Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Puss in Boots

Year 4, Day 31 - 1/31/12 - Movie #1,031

BEFORE: Steve Martin in a film about the search for a diamond - really, the next logical film to watch would have been "The Pink Panther" remake, but I don't have a copy.  I'm still boycotting that franchise, because I didn't think a remake was necessary.

So, I'm wrapping up January with another cat film - I didn't have a copy of this when I watched the other cat films.  And it's not on cable yet, or released on DVD - so how am I watching it?  Well, one thing's for sure, I'm definitely NOT borrowing an Academy screener from someone I know who left it lying around.  Because those screeners are for the express use of Academy members' judging, and any other purpose would be wrong.  So, there you go, there must be some other explanation...

Linking from "Looney Tunes", Joan Cusack was in a bunch of movies ("High Fidelity", "Grosse Pointe Blank", "Say Anything") with her brother, John Cusack, who was in "Pushing Tin" with Billy Bob Thornton (last seen in "Primary Colors").


THE PLOT: A story about the events leading up to the sword-fighting cat's meeting with Shrek and his friends.

AFTER: A vast improvement over the films of the last few nights, particularly in the animation with regards to sword fights and dance sequences.  Ah, yes, you will believe that cats can dance.  In boots.

The backstory of Puss in Boots concerns his history with Humpty Dumpty - they were raised together in an orphanage, got in trouble together, and planned the big heist, the one from the "Jack and the Beanstalk" story.  Yes, they scrambled a bunch of different fairy tales together here, but that's what people have come to expect from the "Shrek" franchise.  Fortunately they only cross the streams here in ways that make sense.

I appreciated the backstory, and the middle heist sequences worked for me, but the ending sort of devolved into random chaos, and that's where the film sort of lost me.  In order to add a twist the story sort of had to jettison everything that had gone before, and that was all the stuff that I thought I was enjoying.

Also starring the voices of Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek (last seen in "Cirque du Freak"), Zach Galifianakis (last seen in "Dinner for Schmucks"), and Amy Sedaris (last heard in "Chicken Little").

RATING: 7 out of 10 shots of leche

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