At this point, I’ve seen Puss In Boots: The Last Wish at least seven times. Once in the theater, and the rest at home with the company of my nephew and niece. Now, let me tell you, I was originally late to the party: the first time I saw it was in theaters in late January, but I immediately fell in love with the movie. It simply reminded me of the first time I saw Spider-verse: a thrilling ride with a sweet story. Now, to me, Spider-verse is still the better film, however, it is undoubtedly in my top five animated films. Now with that preface out of the way, let me detail why I decided to write this little blog.

The Last Wish was a great representation of people with mental disabilities. In fact, it tackled so many hardcore emotions that I’m familiar with that I almost felt myself experiencing those same emotions in those critical moments that Puss had. Specifically, when Puss had a panic attack, I almost cried. Partly due to the aforementioned emotions, but mostly because the way the film captured Puss’ anxiety had me remember all the times I’ve felt the same emotions. The short breath, your heart racing, and your vision tunneling. Honestly, I always had a hard time explaining what it’s like to have a panic attack, but now I’m glad I have this film to show as reference—allowing people to understand the impact of these disabilities in everyday life. I’m so glad this film exists.

Now, the other part I wanted to talk about was the difference of my level of hesitations I felt towards “Big” Jack Horner and Perrito. Jack was a ranging psychopath. Perhaps to many he seemed like an empty villain, but in reality there are such individuals like him that exist. And just like Jack, they believe they have the privilege to own anything they desire. Now, to some readers this observation may be obvious, but nonetheless, it provides a perfect transition to talking about hesitation.

See, when I first saw Perrito, my guts screamed: “The Dog is a twist villain. DO NOT TRUST HIM.” Now, I’m sure many people felt the same as me. Perhaps it was due to the Disney influence having us believe that every animated film must have a twist-villain, OR, perhaps it was because we’re incredibly biased against people who act ‘nice’. With Jack Horner, we understand that there are psychopaths that have no sense of morality, which is why I believe our guts are fine with him being a “pure-blood-down-right-evil villain”, but with Perrito? It was almost the opposite. My mind refused to accept that such a good-hearted soul existed. I believe the reason for this is our prejudice, with us believing that nobody has “pure” motives. But just like there are psychopaths, I know that there are ‘pure-hearted souls’, the person who needs to change is me.

Overall, I’m convinced that Puss and Boots is more or less a metaphor for mental issues. In that sense, it’s a good movie to fit adult-eccentric issues into a family friend movie. Truly a 9.5/10.