the amount is still climbing.