Meow!!! Booty Call! :)

Rating: 7/10 (29 December 2011)

"Puss in Boots" (2011), Rated "PG" for Some Mild Innuendo and Mild Violence. Running Time: 1hr&30min. Three Stars (out of Four)
"Puss in Boots" is an animated delight chronicling the adventures of Puss in Boots before his encounter with Shrek in "Shrek 2" (2004). This particular "yarn" is the background story on how Puss came to don his hat, saber, boots and his status as a crusading outlaw with a heart of gold.
Actor Antonio Banderas reprises his popular role as the voice of Puss. This time, director Chris Miller tones down the adult overtones and risqué humor present in the "Shrek" pictures. "Puss in Boots" is more of a straightforward family adventure. It is also somewhat less of a comedy than the "Shrek" films, relying more on the story and great visuals. I suspect a few edits to this PG rated fare would bring it into the G rated realm. This highly colorful tale (or 'tail') opens with Puss escaping the certain doom of a night's mischievousness. He's on a quest to find magic beans he has been looking for since kittenhood, which in turn will lead him to a great kingdom in the clouds ripe for plunder. This leads him to an amusing confrontation with the deviant Jack and Jill (Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris) who have the beans in their possession, and a new rival known as Kitty Softpaws (Selma Hayek) who has an agenda all her own.
It's not long before we meet Humpy Alexander Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) and learn of the bitter childhood connection between Humpy Dumpty and Puss in Boots. At their last encounter many years ago, an altercation stemmed in one "having had a great fall" (as you may have heard) and the banishment of Puss from the town of El Ricardo, resulting in the subsequent origin of a wrongfully-accused swashbuckling champion of good although his paws might be "a little sticky" from time-to-time. Puss always felt ashamed that his mother Imelda (Constance Marie) believed him to have turned to a life of crime and now seeks to redeem himself. Meanwhile Humpty Dumpty, who was once Puss's brother, continued to descend into a life of greed and develop a deep anger towards Puss in Boots.
Puss, Humpty and Kitty Softpaws forge an uneasy alliance and they are off on a mission of financial gain and to restore Puss's El Ricardo community standing and his mother's faith in him.
Along the journey, the audience is treated to grand visuals that are extremely vivid with details and color. Truly, this is a fanciful (or maybe a "Fancy Feast"!) delight for the eyes. The visual points of interest include the pilgrimage through a desert, the climb (if it can be called as such) up a magical beanstalk, the sky kingdom and its garden with golden eggs.
"Puss in Boots" has fun with the characters, always keeping the atmosphere cheerful. A prime example of this is the dance-off between Puss and Kitty at the feline-only dance-club named "The (G)litter Box" (where the G in the neon lettering is always on the fritz) complete with a musical number that is fresh, upbeat and engaging with a multitude of interesting visual gags ensuing in the background. This sequence is custom designed to keep viewers dialed-in and smiling.
The "Puss in Boots" story presented here is entirely its own creation. It bears no real ties to the original seventeenth century "Puss in Boots" fairy tale by Charles Perrault. The only commonality between the two is the name, physical characteristics and personality of Puss. Beyond that, the film studio behind this picture, DreamWorks SKG, took extensive creative liberties with the material and decided to have fun with not one, but multiple fairy tales and assorted fairy tale characters to create a fresh movie for today's audiences for mass consumption. It works.
Though not as original the first two "Shrek" pictures, which pioneered the way for this movie and a multitude of other "sophisticated" animated fare that has dominated multiplexes the last decade, "Puss in Boots" delivers the goods. It's a fun, light-hearted time at the movies. Nothing more and nothing less.