PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish closed out 2022 with a bang. Despite being the sixth film in the Shrek franchise and the second Puss in Boots movie, The Last Wish far exceeds being just "another sequel.

Functioning as a standalone story, The Last Wish takes place after both the Shrek films and the prior Puss in Boots movie, with only slight references to those earlier stories and a few returning characters. Puss in Boots realizes that he has only one life left out of nine, leading to an adventure to search for the legendary "Wishing Star" to restore his lives. Along the way, he and his friend race bounty hunters, mob bosses, and mystical enemies, all competing for the chance to make the wish or take Puss' last life.

The film takes full advantage of animation as a medium, bringing larger-than-life action, worlds, and colors to life with a unique art style that contributes to its storybook aesthetic and incredible choreographed action scenes.

The real strength of The Last Wish lies in its impactful and well-written story. Each character, be it comedic relief, love interest, or villain, is given a relatable character arc with a well-thought-out theme. The only flaw is the rushed ending, which feels as if a transition was removed due to the film's brief runtime of one hour and 27 minutes. This results in a single pacing error leading to the climax and final encounter at the Wishing Star.

 Despite this, The Last Wish is a master class in animation and meaningful entertainment. With a vivid world and realized characters  The Last Wish is not only a stand-out film of the year but a win for kid-friendly storytelling, that's sure to scare, humor, and resonate with an audience of any age.

Despite its beautiful animation, arguably the most surprising thing about Puss in Boots comes from its genius use of character arcs. In fact, The Last Wish through its colorful cast of characters offers perfect examples of all three types of character arcs, the positive, the negative, and the flat character arc.

First, what is a character arc? A character arc is simply the emotional journey and transformation a character goes on over the course of the story, which will often end up changing themselves or the world around them. The most common arc audiences are used to is the positive arc. This is the arc typically reserved for heroes, and one that the titular Puss and Boots wholely embodies.

The format of the positive character arc or the positive change arc essentially boils down to a three-step journey; #1 a character believes an inherent lie, #2 that lie is tested, and #3 the character overcomes that lie, resulting in self-improvement. This outline has been used for centuries from holiday classics with Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol overcoming the lie that charity is a waste of time, or to the lands of the fire nation with Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender overcoming the lie that his self-worth was dependent on his father. There are several more examples of positive change arcs in the film, with Kitty Softpaws overcoming the lie that she can’t trust anyone, and Goldi overcoming the lie that she needs a biological family to be accepted, but none take center stage like Puss in Boots himself. 

 The entirety of the main plotline of Last Wish revolves around Puss’ journey of overcoming the lie that he needs his nine lives back to live up to his legend. We watch Puss chase the MacGuffin of the Wishing Star, but through his friends and antagonists he learns that one life is enough, and being fearless doesn’t mean not having fear its about overcoming it. With the final resolution against the main antagonist Death, Puss shows his growth and proves himself worthy to live. 

 Bored with heroes constantly improving? Then the negative change arc might be for you. If the positive change arc is about overcoming the initial lie then the negative change arc is succumbing to it. This arc also begins with an initial lie the character holds true, but instead of overcoming it and realizing the truth, the negative change arc focuses on being consumed by the lie. This is traditionally the journey of the villain, and in The Last Wish, what a villain we get. 

 In a film overflowing with antagonists, only one truly deserves the title of villain. Big Jack Horner is a character you love to hate - greedy, funny, and unapologetically evil. But behind this simple, detestable man lies a genius parody of the negative character arc. Jack Horner's goal in the film is to use the Wishing Star to control all the magic in the world, but the lie in his arc is that this power will bring him happiness. Instead of following the familiar narrative of villains gradually falling for the lie of power, the writers of The Last Wish subvert this trope by having Jack dive into it willingly. 

Jack is fully aware that he is the bad guy and relishes in it. Unlike traditional villains who escalate their evil gradually and uncertainly, Jack takes every opportunity to do more and more harm. At first, he seems somewhat sympathetic, as a child without power who grew up thinking magic would improve his self-esteem. However, when confronted by his conscience, Jimmy Cricket, Jack reveals that he had loving parents, ample money, and a secure future, before attempting to kill his conscience. He attacks puppies, kills his men, and enjoys it all. In the end, Jack succumbs to the very power he sought concluding with his death, but his entire arc exaggerates the negative changes we expect from our villains.

 Finally, last and unfairly seen as least, the flat character arc has a significant presence in this film. If positive and negative arcs focus on personal growth and decline, respectively, then the flat arc is about maintaining personal stasis. Instead of a character discovering the truth after their journey of overcoming the initial lie, the flat character starts out knowing it. If this sounds dull, you are not alone. Many have criticized flat characters as underdeveloped or unrealistic, such as the common complaint about Superman being too perfect and unchanging. However, this is the purpose of the flat character: they don't change themselves, they change the world. The flat character spreads the truth they inherently know to those around them, effecting the arcs of those characters.

This is exemplified by two popular new characters in The Last Wish: the little dog Perrito and the personification of death, Wolf.

 At a first glance, these two characters are nothing alike, maybe aside from sharing a common ancestor. One is the cute and endlessly optimistic sidekick chihuahua, and the other is the grim reaper here to kill Puss one last time. Yet these characters both embody the different ways a flat character can force the protagonist to change, one as a helper, the other a killer.