The slick feline manages to carry his own movie in high fashion.

Rating: 8/10 (3 February 2012)

Arguably the most popular character of the long running Shrek franchise, it was inevitable that Puss in Boots would receive a movie of his own. To the wrong hands, this could have been a monetary gain, but qualified loss, but the slick feline makes every second of his movie count.
While still staying true to the storybook characters and ideologies of the earlier Shrek films, Puss in Boots is actually a very inspired deviation, being that it plays out more like a spaghetti western rather than a fairy tale. It may not be as wacky or surreal as Rango, but it has an undeniable charm, and one that's honestly a little more easy to digest. Antonio Banderas, as always, is smooth, witty, and charismatic as our nine lived lead hero, but also conveying an honest emotion beneath, especially when the attention is turned onto the old friendship between Puss and Humpty Dumpty.
About 20 minutes through the film, it takes a slow turn from the quick paced, action packed side of things, and builds up a fascinating back story between the two (This sequence takes up about ten whole minutes, but man, it's so good). This friendship is where the movie's emotional core lies, and Humpty Dumpty (Excellently voiced by Zach Galifianakis) is one great character.
But not everything in the movie works. The character of Kitty Softpaws (Voiced by Salma Hayek) is a rather flat one, and I never really bought her romance with Puss. There's also a twist near the end of the film which feels kinda obvious. But at the very least, this is a well done and constructed movie, with beautifully composed animation and camera-work, thrilling action scenes, and to add to all this, Henry Jackman (Whose musical score is surprisingly pretty awesome) clearly channels the great Ennio Morricone, complete with gorgeous Latin Salsa rhythms, and sweeping choirs.
*** out of ****