Sightlines · reception
How Puss in Boots: The Last Wish was received
2022 · Joel Crawford · Puss in Boots: The Last Wish on Sightlines
The arc
Dumped into a December 2022 slot with modest expectations for a decade-late Shrek spin-off sequel, it opened quietly, then legged its way past $480M on pure word of mouth and an Oscar nomination — now it's shorthand for the DreamWorks renaissance.
What’s debated
The recurring fight is whether it deserved to beat Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio for the Animated Feature Oscar — plus the semi-serious claim that a Shrek spin-off sequel is one of the best films of 2022, full stop.
Its footprint
Death the Wolf — Wagner Moura's whistling bounty hunter — instantly entered the 'scariest animated villains ever' conversation, his whistle becoming a meme in its own right, while Puss's panic-attack scene got endlessly shared as one of mainstream animation's frankest depictions of anxiety.
Where it stands
A certified Letterboxd darling — the 'no, seriously, it's actually great' recommendation that became a fixture on best-animation-of-the-2020s lists.
Did you know? Antonio Banderas had been voicing Puss for nearly two decades by release — since Shrek 2 in 2004 — and the film arrived a full eleven years after the first Puss in Boots (2011), one of the longest gaps ever between an animated film and its direct sequel.
Named by the director
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) — Crawford said Leone's three-way treasure hunt shaped the film's competing-parties structure — 'the Good, the Bad and the Goldi.'
- Sergio Leone — Crawford cited Leone's spaghetti westerns — studied since college — for the Wolf showdowns and the extreme Eastwood-style eye close-ups.
- Akira Kurosawa — Crawford pointed to Kurosawa's samurai films, especially Seven Samurai's emotional humanity, as a touchstone for the duels.
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) — Crawford credited it with opening the door for Western animation to break from full CG, clearing the way for the film's painterly style.