PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH is a magnificent, surprising delight of a movie. I put off watching it for so long because a sequel to a Shrek spin-off didn't sound the most appealing. But I kept hearing good things about it so I finally dove in and was astounded.

PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH in the sixth entry of the Shrek franchise, but don't let that stop you from watching this if you dislike the Shrek movies. Coming out 11 years after the previous movie, THE LAST WISH serves as a sort of soft reboot to the franchise...in both tone and style.

Long gone is the outdated, realistic CG animation of the previous movies. Taking major influence from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, THE LAST WISH takes a much more stylistic and painterly approach to its animation. It's simply stunning at times.

The overall tone and sense of humor has also shifted away from the bawdy, edgy jokes of the original Shrek movies to a more light-hearted, family-adventure vibe...even though this movie contains some extremely dark moments and themes.

I don't want to spoil any of the plot or detail the movie's best sequences, as I believe it is best going in completely fresh.

It's way too early to say if this starts a renaissance of Dreamworks Animation, but I can easily say this was the best animated movie of 2022.