50 Fun Facts About Puss in Boots: the Last Wish

In which film did Puss in Boots first appear?

Shrek 2 introduced Puss in 2004 as a killer hired by the king to get rid of the ogre. He joined his target instead, and two spin-offs later The Last Wish is the sixth film in the series.

What does the town doctor order Puss to do after adding up his lost lives?

Retire from adventuring is the prescription once the doctor has counted eight lost lives. Puss scoffs, but that night a hooded wolf disarms him in a tavern and draws blood, and he heads for the cat rescue the doctor named.

What kills Puss at the start of The Last Wish, right after he defeats a giant?

A falling church bell lands on Puss as he starts an encore for the crowd he has just saved. The giant had torn it from its tower to swing as a wrecking ball.

What does Perrito, the stray who tags along with Puss, hope to become one day?

A therapy dog is Perrito's goal, and he offers a belly rub to anyone who feels bad. He stays sunny even when telling how his family put him in a sock with a rock and threw him in a river, which he took for hide-and-seek.

Which What We Do in the Shadows actor voices Perrito in The Last Wish?

Harvey Guillén's dog never gets a proper name: 'perrito' is only Spanish for 'little dog'. When Puss and Kitty offer to pick him one at the end, he decides to keep it, because it is what his friends call him.

What name does Mama Luna give Puss when he moves into her cat rescue?

Pickles is the name on the collar Mama Luna snaps around his neck. By then Puss has buried his hat and boots in her yard, and he grows a beard and takes to walking on all fours.

In The Last Wish, who does the wolf bounty hunter turn out to be?

Death, 'and I don't mean it metaphorically', he tells Puss in the cave. He says he watched Puss throw away each earlier life without ever noticing him, so he has come to take the last one in person.

Which Narcos star voices the Wolf who hunts Puss in The Last Wish?

Wagner Moura, who played Pablo Escobar in Narcos, voices the white Wolf. In a tavern duel he knocks the sword from Puss's paw, cuts his brow and coolly tells him to pick it up; Puss runs instead.

Whose cautionary tales led the makers of The Last Wish to make Puss's hunter a wolf?

The Brothers Grimm made the wolf the face of fear, the director said, and Puss needed a hunter frightening enough to snap him out of his arrogance. Their tales, he added, go somewhere dark so you appreciate the light.

What does Puss set out to find in the Dark Forest to win back his lost lives?

The Wishing Star fell to earth long ago and the Dark Forest grew up around it, guarding a single wish. Puss learns it is real when he overhears a rival gang planning to steal the map that leads there.

Who leads the Three Bears Crime Family in The Last Wish?

Goldilocks gives the orders. Mama Bear recalls the day 'a little orphan girl broke into our cabin and stole our hearts'; grown up, she rides on Mama's back at the head of a cockney crime family.

Which Oscar-winning actress voices Mama Bear in The Last Wish?

Olivia Colman won her Oscar for The Favourite. When Baby Bear proposes taking over the dead villain's business, her Mama Bear coos that a family business sounds exciting.

What does Goldi secretly want to wish for in The Last Wish?

A human family is the wish Goldi lets slip in a row with Baby Bear. The hurt bears help her anyway, and at the last moment she drops the map to save Baby, then tells Mama everything is already just right.

What is 'Big' Jack Horner's trade in The Last Wish?

Pastry chef: Jack inherited a thriving pie business and runs it from a gothic factory. He still seethes that he was 'only a nursery rhyme' with no magic of his own, which is why he hoards every enchanted relic he can steal.

Which comedian voices Big Jack Horner in The Last Wish?

John Mulaney plays the villain as cheerfully beyond saving. As his doom finally closes in, Horner wails 'What did I do to deserve this?', then adds: 'I mean, what specifically?'

What does the Ethical Bug finally call Jack Horner in The Last Wish?

An irredeemable monster is the Bug's verdict when Jack laughs off a dozen of his own men plunging into a canyon. Until then he had kept telling himself there is good in all people; Jack flicks him into the chasm.

What does the Dark Forest conjure to distract the Three Bears in The Last Wish?

Their woodland cottage appears among the trees, with porridge cooling on the table and Papa's old armchair waiting. The homesick bears settle in, the map is left lying there, and Puss and Kitty take it back.

What does Puss suffer during the clash in the Dark Forest that makes him flee?

A panic attack: the team found that scripting Puss to talk about his fears felt insincere, so his body gives him away without a word. The director and the storyboard artist drew on their own experience of them.

Why is Kitty Softpaws resentful of Puss in The Last Wish?

He abandoned her before their wedding, turning and running on the day in Santa Coloma. When he owns up, Kitty admits she never showed up either: she knew she could not compete with his one true love, himself.

What ridicules Puss inside the Cave of Lost Souls in The Last Wish?

Reflections of his past lives appear in the cave's crystals, singing with him and then jeering at how much he has changed. The wolf walks in and smashes them one by one.

What does Kitty Softpaws say she would have wished for in The Last Wish?

Someone she could trust is all Kitty wanted, after a life of being double-crossed. When Puss finally hands her the map, she turns the wish down, saying she already has what she wished for, no magic required.

How does Puss survive his closing duel with the wolf?

He is spared for finally valuing his last life. Puss cuts the wolf's weapon in two and vows never to stop fighting for the life he has; the wolf growls that the arrogant legend he came for is gone, and walks away.

What does Kitty kick Jack Horner into during the final battle of The Last Wish?

His own bottomless bag swallows Jack when Kitty's spinning kick sends him tumbling in, and she shuts it with her foot. He had filled the nanny-style satchel with stolen relics, from poison apples to Excalibur.

Where are Puss, Kitty and Perrito heading as The Last Wish ends?

Far Far Away is spelled out on the hills as their stolen galleon nears the shore, and Puss says they are off 'to see some old friends'. It is the kingdom where the Shrek films are set.

Which Spaghetti Western was the template for The Last Wish's treasure hunt?

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly gave the directors their plot: rival parties chasing one treasure. They cast Puss's trio as the good and Jack Horner as the bad, and called their version 'The Good, the Bad and the Goldi'.

Which animated film inspired the painterly, storybook look of The Last Wish?

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse had pushed computer animation toward a comic-book look. The Last Wish's production designer asked instead what Puss would look like if he lived inside a fairy-tale painting.

Which Spanish actor has voiced Puss in Boots in every feature film since the character's debut?

Antonio Banderas has played the cat for more than twenty years, and he sings as well: he performs the opening number 'Fearless Hero' himself, the song Puss later sobs through at a funeral for his own boots.

Who took over as director of The Last Wish?

Joel Crawford said the idea that leapt out at him was a cat on his ninth life: it sounds like a fairy tale, but it is really about getting only one go. He had storyboarded Puss years before, on Shrek Forever After.

What subtitle did DreamWorks announce in 2014 for its planned Puss in Boots sequel?

Nine Lives & 40 Thieves was dated for November 2018, then dropped from the schedule in 2015 when DreamWorks cut 500 jobs and went from three films a year to two. The cat's nine lives outlasted the thieves.

Which animation studio's founder was brought in to oversee the revival of Shrek and Puss in Boots in 2018?

Illumination's Chris Meledandri, the producer behind Despicable Me, was handed both series after Universal's parent company bought DreamWorks. The one thing he said he would not replace was the original voice cast.

Which rock frontman did the makers of The Last Wish model Puss's celebrity swagger on?

Mick Jagger was the producer's model for a star who lives off the crowd and loves the attention. The team then asked what Jagger would be if he lost his voice, which is the story once Puss loses his nerve.

Which Colombian singer performs 'La Vida es Una' on The Last Wish soundtrack?

Karol G wrote it with her regular producer, Ovy on the Drums, as the soundtrack's lead single. The title means 'life is one', which is the lesson Puss spends the whole film learning.

Which song by The Doors is covered on the soundtrack of The Last Wish?

The End, the Doors' brooding farewell, is sung by Dan Navarro and listed on the album as 'This Is the End'. It plays as Puss faces the queue for the litter box at a cat rescue, where dignity, he says, goes to die.

Which delayed blockbuster's December 2022 release date did The Last Wish take over?

The Super Mario Bros. Movie slipped to April 2023, so Universal moved Puss from September into the freed Christmas slot. The sequel had first been dated for November 2018.

The Last Wish opened in second place behind which blockbuster's sequel?

Avatar: The Way of Water held first place while the cat opened to just $12.4 million. Strong word of mouth then turned The Last Wish into a sleeper hit that grossed about $480 million worldwide.

What unusual thing did The Last Wish's box office do in its second weekend?

It grew 35% from its debut, to $16.8 million, when most films drop sharply in their second week. School holidays and word of mouth were credited, and it passed $100 million in the US within a month.

Which weather event was blamed for the soft opening days of The Last Wish at Christmas 2022?

Winter Storm Elliott hit much of the United States with snow, high winds and bitter cold just as the film opened. All three of that weekend's big new releases fell short of their forecasts.

Which film beat The Last Wish to the Oscar for Best Animated Feature?

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio won, which carried a twist: del Toro had been an executive producer of the first Puss in Boots and, back in 2012, was the one telling fans a sequel was on its way.

IGN called The Last Wish the Shrek franchise's answer to which R-rated superhero film?

Logan, the film about an ageing, worn-out Wolverine, was IGN's comparison. Its review praised a mature story about embracing life, following an adventurer 'at the tail end of his life'.

What name does Perrito give the trio, to the disgust of Puss and Kitty?

Team Friendship starts out as a 'placeholder' that Puss and Kitty beg him to workshop. In the last scene it is printed on the trio's wanted poster, and Perrito declares it official.

Which two Shrek characters have speaking cameos in The Last Wish's flashbacks?

Gingy and Pinocchio both speak: Gingy warns Puss the oven is set too high in one of his fatal mishaps, and Pinocchio steals the crowd from a young Jack Horner. Shrek and Donkey appear too, but silently.

What did The Last Wish debut on screen before its opening scene?

A new animated DreamWorks logo played first, a dreamlike tour past characters from Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and Trolls. For it, the studio's long-standing 'moon boy' was renamed the 'moon child'.

Who voices Kitty Softpaws in The Last Wish?

Salma Hayek Pinault did more than read lines: the director says she would suggest new ones for Kitty that were then written into the script, and he credits the voice cast with much of the trio's chemistry.

Which star of 2019's Little Women voices the bears' adopted sister in The Last Wish?

Florence Pugh's Goldi spends the film chasing a wish, throws it away to save Baby Bear, and ends by telling the bears she 'won the orphan lottery'.

Which British actor voices Papa Bear in The Last Wish?

Ray Winstone supplied Papa Bear's most wounded line himself. Hearing the story pitched, the director says, he reacted with 'I guess some people just stick around until the porridge is gone', and it went into the script.

Which actress, who later won an Oscar, voices the cat lady Mama Luna in The Last Wish?

Da'Vine Joy Randolph, later an Oscar winner for The Holdovers, plays the cat lover whose overcrowded home is where the great outlaw ends up: bearded, on all fours and stripped of his boots.

Whose famous voice did Kevin McCann imitate for the Ethical Bug in The Last Wish?

Jimmy Stewart's earnest drawl was only meant as a stand-in. McCann was a DreamWorks story supervisor recording a temporary track, and the producer liked it so much that nobody was hired to replace him.

What sound warns Puss that the Wolf is close in The Last Wish?

An eerie whistle, tuneless and close, announces him again and again, from the tavern to the last duel. The first time Puss hears it, the candles flicker and a hooded white wolf is sitting on the next barstool.

What does Jack Horner swallow to become a giant at the climax of The Last Wish?

An 'Eat Me' cookie, borrowed from Alice in Wonderland along with a 'Drink Me' bottle, is among the 'magic snacks' Jack packs for the trip. Trapped and beaten, he eats it and rises as a giant, clothes and all.

At which French festival did DreamWorks preview the first half hour of The Last Wish in 2022?

Annecy, the animation festival in the French Alps, saw the first half hour in June 2022. Critics there remarked on how dark it was, and the director agreed: the cat's fear of dying, he said, is the engine that drives the movie.