Puss in Boots (2011)

So apparently (I never saw it), this character, voiced by Antonio Banderas, stole whichever the hell Shrek movie he was in, and proved popular enough that they gave him his own film. While I tired of the Shrek movies somewhere around the ten minute mark of number two, I try to watch most of the CGI kiddie movies because I like CGI, and the creators of these films usually try to make it at least tolerable for adults to watch.

Puss follows its eponymous feline, who lives among humans in a small town in Spain (I think? Maybe Mexico) and is treated just like a human being even though he’s a cat. It turns out that he had a falling out in the past with fellow orphan Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis), and the two are now at odds. Somehow Puss is drawn into Humpty’s plan to steal the magic beans (of Jack and the Beanstalk fame) from ornery, savage hillbillies Jack (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jill (Amy Sedaris). So about half the picture is trying to deal with Jack and Jill, and the other half is Puss working with Humpty and his accomplice, Kitty Softpaws (Selma Hayek). There’s a lot of backstory (Kitty even objects as Puss sits down to tell us the whole story, but we have ninety minutes to fill), and an adorable, if dopey, Golden Goose toward the end.

They do throw in enough jokes to keep the adults entertained, but the word that keeps coming to mind is cute. Puss is cute, Kitty is cute, even Humpty, though he’s kind of a dick, is cute in a design sense. Jack and Jill seem to represent the Hollywood idea of flyover states; they’re rude, crude, speak with a country twang and keep warthogs as pets. But the action keeps things moving, along with the jokes, though the dance sequence where Kitty is introduced goes on a bit long.

There’s nothing exceptional about this film, but it is light and fluffy and enjoyable. The kids will love its bold graphics and sense of movement (although it must have been 3D; I got tired of things flying at the screen), and the adults will chuckle at some of the slyer jokes. No one but an absolute hater of kid movies will leave unsatisfied.

April 23, 2013