Puss in Boots
Tags: romantic, action, fantasy

Plot synopsis:
The tale opens with the third and youngest son of a miller receiving his inheritance—a cat. At first, the youngest son laments, as the eldest brother gains the mill, and the middle brother gets the mules. The feline is no ordinary cat, however, but one who requests and receives a pair of boots. Determined to make his master's fortune, the cat bags a rabbit in the forest and presents it to the king as a gift from his master, the fictional Marquis of Carabas. The cat continues making gifts of game to the king for several months.
One day, the king decides to take a drive with his daughter. The cat persuades his master to remove his clothes and enter the river which their carriage passes. The cat disposes of his master's clothing beneath a rock. As the royal coach nears, the cat begins calling for help in great distress. When the king stops to investigate, the cat tells him that his master the Marquis has been bathing in the river and robbed of his clothing. The king has the young man brought from the river, dressed in a splendid suit of clothes, and seated in the coach with his daughter, who falls in love with him at once.
The cat hurries ahead of the coach, ordering the country folk along the road to tell the king that the land belongs to the "Marquis of Carabas", saying that if they do not he will cut them into mincemeat. The cat then happens upon a castle inhabited by an ogre who is capable of transforming himself into a number of creatures. The ogre displays his ability by changing into a lion, frightening the cat, who then tricks the ogre into changing into a mouse. The cat then pounces upon the mouse and devours it. The king arrives at the castle that formerly belonged to the ogre, and, impressed with the bogus Marquis and his estate, gives the lad the princess in marriage. Thereafter, the cat enjoys life as a great lord who runs after mice only for his own amusement.
The tale is followed immediately by two morals: "one stresses the importance of possessing industrie and savoir faire while the other extols the virtues of dress, countenance, and youth to win the heart of a princess." The Italian translation by Carlo Collodi notes that the tale gives useful advice if you happen to be a cat or a Marquis of Carabas.
This is the theme in France, but other versions of this theme exist in Asia, Africa, and South America.

Review: One of my childhood favourites.
When I was a kid I watched this many times over, and I remember whistling the "Happy Cat" song quite often.
All the songs are great, and actually memorable, unlike many children's musicals, where the songs are just stuck in for no real reason.
The scenes and costumes are lavish, and the acting is very well-done, which isn't surprising, considering the cast.
Christopher Walken is very catlike, and doesn't need stupid make-up, or a cat costume for the viewer to believe he's a cat transformed to a human.
And Jason Connery's so cute, as the shy and awkward miller's son, Corin, who falls in love with beautiful and the bold Princess Vera.
This is a really fun, enjoyable, feature-length movie, where unlike most fairytales, the characters are given personalities.
Some of my favourite parts are when Puss makes Corin pretend he's drowning; at the ball when everybody starts dancing a country dance, as it's "all the rage abroad"; when Walken is in the kitchen, dancing on the table (he's a pretty good dancer, too!); and when Vera tells Corin all the things she used to do when she was young, like pretending she was a miller's daughter.
I'd recommend this film to children and parents alike, who love magic and fairytales.
And it actually IS a movie you can watch together, as it won't drive adults up the wall..
One Cool Cat!.
"Puss In Boots" was the last of the Cannon Movie Tales produced.
Another attempt to elongate a basically simple story, it is graced with a lively performance from Christopher Walken (who still thinks highly of it) as Puss, a straightforward performance from Jason (son of Sean) Connery as the miller's son, and a charming one from Carmela Marner (one of the sisters in Cannon's "Beauty And The Beast") as the princess.
Physically, the film looks fine, and the photography is good.
The songs, however, go in one ear and out the other, and merely stretch the running time more than necessary.
Not one of the better movie tales, but not the worst, either..
I never saw this when I was a kid, so this was seen with fresh eyes.
I had never heard of it and rented it for my 5 year old daughter.
Plus, the idea of Christopher Walken singing and dancing made me curious.
The special fx are cheesy and the singing and dancing is mediocre.
But the story is great.
My daughter was entranced.
I loved watching Walken in this role thinking about what the future held for him.
Very amusing to see him dance!
And if the songs weren't great, at least they weren't Disney over-produced saccharine sweetness.
The ogre scene in the beginning was a little scary for her, and she was a little nervous when we saw him again at the end, but it was mostly benign.
Interestingly, we had recently read "Puss in Boots", and I had wondered about the implausibility of the story.
But while staying true to almost every aspect, Walken's acting made it believable.
Great fun.
Great fun.
I'd watch it again with my daughter..
A childhood memory for me - unique and wonderful!.
Everytime this film is on TV I always watch it!
It was one of my favourites when I was young - i loved the songs, the dances and of course the romantic story, not to mention the exciting parts with the ogre.
Now I'm older I've realised that musical romance is not the norm for Christopher Walken and Corin, who I wanted to marry, is actually Sean Connery's son!
The special effects are quite dated now but nevertheless I still enjoy it!
I would recommend it to anyone - children will love it and anyone who associates Christopher Walken with The Deer Hunter, A View to a Kill, Pulp Fiction or True Romance will be in for quite a surprise!
It's truly unique!.
Don't miss it if you like fairy tales - or Christopher Walken.
This is one of my personal favorite Cannon Movietales because, believe it or not, it's full of great performances.
Christopher Walken is a great actor, and who knew he did children's movies?
Jason Connery (yes, Sean's son) does a great job too, although he does have a habbit to look a little embarrassed that he's in this.
Carmela Marner is lovely as the princess and is (I believe) related to the director Eugene Marner.
Singing Bad, Story Good.
If you fast forward through the horrible singing, you will find a classic fairy tale underneath.
Christopher Walken is very humorous and surprisingly good in the role.
His trademark style of acting works well for the sly Puss in Boots.
The other actors are well for their parts.
I did not find any of the acting terribly fake or awkward.
The king in particular appears a real dunce though, and I wonder if he is supposed to be.
I can not remember the original tale.
The special effects are typical of the eighties, but at least they are not overly fake like some of the computer generated fare that we see today.
Overall, I recommend this movie for children and adults who are a child at heart..
A Marvelous Classic Tale.
Although this was obviously a low-budget production, the performances and the songs in this movie are worth seeing.
One of Walken's few musical roles to date.
(he is a marvelous dancer and singer and he demonstrates his acrobatic skills as well - watch for the cartwheel!) Also starring Jason Connery.
A great children's story and very likable characters..
Christopher Walken just about makes this watchable.
Although none of the nine Cannon Movie Tale films are flawless, with the flaws varying in number and size, all of them are worth a viewing at least once.
And while Puss in Boots is one of their lesser outings (with the weakest being The Emperor's New Clothes, and their best being Hansel and Gretel and Beauty and the Beast), it's not an exception.The best thing about Puss in Boots is the performance of Christopher Walken as Puss, the singing is not the best but he clearly looks as though he's having a whale of a time here and he is so much fun to watch, performing with sly line delivery, a wonderful twitchiness (which is quite appropriate for a cat), fearless bravado and absolutely no signs of being embarrassed either.
Carmela Marner is a charming Princess Vera, and has a truly infectious smile, while Yossi Graber is entertainingly buffoonish as the King without resorting to mugging too much.
The dialogue does descend into over-silliness sometimes, but is witty and genuinely hilarious, so it would be a lie if I said that I wasn't entertained.
The film is nicely photographed, the sets are nice and rustic if somewhat recycled of other Cannon films and the incidental score has the right amount of energy and whimsy.Puss in Boots has several major problems though.
For one thing, apart from the photography and the sets the low budget does show and it is generally one of Cannon's cheaper looking films.
Some parts are dimly or gaudily lit and the costumes are garish and seldom flattering, looking like leftover material, but worst of all were the very cheap and out-of-date-looking (even for a film from the 80s) special effects (the Cannon film that fares the worst in this regard), especially the cat transformation and the under-sized ogre.
While the incidental score is good, Puss in Boots does boast one of Cannon's weakest song scores, with only those for The Emperor's New Clothes being worse.
The songs here are forgettable at best, some also go on for too long- feeling more like padding than anything else- and some of the lyrics are so dreadfully silly that they're enough to make one cringe, like the rhyming lyrics in the song offering marriage advice.With the story, the basic details and characters are here but they didn't feel quite enough to sustain a feature length film, padding it out with forgettable and sometimes overlong songs and scenes that got too silly (i.e. the ineptitude of the guards), the silliness while entertaining did get too much at times and undermined the darker moments like the scene with Puss and the ogre.
With the rest of the performances, most of the rest of the supporting turns mug pretty embarrassingly, the ogre is more unintentionally comical than sinister (coupled with his underwhelming look, he was one disappointing villain) but worst of all was Jason Connery who spends the entire running time looking hopelessly bland and dim-witted and devoid of any charm, his and Marner's chemistry is dull while his and Walken's only just about passes muster because Walken does such a great job here.All in all, one of Cannon's weakest films but is still watchable for Walken's performance.
5/10 Bethany Cox. Christopher Walken Sings!!.
Corin (Jason, son of Sean Connery) is a poor miller's son.
When the old man dies, all that he leaves him is a house cat.
The cat appears as human to him, and keeps asking for a pair of boots.
Once the cat gets the boots, he become Puss in Boots (Christopher Walken).
Through wit and subterfuge, Puss passes Corin off as an important Marquis so that he could marry the princess.
Then Puss takes on a ruthless shape shifting ogre who commands a great castle.Sure this is a weak production.
The special effects come from 100 years ago.
The costumes and sets are gaudy.
Christopher Walken is what makes this stand out.
He sings.
He dances.
He dominates the movie.
I wish he had more opportunity to play Puss as a cat.
Puss is a bit of a dark character.
He lies a lot.
And it goes to a really dark place with the ogre.
It's a dark little kiddie movie..
but Christophere Walken change everything.
and it is not surprising.the role gives huge chance to explore the different nuances of a generous role.
and the only problem could be only this generosity.
because Jason Connery seems reduced at a nice sketch of his role and the royal court is far to be credible.
but , against not the most inspired parts, it is a nice film.
a young man and his cat.
and a lot of adventures.
Charles Perrault could be proud about a version of his fairy tale who use the humor as key to explore the different sides of a lovely story.
and, in fact, this is only important thing in the case of this film who could be easily criticized if you ignore its small but significant virtues..
These Boots are made for Walken.
Did this movie even happen?
It's hard to tell the difference sometimes.
Puss in Boots is sweetness personified, but it's so abrasively shoddy and weird that, watching it, it's easy to worry that you're lapsing out of consciousness and sobriety, much like the superimposed shapeshifting ogre and cat who flicker in front of our eyes like oh so many acid flashbacks.
The film is kind of winningly adorable - but in the same way that any train wreck would be adorable if hundreds of kittens sauntered out of the derailed caboose.
It's quaintly antiquated, insofar as no self-respecting recent release, even straight-to-DVD ones, would produce a finished product passing itself as a film so wooden, clumsy, and cheap looking (the community centre called - they'd like their cardboard sets and discount Halloween store costumes back, please and thank you.
This movie is too cute to properly mock!).
Everything is so gloriously stiff that it recalls a Coen Brothers parody, yet its bare-faced earnest wholesomeness grants it a transcendent level of camp hilarity.
We can forgive the lurching storyline due to the children's source material.
But the snoozy pace, stretching out and plodding along between Puss' machinations to elevate his master from lowly farm hand to sleight-of-hand royalty, is more bedtime story than nursery rhyme.
The musical numbers are so painfully bland and still, that I, at one point, started counting the threads on my couch as I telepathically implored the characters to stop, so I could stop nervously cringe-laughing at them.
Meanwhile, the cast performing them - so amateurish one practically wants to hand out participation medals - over or under-act with the wanton inconsistency of a grade school pantomime.
Jason Connery (yes, son of THAT Connery) in particular is so outrageously comatose that he practically sets a new low of what has been recorded constituting a performance - toddlers reading story books out low would demonstrate more inflection.So why the three stars?
Three guesses (and the first two don't count).
Christopher Walken.
Christopher Walken.
He's iconic in the industry for his unique ability to be unbelievably good in unbelievably bad work, and he's never put his talents to such use as he does here.
His flamboyant, gallant charisma and flawless song and dance skills bring effervescent life to literature's most famous trickster cat, while his uniquely syncopated delivery makes every line he speaks garrulously hilarious (whether it's always intentional is up for discussion).
Even his springy, fidgety physicality uncannily embodies feline twitchiness.
Cheerily oblivious to the disaster he's surrounded by, he's clearly having such a ball that it's hard not to share in his fun, and it's solely because of him that the film deserves even a whisper of recognition henceforth.
Puss in Boots is inarguably awful, but it's so gosh-darn likable that taking pot shots at it is the guiltiest kind of derision.
Walken works his Walken magic like never before, bounding around in a pirate hat and capturing our hearts.
His delightful weirdness is what helps transform this cheap mess into the surreal, camp masterpiece it was destined to be.
Still, even the youngest, most forgiving of audiences are likely to dismiss Puss in Boots as distressingly boring, weird, hokey trash.
not the best adaptation.
but lovely.
but lovely.
because it explores, with grace and precision, humor and great cast, the levels of Perrault's fairy tale, using inspired solutions and wise tricks.
its fresh air is the axis.
the performance of Christopher Walken - seductive.
Jason Connery seems bee the ideal option for the poor Corin.
and all seems be at right place.
so - no surprises.
only a nice story , few songs - not bad, not brilliant - an interesting manner to use the fairy tale in original manner and the ambition of musical moments.
the scent of childhood - that it is the fundamental gift to the viewer.
and that fact is real a virtue because, after its end, the joy remains for not small time..
Christopher Walken singing and dancing!?!?.
Now don't get me wrong, I loved this movie as a child.
I remember even being impressed by the songs "You're looking at a happy cat", and "Go to sleep, my friend", both sung by Christopher Walken.
I was even impressed by the singing.
I know a LOT better know as an adult, but I still watch the movie.
It's terrifying yet wonderul to watch if you're a child, and it's a true classic!.
So bad it's kinda good....
OK, so the musical pieces were poorly written and generally poorly sung (though Walken and Marner, particularly Walken, sounded pretty good).
And so they shattered the fourth wall at the end by having the king and his nobles sing about the "battle" with the ogre, and praise the efforts of Puss in Boots when they by rights shouldn't have even known about it.Who cares?
It's Christopher Freakin' Walken, doing a movie based on a fairy tale, and he sings and dances.
His acting style fits the role very well as the devious, mischievous Puss who seems to get his master into deeper and deeper trouble but in fact has a plan he's thought about seven or eight moves in advance.
And if you've ever seen Walken in any of his villainous roles, you *know* the ogre bit the dust HARD at the end when Walken got him into his trap.A fun film, and a must-see for anyone who enjoys the unique style of Christopher Walken..
Another Altogether, Together, Cannon MovieTale Production.
look.not a great work of cinema.
no one would be that insane or naive enough to make a claim about something like this.
but like all Cannon MovieTales, this production works out happily ever after.
it does everything nicely and efficiently, and even though it doesn't leave the viewer with much, it attempts consummate professionalism with modest means.
and succeeds very well.the best thing about this is Cristopher Walken of course.
i'm always impressed at how Cannon was always able to obtain big name actors for their modest direct to video productions.
i always kind of think it was the promise of the singing and dancing because the paycheck couldn't have been that impressive.
whatever the reason, the celeb names are always engaging in these movies and Walken is especially good here.
and eerily feline like as puss.
he's also good at dance and song which he rarely does outside of Fatboy Slim music videos.the youthful leads are also cute and nice to watch.
even though they don't do there own singing, their wholesome appeal rivals anything in a high school musical show.the songs aren't memorable but they definitely are functional and it's surprising a modest production like this even has a original score in the first place.even though there isn't a lot of high tech CGI FX, due to the fact that these movies were made in the eighties prior to the current technology, they still hold up well.
and Cannon offers two attributes no one else is currently offering in fairy tales outside of Disney right now, the films are impeccably wholesome and safe entertainment for families, and they are usually musical tellings.
that sets them aside as a little more original then some of the recent, trendier tellings marketed today.i really love Cannon MovieTales and i love what they offer.
it is special and unique, and that keeps them timeless.