Product: The Wonderful World of Puss 'N Boots (1969)
Rating: 5.0
Not So Long Lost Classic
American fans of this TOEI animated classic have been waiting a long time to see this early example of Hayao Miyazaki's work on DVD, even longer if they missed its several (at least 3) now long gone VHS releases. What's more, for those of us who remember Fred Ladd's well-done English dubbing that was first shown on American TV so long ago and later released on VHS, Discotek Media has wisely included it as the second audio track. The English audio is a little the worse for wear (though in better shape than the Vestron Video release), and the English credits are unfortunately missing, but unless and until someone wants to pony up the money for a modern re-dubbing, it is better to include it than not because purists can always choose the Japanese audio track with English subtitles.(Parental note: the presumably more recent optional English subtitles, which vary considerably from Fred Ladd's English dub, contain a couple of frequently used exclamations some parents might find a little questionable; suffice it to say that somebody may have forgotten he was subtitling a children's movie.)Miyazaki is listed as a key animator on this extremely loose adaptation of Charles Perrault's "Le Matre Chat Ou Le Chat Botté", but as usual with Miyazaki his contributions undoubtedly exceeded even his listed credits. A text interview with the director suggests that he did his damnedest to influence character design to the extent that "his" version of the title character is said to be noticeably different ("wilder") in the action scenes he drew, even in the released version. Then there is the reappearance of so much of Puss 'N Boots in Miyazaki's later work. The wedding inLupin the III: The Castle of Cagliostroand the climactic struggles over the possession of Clarice's ring inLupin the III: The Castle of Cagliostroand Sheeta's necklace inCastle in the Skylook to be clearly based on more comical scenes in Puss 'N Boots, and both the design of Cagliostro's Castle and the pattern of partial collapse of the floating city of Laputa look to be too similar to Lucifer's castle for coincidence. Now there is no question that the animation will seem a little primitive and dated compared to Studio Ghibli's work, but it holds up rather nicely for its age.I hesitate to say too much about the plot because no matter how many versions of Puss 'N Boots you've seen, you've never seen anything like this. It has only marginally more connection to Perrault's Puss 'N Boots than Miyazaki'sCastle in the Skydoes to Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, and given how heavily that highway has been traveled, that's a blessing IMHO. Let's just say that this version set in a partly talking animal world includes a back story that reveals Pero, the puss in boots, to be a fugitive from justice from a kingdom of cats under sentence of death for saving a mouse's life; 3 cat assassins on his trail under orders to see Pero dead or "reformed" (killing mice again) or forfeit their own lives, who make up in persistence and resilience what they lack in intelligence; a gang of clever mice thieves; 2 scheming brothers; a beautiful princess being forced to marry an all-powerful, magic-wielding devil-king, who is hilariously infatuated with her; a not-the-sharpest-knife-in-the-drawer pauper of a miller's son who becomes increasingly uncomfortable with lying to a princess he is falling in love with; and after the traditional "ending" of tricking the bad guy into magically transforming himself into something small and edible fails, a hilarious and deadly game of "Button, button, who's got the button?" up, down, and all around Lucifer's crumbling wreck of a castle.Note: This first ever wide screen release restores at least two sight gags spoiled by the pan and scan video releases. This DVD also includes a "fast play" feature that plays and replays the movie continuously after just one iteration of the main menu animation; however, as noted above, it defaults to the Japanese version. At least all subsequent replays will be with the language you select if any. Miyazaki fans will find it interesting to compare and contrast "Puss 'N Boots" with the laterAnimal Treasure Island(1971), another long lost (until recently) TOEI classic that Miyazaki worked on and Fred Ladd dubbed into English. TOEI produced at least two sequels though Miyazaki had nothing to do with them: "Ringo Rides West" andPuss 'N Boots Travels Around The World. Both were released on VHS in the mid-80's, and both are long gone now. Though IMHO inferior to Puss 'N Boots, both are worth a look by fans of classic children's anime, especially the downright surprising Ringo.