I think most people know the story about "Master Cat or, The Booted Cat" or in its original language French: "Le Maître Chat, ou Le Chat Botté" written by Charles Perrault. I read it as a child and most of you probably did the same, at least those of you in a certain age.
A lot of adaptatons have been realized: Ludvig Tieck wrote a dramatic satire published during the early 19th century; the Grimm brothers inserted it in one of their works; the cat appears in Tchaikovsky's ballet 'The Sleeping Beauty'; Disney produced an animated black-and-white silent short film in 1922; an animated film by Eugene Marner was made in 1985; another animated one in 1995 by Garri Bardin ('Kot v sapogakh') etc.
In this film by Chris Miller, our hero, that is the cat, is somewhat fat (now I rimed!) and that is also displayed in the French title: 'Le Chat Potté'. Normally the title of this story in French is: 'Le Chat Botté' but the word Potté is a word game indicating fatness.
This is the same cat later on meeting Shrek and Donkey in the film 'Shrek 2'.
Puss (Antonio Banderas) arrives at a town after having escaped a bounty hunter, who held him imprisoned.
He is informed that a couple of outlaws - Jack (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jill (Amy Sedaris) - have in their possession the famous - and in other stories important - magic bean, a bean Puss has been looking for, almost all his life.
What is so magic about this bean? It can lead the owner to a giant's castle where one can find golden goose eggs and with these eggs he would surely become the richest cat in the world.
When trying to steal the egg, he encounters a masked cat, who tries to steal the same egg and this leads to a sword fight and dance-off(!) between the two.
Later he gets to know that this cat is Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), a legendary cat but a cat he thought being a boy, not a girl! How humiliating!
She is allied with Humpty Alexander Dumpty (Zach Galifianaki), a well known character within the world of 'saga's'/fairy tales and a childhood friend from the orphanage where Puss was raised.
Puss was however - according to his story - betrayed by Humpty when the latter wanted him to commit a crime in their youth, or was it the contrary?
After some hesitation they decide to cooperate, trying to steal the egg from Jack and Jill.
They succeed and they plant the bean that grows into the clouds and into the clouds they climb, trying to find the golden eggs. They have to watch out for the 'Terror', a monster guarding the eggs. They find a gosling and escape with him and some eggs, being chased by the 'Terror'.
Back 'on Earth' they are ambushed by Jack and Jill who knock Puss unconscious.
When he wakes up he realizes that both Jack, Jill, Humpty and Kitty all have cooperated against him, in order to use him to find the golden eggs.
He turn himself in and in prison he meets the 'original Jack' from "Jack and the Beanstalk" (Andy Beanstalk), who tells him about the 'Terror' and that it's the Golden Goose's mother who will stop at nothing to get her gosling back. Kitty, who regret her behaviour against Puss, liberates him from the prison and together they will try to set things right.
This is a story blending different fairy-tales and stories having been retold throughout the centuries. It's a story, for younger cinema goers being related to 'Shrek' and Puss' appearance in the second part of the story about 'The Green Giant'.
For the rest of us, not being teenagers or younger, it's related to the traditional stories about this special cat.
In a way it feels as if the director has made a film more related to 'Desperado' and 'Desperado 2' and the role characters of Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek in those. It's hard to keep the thoughts of those films away when seeing this one, even though the subject matter is something else.
It's however a very entertaining film, where 'saga' meets action, containing a love story and a moral lesson about 'right' and 'wrong', about honesty, friendship and betrayal.
There are many charming moments in the film, like when Puss tries to persuade people into doing things by making his pupils grow bigger in a imploring manner.
Being a cat with a big ego, he has found his perfect counterpart in Kitty the kitty!
(Photo fencing Puss copied from:http://www.playwares.com/xe/files/attach/images/5543822/774/745/017/puss_in_boots_new_shrek.JPG)
(Photo Pussy with big eyes copied from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSVcjmyacTNcTb9BK2MMqXtUugHE8gAL3TZifR7VLiQNIRrW2Zr5_Bi0UCUVQqIepg0bScqFoAldyBvojaUqJfYV9Svxk7Do5kufhQTrse0FR9-qCIMEgKxJc6GbMqk_2LCA40/s1600/Puss+in+boots.png)
A lot of adaptatons have been realized: Ludvig Tieck wrote a dramatic satire published during the early 19th century; the Grimm brothers inserted it in one of their works; the cat appears in Tchaikovsky's ballet 'The Sleeping Beauty'; Disney produced an animated black-and-white silent short film in 1922; an animated film by Eugene Marner was made in 1985; another animated one in 1995 by Garri Bardin ('Kot v sapogakh') etc.
In this film by Chris Miller, our hero, that is the cat, is somewhat fat (now I rimed!) and that is also displayed in the French title: 'Le Chat Potté'. Normally the title of this story in French is: 'Le Chat Botté' but the word Potté is a word game indicating fatness.
This is the same cat later on meeting Shrek and Donkey in the film 'Shrek 2'.
Puss (Antonio Banderas) arrives at a town after having escaped a bounty hunter, who held him imprisoned.
He is informed that a couple of outlaws - Jack (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jill (Amy Sedaris) - have in their possession the famous - and in other stories important - magic bean, a bean Puss has been looking for, almost all his life.
What is so magic about this bean? It can lead the owner to a giant's castle where one can find golden goose eggs and with these eggs he would surely become the richest cat in the world.
When trying to steal the egg, he encounters a masked cat, who tries to steal the same egg and this leads to a sword fight and dance-off(!) between the two.
Later he gets to know that this cat is Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), a legendary cat but a cat he thought being a boy, not a girl! How humiliating!
She is allied with Humpty Alexander Dumpty (Zach Galifianaki), a well known character within the world of 'saga's'/fairy tales and a childhood friend from the orphanage where Puss was raised.
Puss was however - according to his story - betrayed by Humpty when the latter wanted him to commit a crime in their youth, or was it the contrary?
After some hesitation they decide to cooperate, trying to steal the egg from Jack and Jill.
They succeed and they plant the bean that grows into the clouds and into the clouds they climb, trying to find the golden eggs. They have to watch out for the 'Terror', a monster guarding the eggs. They find a gosling and escape with him and some eggs, being chased by the 'Terror'.
Back 'on Earth' they are ambushed by Jack and Jill who knock Puss unconscious.
When he wakes up he realizes that both Jack, Jill, Humpty and Kitty all have cooperated against him, in order to use him to find the golden eggs.
He turn himself in and in prison he meets the 'original Jack' from "Jack and the Beanstalk" (Andy Beanstalk), who tells him about the 'Terror' and that it's the Golden Goose's mother who will stop at nothing to get her gosling back. Kitty, who regret her behaviour against Puss, liberates him from the prison and together they will try to set things right.
This is a story blending different fairy-tales and stories having been retold throughout the centuries. It's a story, for younger cinema goers being related to 'Shrek' and Puss' appearance in the second part of the story about 'The Green Giant'.
For the rest of us, not being teenagers or younger, it's related to the traditional stories about this special cat.
In a way it feels as if the director has made a film more related to 'Desperado' and 'Desperado 2' and the role characters of Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek in those. It's hard to keep the thoughts of those films away when seeing this one, even though the subject matter is something else.
It's however a very entertaining film, where 'saga' meets action, containing a love story and a moral lesson about 'right' and 'wrong', about honesty, friendship and betrayal.
There are many charming moments in the film, like when Puss tries to persuade people into doing things by making his pupils grow bigger in a imploring manner.
Being a cat with a big ego, he has found his perfect counterpart in Kitty the kitty!
(Photo fencing Puss copied from:http://www.playwares.com/xe/files/attach/images/5543822/774/745/017/puss_in_boots_new_shrek.JPG)
(Photo Pussy with big eyes copied from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSVcjmyacTNcTb9BK2MMqXtUugHE8gAL3TZifR7VLiQNIRrW2Zr5_Bi0UCUVQqIepg0bScqFoAldyBvojaUqJfYV9Svxk7Do5kufhQTrse0FR9-qCIMEgKxJc6GbMqk_2LCA40/s1600/Puss+in+boots.png)
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