The first Puss In Boots movie came out when I was ten. And I have pretty fond memories of it. I remember it was the first time I had colourful popcorn and it was an experience I shared with my year 5 class. But I never really thought to keep up with it. It’s been over a decade since I watched the first one. But my friend convinced me to watch the second movie and I am so glad.

Now obviously, if you don’t want to be spoiled for the movie, don’t read on.

Death Is My Favourite Character

I was actually convinced that the wolf was a hallucination and a sign of Puss In Boot’s guilt. You can clearly see that he’s acted selfishly and had no regard for his own life. He didn’t even truly start to care until his last life was threatened. And so when we discovered that the wolf was Death all along, I just about lost my mind.

Holy shit that was a good plot twist.

Sure upon closer inspection, there are clues there but you don’t go in expecting them. I seriously thought Puss was just losing his mind. The way that he was running from Death and the amount of fear he felt seemed disproportionate. And it was unsettling how easily Death was beating him.

Death would make a badass villain but I don’t consider him to be one in this movie. I think he actually helped Puss realise the value of his own life. If it hadn’t been for Death chasing him, he probably would’ve wasted his 9th life on a whim. But feeling that fear finally snapped him out of his selfishness and self-obsession.

Only when confronted with the threat of losing everything did he truly start to value what he already had. And it makes perfect sense to me that he didn’t end up making a wish after all. He didn’t need a wish, he just needed to value the life he had.

Goldilocks And The Three Bears: Found Family

I love this twist. The original Goldilocks story was bland. But turning that story into one about finding family in odd circumstances was a masterful choice. I love Goldilocks’ dynamic with her bear family. She and Baby act like real siblings and I especially love her relationship with her mum. This is one trope I will never tire of. Everyone, especially children, need a reminder that family isn’t always about blood and a physical resemblance, sometimes family is who you choose.

And having Goldilocks, one of the most entitled and spoiled fairytale characters, give up a wish was a perfect end to her character arc. She has spent so much of her life trying to find “just right” that she has never fully appreciated what was in front of her. She was so caught up in finding a family that looked like her, she didn’t realise she already had a family.

And I love that her family didn’t ditch her the moment they learned of her wish. Family loves you unconditionally and the bears proved this. Sure, they were devastated that she wanted to leave them but they still loved her enough to pick her happiness over their own. And it made it that much more impactful when she gave up her wish to save them. There was no pressure or guilt-tripping, she came to the realisation on her own.

Sometimes People Are Assholes Because They’re Assholes, Not Because of Trauma

Basically every good villain has a traumatic backstory. And I’m not going to lie, I love those origin stories. The Scarlet Witch, The Evil Queen, and Maleficent are some of my favourite characters of all time. And I love a good villain redemption arc (Zuko anyone?) but it doesn’t always have to be like that. I think it’s important to acknowledge sometimes people are just assholes because they want to be, not because life screwed them over.

And so the Jack Horner vs. Perrito parallel was very refreshing. Jack Horner had the most stable family life of any character in that movie and yet, he was irredeemably evil. Whereas Perrito had the biggest reason of anyone to turn into a villain and covet the wish for himself and he cared the least about it. His only priority was to help his friends. And outside of an impressive “vocabulary”, he hasn’t really let his trauma affect who he is or how he views life.

I liked it. It was funny.

Final Thoughts

At its core, this movie was about looking at what you have and being grateful for it. Puss chased another 9 lives in the hopes that it would return him to the legend he was. But that wasn’t what he needed. Every single life he lost, he lost as a result of not valuing his life. He could have another 100 lives and it still wouldn’t protect him. And as for Goldilocks, she finally learned that what she had was “just right” all along. She didn’t need to chase the ideal but rather appreciate what she already had.

I definitely recommend this movie. This is the sort of movie we love crying over. The animation is a bit strange at times but the writing was impeccable. Even though it’s a kids movie, I was genuinely frightened when Puss was being chased by Death. And I can’t wait for what they’ll do next.