Puss in Boots

I must confess to a soft spot for the Puss in Boots character. He was always my favourite in the Shrek series and when I saw the trailer (and laughed out loud), I was quietly looking forward to this prequel to the Shrek series.

The story is essentially the back-story of Puss (Antonio Banderas) before he meets up with Shrek and Donkey. It starts in the Spanish town of San Ricardo where Puss becomes best friends with Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis). 

Humpty Dumpty's dream is to find the Magic Beans, go to the Magic Castle and obtain the golden eggs laid by the golden goose. To find the Magic Beans, the pair steal various beans without ever finding the Magic Beans. This led them into trouble with the law. 

After a while Puss decided that he didn't want to steal from the townspeople anymore and when Humpty tricks him into stealing from the local bank, Puss disowns him and goes on the run.

After seven years, Puss finds himself in a bar where he hears of the whereabouts of the Magic Beans. They are in the possession of the murderous Jack (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jill (Amy Sedaris). Puss decides to try to steal them but is thwarted by Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek).

It transpires that Kitty is working with cahoots with Humpty which leads to the three of them obtaining the Magic Beans and finding the golden eggs.

This is a forgettable, but fun film. As per usual I didn't see the 3D version, but I don't think that I missed anything visually. The story was somewhat over-stretched, but it wasn't really an issue for me.

The best thing about the film is Banderas's voice which is fantastic, the animation was good, although not ground-breaking. There were quite a few chuckles and certainly the many kids in the screening that I attended thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Verdict: A fun-filled film which will keep kids entertained and not be too much of a hardship for adults to watch. By no means a classic, but its good fun nonetheless and Banderas's voice is just brilliant.