Review: Puss in Boots

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Puss in Boots

Puss in Boots comes to us during a fall film season with a paucity of releases for children. It's a clever if not brilliant work from Dreamworks Animation and a spinoff/prequel to the title character's entry in the Shrek series. Fortunately, there is no mention of Shrek, and the movie works very well alone without the need for prior knowledge of that world.

Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek frequently work together, and this is their fifth collaboration (after Desperado, Frida, Spy Kids 3-D and Once Upon a Time in Mexico). They are joined by Billy Bob Thornton (Jack), Amy Sedaris (Jill), and Zach Galifianakis (Humpty Dumpty). Galifianakis is either brilliantly cast or terribly wasted. Personally, his characters always seem to grate on my nerves, but he delivers some of the best one-liners in Puss in Boots. As a family film, though, it's a very light, vanilla creme flavor of humor compared to The Hangover series.

Part origin story, part adventure-heist, Puss in Boots earns points for encompassing an actual story rather than simply throwing pop culture references at the audience, the modus operandus of Shrek. Sadly, a predictable plot is so transparent it doesn't need the incessant telegraphing of every potential surprise move. This is likely more a problem for those who have already seen Puss in the Shrek films. His aresenal is exhausted, and he has no new tricks. You know at some point he'll pull out the big kitty sad eyes, but it's been done before.

As with Shrek, Puss's best moments are when he has a strong character to play against, and those moments here are with Hayek's Kitty Softpaws. Had Puss in Boots been more about a cat-and-mouse game between them and less about Humpty Dumpty, it would have been more interesting.

Besides the Banderas-Hayek chemistry, the brightest spot in the movie was an engaging soundtrack performed by Mexican/gypsy/folk duo Rodrigo y Gabriela. Unfortunately, the soundtrack does not yet appear to be available on iTunes or Amazon.

The screening I attended was presented in IMAX 3D and did not suffer for it. Nor was it remarkable, either. Puss in Boots would play as well in 2D as the only noteworthy 3D work was during a scene involving a magical beanstalk. Given the competition opening this weekend, Puss in Boots will coast to a box office win, but it's not a memorable title.