Puss in Boots: The Last Wish · reception & legacy

2022 · Joel Crawford

How Puss in Boots: The Last Wish has been received, argued over, and remembered.

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

Influences Joel Crawford has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

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.