Who knew a talking, sword-wielding cat could provide such deep insight into the anxieties we have about our own mortality? Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) is a sequel to Puss in Boots (2011) a spin-off of the Shrek franchise. The film was directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado; It was written by Paul Fisher, Tommy Swerdlow, and Tom Wheeler.

The Fear of the Inevitable

A cat with nine lives usually has no reason to fear death, until they reach its last life. That is the plot of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, a swordsman cat seeking a way to literally avoid Death himself by finding the magic wishing star in order to regain his nine lives. However, when given the opportunity to regain his nine lives at the end of the film, he declines; Why is that?

At the beginning of the film, Puss in Boots encounters a scythe-wielding wolf and loses in a duel with him. This strikes fear into the feline as he just came close to his final death, thus causing him to go into retirement. That is until he learns about a wishing star that could grant him his nine lives back. He sets out on the journey with a new friend and an old lover, but still fears the idea of encountering the wolf again.

It isn’t until the three travelers come so close to the star that Puss in Boots realizes that the wolf is Death himself, coming to take his last life. At their final encounter, Puss in Boots has come to the epiphany that he cannot run from his inevitable mortality. Death realizes that Puss has changed from the egotistical cat who believes they will never die and allows him the opportunity to make his wish. However, Puss has come to terms with the inevitable and chooses to destroy the wishing star to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. He realizes that he only needs one life to spend with the people that he loves.

Final Thoughts: Legacy

While it is grim to think about our inevitable death, it opens our eyes to the life that we can live. Like Puss in Boots, many people worry about the legacy they leave after death. We tend to think that legacies have to be of heroism or great inventions. In reality, legacies can be memories and experiences that live on with our loved ones even after we die. Our lives are a part of a larger web of family, friendships, and relationships that are connected by our shared lives. This web lives so long as there are those that remember us fondly. That is the lesson of Puss in Boots, our impact does not need to be absolutely legendary, but if we have a positive impact on at least one person…that is a great legacy left behind.

Works Cited

IMDb.com. (2022, December 21). Puss in Boots: The last wish. IMDb. Retrieved February 3, 2023, from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3915174/