DreamWorks Animation
90 min., dir. by Chris Miller, with Antonio Banderas, Zach Galifianakis, and Salma Hayek

Antonio Banderas as a cute rogueish cat should be enough of a draw to encourage young and old to come and see this film. The titular character is both cute and badass, and the film does a great job milking the contrast.

Set before the Shrek films, the film follows Puss in Boots as an already experienced swordscat on an adventure with Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) and Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek). Obviously, being a kids’ movie, it can get away with playing fast and loose with the plot to get to the jokes and the action. But why should it? The best kids’ films make sense throughout. Shrek is great because we understand why Shrek behaves aggressively, and his change is made all the more meaningful because we understood his motivations from the start. And here’s the problem with Puss in Boots: it’s entirely unclear why Puss is doing anything until about 20 minutes into the film, where it is directly stated to the audience that Puss wants to save his hometown.

Having said that, there are enough visual jokes which work for both kids and adults alike to bridge that period of time. But even these can be slightly frustrating. There is a dance sequence early on which makes little to no sense. It seems like the writers felt they needed to establish early on that Puss is a good dancer — but there’s no explanation for it then, either. However, in a film where Puss can inexplicably whistle and his rapier will come to him, I’m willing to go along with the notion that he can jive.

As far as the cinematography is concerned, the 3D is obviously forced at some points, but there are enough moments where it feels natural and genuinely enhances the shot to not distract you. Specifically, the first-person shots are greatly improved. Some stylized splitscreen is used liberally and well, and it even serves as a set up for a joke later.

Does the film work for adults as well as children? Well, there is a pretty good weed joke, but elements like an annoying sequence where everyone’s voice becomes high-pitched end up outweighing the good. Jill (Amy Sedaris) of “Jack and Jill” fame has an astonishingly grating voice, and the only scary sequences don’t show enough of the threat to really create tension. Compare this to Toy Story 3 and the feeling that all the toys could die is genuinely tense during the incinerator scene.

It’s not just that. Aside from Humpty Dumpty and Puss, not enough effort is put into characterization. That’s where the film really falls down. Jack and Jill are just bad people for no explicable reason. The worst is Kitty Softpaws who is written (as many female love interests are) in a sporadic and almost emotionally hyperactive way. She flips between three emotional states within seconds without any hint of reason. First she’s cold towards Puss, then vulnerable, then sarcastic, and then flips back and forth for the rest of the film.

There are redeeming factors: Zach Galifianakis does a great job providing an equally emotive voice to the egg’s incredibly expressive face. Overall, the film is fun — not very engaging, but silly and just the right amount of innuendo for adults to enjoy it without alienating the kids. At the end of the day, who doesn’t love an adorable Spanish cat with a rapier and smooth-talk like he’s entered the Womanizing Olympics?