The True Story of Puss 'n Boots (2009)

A lot of fun.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Just to make things clear, as has been indicated already, 'The True Story of Puss n Boots' is not a rip-off of the DreamWorks film 'Puss in Boots' as it has been mistaken to be. Not only is it clear from the advertising that the quality is vastly inferior to even the lesser DreamWorks efforts and has a different title, it also came out two years before 'Puss in Boots'.The title itself is misleading somewhat. This is not the true story of 'Puss in Boots', nor is it a particularly faithful adaptation. It feels more like an independent effort. Right now, 'The True Story of Puss n Boots' will be judged on its own terms, and, while there are worse animated films, it is very poor quality and as said in the review summary kitten litter is more appealing in comparison (and in reality kitten litter looks and smells horrible).Its least bad asset is the music, as music itself it has moments, when it isn't inappropriately dark and discordant, when it is characterful, nicely orchestrated and has its charms. It's the way it's performed that's the problem, with the princess' singing being some of the most painful that can be found anywhere in any media and even in life.Everything else is executed disastrously. The animation has a few nice details but this is wasted by flat colours, static movement, sparse and less than meticulous backgrounds, haphazard editing and especially hideous and unintentionally creepy character designs. The script constantly sounds awkward and is inconsistent tonally, with scarily grotesque darker elements that juxtapose abruptly and jarringly with childish humour that will make even younger children wince and over-the-top and poorly animated action.Story-wise, 'The True Story of Puss n Boots' fares the most problematically. The original story itself is a simple and easily digestible one, the story here is the complete opposite. Children and adults will find it hard to follow and there is no heart and charm to be found anywhere, it's just all mean-spirited and ugly. Things happen too randomly for no reason, lots of pointless things happen, a lot feels underdeveloped or unresolved, structurally it's all very disorganised and some of the characters appear at random and disappear just like that for no reasons given. The modernised elements are very out of place here when there was no attempt to update everything else.On top of looking hideous, none of the characters have likable personalities and are either dull (most), irritating (the title character and the princess) or useless (the Ogre). The voice acting is poor, William Shatner on paper sounded like he would be completely wrong and it is exactly that effect here. Shatner is one of the hammiest actors ever to exist and he brings no subtlety or charm whatsoever, making for the single most annoying Puss ever and one of the most obnoxious in animation perhaps. The princess similarly irritates while the rest either overact or phone it in, disconcertingly too the queen constantly sounds drunk.In conclusion, very bad. 2/10 Bethany Cox

It didn't get spent on the animation, which would have looked jerky and puppetish in the 1990s, featuring those nightmarish, lumpy, last-potato-in-the-sack faces that Le French consider to represent character.It certainly didn't show through in the English script, which was about as pedestrian, plodding, basic and unimaginative as it's possible to be. Was that a deliberate protest by Le Writers? You can do better, much better, in the language of Shakespeare.Editing? I doubt there was any: every frame of what passes for animation made it on screen.Cast? Well, they spoke their lines comprehensibly, but every voice actor picked a single intonation and stuck with it resolutely through every scene. They may have literally phoned it in.The music? It's the highlight, if the smug, repetitive nasal yowling that passes for French artistry is your thing.Ah! Wait, there's a monkey! Who has an awful interpretation of an Afro-Caribbean voice, because of course that's where monkeys come from. It's definitely not casual French racism. No, sir, the thought never crossed my mind.It's a underwhelming mess from start to finish. A six year old in the room was happy enough to howl along with the singing, but eight and nine year olds were past it, and it was unremitting torture for the adults.Avoid if at all possible.

I'm sure my impression of it would have been much better had I listened to it in the original French. But William Shatner was a horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE choice for the voice of the English version. His raspy, shaky voice and constant non-verbal noises he kept making just utterly ruined it. In the prior release, for English-speaking audiences, I suppose we were spoiled by Antonio Bandaras' as the cat. Shatner's Puss was just plain nails-on-chalkboard awful. Totally ruined any potential enjoyment I might have been able to get out of it. The story itself was okay, though definitely a bit on the "silly" side - but it doesn't seem to be geared towards an adult audience, so that's okay.I can't really comment on the French version, though surely they had to have a better voice than Shatner. If you're listening to it in English, just don't expect an experience even remotely similar to the original movie release. This movie was nothing like it. At. All.

"It's a trap!" -Admiral Ackbar- The same could be spoken of this film. Whenever a great film is released, or even just anticipated, anyone with the ability to churn our their own knockoff is going to release their dumbed-down version so as to capitalize on the success or hype of the original. The True Story of Puss in Boots is one such film.While I'm quite the plot, if you wish to call it that, differs quite widely from Dreamworks upcoming film, the cover was way to much like the Dreamworks cover to make me think that this film being released about the same time was mere coincidence. The film makers knew you would get this by accident, thinking you were getting the American made film staring Antonio Banderas...and so did Redbox. Hence, why I want my dollar back.The characters in this film are just awful, and the American dubbed voice acting does them no justice (Shatner sounds like Herbert the Pervert from Family Guy) there is your pop-obsessed princess, an obese king, a drunk queen, your demon-clown chamberlain (who I am convinced was supposed to be the court jester in the French version) and for some reason an ogre who seems to be more along the lines of Cthulhu.The plot makes no sense, and I will not even attempt to walk you through it. I got bored after 15 minutes and just completely lost track of what was going on.I don't fault the French for trying to trick us into getting this film. What I do fault them for is deliberately messing up a story that originated in their country far worse than any American hack could. The blame for tricking us lies with Redbox for trying to pass this abomination off as the Dreamworks film we actually wanted to see. If you're reading this review, it is likely because you fell for the trap as I did. In that case, I can only offer my condolences. In the off-chance someone reads this before renting this film, do not get it!