DreamWorks

Rating: G

90 minutes

Head:

Action-filled animated fun

Puss in Boots is an entertaining spinoff from the Shrek films, where the Antonio Banderas voiced character made his screen debut in Shrek 2.

It’s by no means purr-fect, but the character deserves to have his own film and this is one the adults can enjoy almost as much as the kids.

We learn how Puss grew up in an orphanage where his best friend is the double-crossing Humpty Dumpty (voiced by Zach Galifianakis) and how he became a sexy and charming swashbuckler. But he is always a cat, chasing reflections and lapping his milk while hanging out in a tough bar.

Puss is out to find the magic beans stolen by Jack and Jill, so he can plant the beans, grow the beanstock and get to the golden goose that lays the golden eggs. His sometime opponent and sometime partner is a seductive feline named Kitty Softpaws (voiced by Salma Hayak).

The voices of Hayak and Banderas work well together and Banderas, especially, conveys a tremendous amount of character with his voice.

The film goes on too long (too many climaxes) and sometimes just seems to be throwing in sequences to fill out the running time, but there is action, adventure and laughs galore, as well as top-notch animation. This is the first film this reviewer paid the extra three bucks for 3-D for a long time: not sure it’s worth it, but it’s nice to see it that way.

Rating: three deer out of five

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Alf Cryderman is a Red Deer freelance writer and old movie buff.