The Cat in the Hat (and Boots).

The Shrek series is one that Dreamworks have enjoyed milking over the years. Since Shrek 2 though, the franchise hasn’t really improved at all, in fact the quality has dropped. They had babies, which means inevitable baby jokes. Sigh.

So perhaps a spin-off movie starring one of the more popular characters would help give the franchise a much-needed boost. Up steps Puss in Boots.

Did it succeed in breathing a bit of life into the series? Well, yes, but only a little.

Puss in Boots is a good character, and he represents pretty much the only draw in this movie; the other characters don’t have the same care and attention put into them that Puss has had. Though attempting to pull off a movie like this with one character alone is difficult, Puss in Boots manages to pull it off reasonably successfully.

That being said however, this movie does little to push any kind of barriers. It’s as basic an animated movie as you’ll find. It doesn’t do anything particularly badly, but on the other hand it doesn’t do anything particularly amazing. In fact, if you listed all the animated films I’ve ever seen, Puss in Boots would sit smack-bang in the middle of the list.

The story obviously is about Puss as he endeavours to find the long lost magic beans which are possessed by the evil Jack and Jill. He sets out with his old friend Humpty Dumpty and his inevitable female companion Kitty Softpaws to go and steal them from the evil duo so as to sprout a beanstalk to the golden eggs.

That’s 80% of the entire plot right there. Like I said, it’s basic.

As for the content of the movie, it’s not quite as well balanced as the Shrek movies. Puss in Boots has more content for kids with a lot less for adults to enjoy. The jokes are reasonably funny enough, though annoyingly, a lot of them have already been seen in the trailer.

There’s also this running joke where a cat puts its paw to its mouth in an awkward situation and makes a high pitched “oooh” noise. I don’t know why, but the makers decided this was hilarious and just kept on milking it. It’s really not that funny; don’t expect a meme to develop from it anytime soon.

So overall I can’t really say many negatives about Puss in Boots, but it also lacks in positives. It’s a good movie to take the kiddiewinks to, but there’s little here for the adults, which considering it’s part of the Shrek franchise is a shame.

Final Verdict: 3 Stars. A very basic animated movie.