The best movies of the 2020s, so far: PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH

   Puss In Boots: The Last Wish is a modern animated classic. I've seen it countless times and it hasn't lost a bit of its magic. From the opening seconds of Antonio Banderas reciting "Star light, star bright" I'm never not captivated by it, even if I throw it on for background noise.

  One of the first to adopt the Spider-Verse blend of traditional 3D animation with hand-painted textures and 2D backgrounds, every character, landscape, and surface have brushstroke blemishes and deliberate imperfections eschewing the rubbery smoothness that Pixar and Illumination perpetuate. The noticably sketched action is low frame-rate, high personality with bold staging and choreography that almost seems to be in service of a breathless self-one-upmanship complex. Every prevailing set-piece is more ambitious than the last until it truly outdoes itself with one Hell of a climax that's also just as rich thematically.

  The stacked cast match this with lively performances as this isn't a barrage of celebrity names to slap on a poster, they're actually doing some fucking Voice Acting. As much as I enjoy John Mulaney, his name initially worried me because his other animated outings sound exactly like they are: checks cashed over the phone. But here, with Jack Horner, he creates a truly despicable villain who's also the funniest character in the movie - for once, he's perfectly cast.

"You're not gonna shoot a puppy, are ya Jack?"

"Yeah. In the face. Why?"

  Horner bucks the modern trend of sympathetic villains whose malice is undercut by a trAgiC baCkSToRy. He is truly just a loathesome maggot designed for pure hatred and the worse he gets the funnier it is. What makes it better is he's paired up with the most moral character in the movie, Jiminy Cricket, so we get a punchy and potent Odd Couple dynamic.

  That said, Last Wish actually has a whole spectrum of villains so anytime one (or four) do soften up, it's not a letdown. Goldilocks and the Three Bears are set up as outright antagonists but evolve into a charming unit who parallel nicely with our main trio as they're all equally flawed outcasts (save for Perrito). Their characterization isn't undercut by their development, quite the opposite. This keeps the scales from tipping because of Jack Horner's plentiful evil but also because of Death itself.

  Wagner Moura sinks his teeth into this role and, with the animators (and sound designers), they carve out one of the best villains in the medium, so much so that Ryan Coogler took inspiration for the look of his vampires in Sinners. Along with an icy whistle that acts as both a warning and mockery, Moura's menacingly lyrical line deliveries sound more like a Salamanca relative than a cartoon wolf in a kids movie.

Lalo? No: Lobo

  In both the writing and character design, Death is handled with balance; it isn't too scary for kids but it also doesn't treat them like they're too precious to face it either. I admire how condescending this isn't as movies tend to over-explain themselves, especially kids movies. Kids aren't exactly receptive to subtlety but they're not entirely out of touch either. The Last Wish trusts its main audience and that maturity toward immaturity is in short supply.

  There's a scene where Death cuts Puss and the whole screen is abruptly stylized with bright red lighting. It then cuts to a super tight close-up of Puss as blood drips between his eyes, his heart starts pounding, and his fur stands on end like fuzzy needles. As he's on the last of his 9 lives and faces actual demise, it legitimately scared me. I can't remember the last time I saw blood utilized like that in a PG-rated animated movie.

  Puss' vulnerability is set up with a montage of how he lost (see: wasted) his other 8 lives and essentially eroded his plot armor. It's funny as each death is a different kind of silly perishing, from elaborate and ridiculous to blunt and dry. But after seeing his eventual brush with this movie's literal grim reaper, that montage truly sinks in as a record of careless self-destruction. That continues at the end of the second act as Puss faces his dead selves in a cave, until he hears that hair-raising whistle. Death re-appears and brutally destroys all 8 of them again. Wisely, this doesn't end with Puss defeating Death, just staking a claim to his current life. Death will prevail, no matter what, but it has to be respected; being fearless is dangerous, being afraid is a necessity.

  I haven't seen something this profound or challenging in a kids' movie in a good while. The way it depicts a panic attack/PTSD, confronts mortality, loneliness, narcissism and depicts consequential violence with the actual threat of death is seriously impressive.

  It disproves that notion that kids' movies should be seen as lesser-than, disposable, or get a pass for phoning it in. This is a consistently captivating, highly entertaining, emotionally affecting sequel to a Shrek spinoff.