Puss in Boots is a 2011 American computer-animated adventure-comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Written by Brian Lynch and Tom Wheeler, the film was directed by Chris Miller, who also directed Shrek the Third (2007). It stars Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris. It is DreamWorks Animation's 23rd feature film. The film follows the character Puss in Boots on his adventures after the events of Shrek Forever After. Accompanied by his friends, Humpty Dumpty and Kitty Softpaws, Puss is pitted against Jack and Jill, two murderous outlaws in ownership of legendary magical beans that lead to a great fortune.
The character of Puss in Boots originated in a European fairy tale in 1697, and the film is a spin-off to the Shrek franchise. The film was released in theaters on October 28, 2011 in Digital 3D and IMAX 3D formats. Puss in Boots received positive reviews from critics, grossed $555 million at the box office, and was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 84th Academy Awards. A television series spin-off from the film titled The Adventures of Puss in Boots premiered on Netflix in 2015. A sequel titled Puss in Boots: The Last Wish was scheduled for release in September 23, 2022 but was removed from the studio's schedule in early 2015; however, in 2019, it was brought back in production and will be directed by Joel Crawford.
Plot[]
Puss in Boots is a Spanish-speaking anthropomorphic cat, named for his signature pair of boots. A fugitive on the run from the law, Puss is seeking to restore his lost honor. One night, he learns that the murderous outlaw couple Jack and Jill have the magic beans he has long sought, which can lead him to a giant's castle known by legend to contain valuable golden goose eggs. When Puss attempts to steal the beans at their hideout, a female cat named Kitty Softpaws interrupts. She was hired to steal them as well by Humpty Alexander Dumpty, a talking egg and Puss' long-estranged childhood friend from the orphanage in San Ricardo, where they both were raised. Puss tells Kitty his origin story; he has been on the run from the law ever since Humpty tricked him into assisting in what turned out to be a failed bank robbery when they were teenagers. Humpty eventually convinces Puss to join them in finding the beans and retrieving the golden eggs.
Puss and Kitty's relationship turns romantic and, despite Puss's initial grudge against Humpty, he slowly warms up to him. The trio steals the beans from Jack and Jill and plants them in the desert. They ride the beanstalk into the clouds and enter the giant's castle, where Humpty reveals to Puss that the giant died a long time ago, but they manage to avoid the "Great Terror" who guards the Golden Goose and the golden eggs. They soon realize the golden eggs are too heavy and decide to steal the Golden Goose after witnessing it lay miniature golden eggs. They manage to escape the castle and cut down the beanstalk. After celebrating, the group is ambushed by Jack and Jill, and Puss is knocked unconscious.
When he wakes, Puss assumes Humpty and Kitty were kidnapped and tracks Jack and Jill's wagon back to San Ricardo, where he learns that the kidnapping was staged. Jack, Jill, and Kitty are all working for Humpty, who is seeking revenge against Puss for abandoning him to be arrested during the failed bank robbery. Puss is surrounded by the town's militia and turns himself in following pleas from his adoptive mother, Imelda. As Puss is hauled away to prison, Humpty is celebrated as a hero for bringing the wealth of golden eggs to the townspeople.
In prison, Puss meets Andy "Jack" Beanstalk, who reveals that Humpty stole the beans from him when they shared a cell years ago. Jack warns Puss that the Great Terror is the Golden Goose's mother, a gigantic bird who will stop at nothing to rescue her baby. Puss realizes that luring the Great Terror to destroy San Ricardo was Humpty's intention all along, as he held a grudge against the town for imprisoning him.
Kitty frees Puss from prison and apologizes, revealing her feelings for him. Puss locates Humpty in time and convinces him to redeem himself by helping to save San Ricardo from destruction. Using the gosling as bait, Puss and Humpty are able to lure the Great Terror away from town; with Kitty's help, they also thwart Jack and Jill's attempts to steal the gosling during the chase. As the group reaches the outskirts of town, Humpty and the gosling are knocked off a collapsing bridge, but manage to hang onto a rope that Puss grabs. When it becomes evident that Puss cannot save them both, Humpty sacrifices himself by letting go. After a fatal impact, Puss discovers that Humpty has a large golden egg underneath his shell. The Great Terror is reunited with her gosling, and she takes Humpty's golden egg and returns to her home in the clouds.
Despite being hailed a hero by the townspeople for saving San Ricardo, Puss is still a fugitive in the eyes of the militia. He reunites with Imelda, who expresses her pride and love for Puss before he flees with Kitty, who playfully steals his boots. In the epilogue, Jack and Jill are recovering from their injuries, a restored Humpty is seen wearing a golden egg costume and dancing on the Great Terror’s back with her gosling, and Puss and Kitty share a kiss.
Cast[]
- Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots, a fugitive orange tabby cat trying to restore his reputation as the hero of San Ricardo.
- Salma Hayek as Kitty Softpaws, a street-savvy Tuxedo cat who is Puss' female counterpart and love interest.
- Zach Galifianakis as Humpty Alexander Dumpty, the mastermind who intends to retrieve the Golden Eggs from the one-of-a-kind Goose.
- Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris as Jack and Jill respectively, a murderous outlaw married couple who owns the three legendary magical beans.
- Constance Marie as Imelda, Puss' human adoptive mother
- Mike Mitchell as Andy "Jack" Beanstalk
- Guillermo del Toro as Comandante, the military leader of San Ricardo dispatched to capture Puss
- Chris Miller as Little Boy Blue, Friar Miller, Prison Guard, Manuel and Rafael
Production[]
The film had been in development since 2004, when Shrek 2 was released.[1] Chris Miller, who worked as head of story in Shrek 2, was a big proponent of making a spin-off film centered on Puss in Boots due to his love for the character and the intriguing story potential he had, given the adventures he mentions to have had in the film.[2] As a Shrek 2 spin-off, it was initially planned for release in 2008 as a direct-to-video film,[3] then titled Puss in Boots: The Story of an Ogre Killer.[4] By October 2006, the film was re-slated as a theatrical release due to market conditions[5] and DreamWorks Animation's realization that the Puss character deserved more.[6] Miller was hired to direct the film immediately after directing Shrek the Third.[2]
In September 2010, Guillermo del Toro signed on as executive producer.[7] Having exited from The Hobbit, del Toro was invited by the crew to watch an early screening of the film, half animated and half storyboarded, which del Toro loved and asked them if he could be somehow involved in the production.[2] Discussing del Toro, Miller stated, "We worked out a system for him to come in once every few months or whenever we had something new to show him. If we needed someone to bounce ideas off of, he was always there, and if we had a problem we were tackling, we'd get Guillermo on the red phone – our emergency phone – and ask him for advice on what we should do with a certain character or scene. It was like having our own film school". Miller stated that del Toro was particularly involved in Humpty Dumpty's character design, suggesting to "make him more like da Vinci".[6] It was del Toro's idea to make Humpty "an ingenious freak of nature" who builds contraptions such as a flying machine.[8] Del Toro rewrote the ending to redeem the character and deepen his relationship with Puss – an unconventional conclusion for a family film.[9] He helped design the fantasy elements of the giant's castle, as well as the architecture of the town, which he conceived as "an amalgam of Spain and Mexico".[8]
During the film's production, the filmmakers struggled for a long time about including the Giant from "Jack and the Beanstalk", an English fairy tale from which the magic beans and the castle in the clouds were borrowed. As the filmmakers had already figured out the Giant's world, the Giant itself was challenging for them. They wanted to depict him faithfully like the classic fairy tale legend giant, but despite how hard they tried to incorporate him into the story, his presence turned out to be predictable. In the end, it was decided to have the Giant killed off offscreen in order to subvert fairy tales’ expectations.[2]
Antonio Banderas reprised his role as Puss in Boots from the Shrek films. According to Miller, the crew wanted to cast Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris, and Salma Hayek early on during production. As Humpty Dumpty was Galifianakis' first voiceover role, he was allowed to improvise by the filmmakers. Similarly, Thornton enjoyed the experience of voicing Jack as he was looking to challenge himself with a role out of his comfort zone. Sedaris, with whom Miller had worked before on Shrek the Third, improvised most of her dialogue as Jill, giving almost fifty different versions of her scripted lines.[2] Except for Puss, the film features new characters. Citing the co-writer, David H. Steinberg, "It doesn't overlap with Shrek at all. Partly that was done to tell an original Puss story, but partly because we didn't know what Shrek 4 was going to do with the characters and we couldn't write conflicting storylines."[10] The film was teased in Shrek Forever After, when Shrek finally shuts the book titled "Shrek", and puts it away next to a book titled "Puss in Boots".
Puss in Boots is the first DreamWorks Animation film that was partly made in India. A Bangalore studio owned by Technicolor, which had mainly worked on TV specials and DVD bonus material, spent six months animating three major scenes in the film. The outsourcing had financial advantages, with 40% fewer labor costs than in the US, but the primary reason for outsourcing to India was the lack of personnel, due to the studio producing as many as three films a year.[11]
Trivia[]
- Originally, Puss in Boots was going to be released in 2012, but they moved it forward to 2011.
- The film is hinted at the end of Shrek Forever After. When Shrek returns the Shrek book back to the bookcase, a Puss in Boots book is next to it.
- Puss in Boots is Antonio Banderas' and Salma Hayek's 6th film together (the other 5 were Desperado, Four Rooms (both 1995), Frida (2002), Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, and Once Upon A Time In Mexico (both 2003).
- Shrek, Donkey, and Princess Fiona were once rumored to return. Shrek and Fiona were rumored to be voiced by John Di Maggio and Jennifer Aniston while Eddie Murphy would reprise his role. Obviously, this turned out to be fake since the film is a spin-off.
- Shrek is the first DreamWorks Animation film to have a spin-off.
- This is the first film in the Shrek series not to be released in May.
- When Puss in Boots releases, the original Shrek is turn 10 years old.
- This is the fourth DreamWorks Animation film to be released in October, after Antz, Shark Tale and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
- This is the sixteenth DreamWorks Animation film to be distributed by Paramount Pictures.
Gallery[]
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- ↑ "Banderas walks Shrek's green carpet", Australian Associated Press, The Sydney Morning Herald (June 10, 2004).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Sollie, Jeremy (February 22, 2012). "Chris Miller discusses his Oscar nom and Puss In Boots", Animated Views.
- ↑ Fritz, Ben (September 14, 2005). "D'Works will rely on animal instinct", Variety.
- ↑ Carroll, Larry (March 30, 2006). "Movie File: Antonio Banderas, Rob Schneider, Jack Black, Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston", MTV.
- ↑ Template:Cite press release
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lynn, Cari (February 19, 2012). "OSCARS: Puss In Boots -- Chris Miller"..
- ↑ Kit, Borys (September 27, 2009). "Guillermo del Toro, DreamWorks Ani strike deal", The Hollywood Reporter.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Dodes, Rachel (October 21, 2011). "An Odd Couple and a Well-Shod Cat", The Wall Street Journal.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedCollider - ↑ "Caffeinated" Clint (June 8, 2009). "Exclusive : Puss in Boots scribe talks", Moviehole.net.
- ↑ Verrier, Richard (October 29, 2011). "'Puss in Boots' showcases work by India animators for DreamWorks".