Entertainment

‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ brings awareness to anxiety

Picture of characters from "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" movie. Cat with sword, The Big bad Wolf, Goldilock and the three bears Perrito chihuahua and Kitty Softpaws black cat.
“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” movie cover.
[spoiler title=”Spoilers included” open=”no” style=”default” icon=”plus-circle” anchor_in_url=”no”]Includes some plot spoilers.[/spoiler]

I watched “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” this past weekend, and I surprisingly have a lot to say about it. I reluctantly watched this movie with a group of friends because they were all eager to watch it. This review is coming from someone who hasn’t seen the prequel and has never had any interest in these kinds of movies.

However, to my surprise, I absolutely adored this movie. I found it extremely impressive how serious topics were portrayed in what seems to be a silly movie for kids. This movie portrays anxiety and panic attacks in a way I have never seen before. I was amazed at how well they depicted anxiety. 

I never thought I would be so intrigued by the character development of a cat with a sword. Puss appeared to be known as an adventurer, fighter, and quite the flirt. But the movie also begins with him having a very arrogant, self-obsessed personality. 

His fearless charisma is soon challenged by a very scary villain. When I say scary I mean that I, a college student, was genuinely scared of this animated villain. The antagonist is “The Big Bad Wolf”, who is a bounty hunter that is after Puss. The Wolf symbolizes death, as Puss is down to one life out of his nine cat lives.

This is where the movie began to fascinate me. At this point in the film, anxiety starts playing a huge role in the movie and in Puss’s life. 

Due to his fear of The Big Bad Wolf, Puss fakes his own death and hides in a cat shelter. This is where he meets who I believe is the best character. “Perrito” is a tiny chihuahua who pretends to be a cat in the shelter because he has no home of his own.

Perrito, happy chihuahua
Perrito the happy chihuahua.

Perrito is an absolute ray of sunshine despite his very sad back story. His story had my group of friends crying over an animated chihuahua on a Saturday night. Without giving away too much, the topic of animal abuse and neglect was mentioned. Perrito ends up acting as a therapy dog throughout the movie, which was heartwarming to watch. 

The film shows how anxiety can affect everyday life and relationships. The anxiety Puss is dealing with begins to prevent him from doing things he used to love to do. 

In one scene, Puss has what appears to be a panic attack. I have seriously never seen a panic attack portrayed so perfectly in any other film before. Perrito comforts Puss in this scene, which I think was the best part of the entire movie. It showed how sometimes all you need is someone to be there for you.

In the end of the movie, Puss overcomes his fears and anxiety, while also improving his personality. He started as an arrogant cat and turned into a better friend with a better outlook on life.