From the Shrek movies comes the Puss in Boots character voiced by Antonio Banderas with all the charm one expects from the character with the addition of Kitty Softpaws (Selma Hayek) and Humpty Alexander Dumpty (Zack Galifianakis) also joining for a fun ride of trying to avoid being pursued by Jack (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jill (Amy Sedaris). Many funny scenes and lines but also much dramatically compelling close calls abound especially in 3-D. Many amusing mixups of various fairy tales with "Jack and the Beanstalk" being mostly used as source. If you were among the disappointed (I wasn't by the way) when watching the last 2 Shrek movies, this one may make you forgive the Dreamworks animation factory. So on that note, I highly recommend Puss in Boots.

Dreamworks has been inconsistent for me. I loved The Prince of Egypt, How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek, Spirit, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Antz, liked Shrek 2, Monsters vs Aliens, Sinbad, Kung Fu Panda and Road to El Dorado and didn't care for Bee Movie and Shark Tale(the 3rd and 4th Shreks are between the slightly liked to didn't care for categories). Puss in Boots is not Dreamworks' best, though I do consider it one of their better ones recently. The animation is stupendous, especially in the rich colours and fluid backgrounds. The humans are not as well-drawn as the animals, then again to a lesser extent I found that with the Shrek movies too(especially with Rumpelstiltskin in Forever After).

The music is rousing and gives a sense of jollity and adventure, and Puss in Boots is a cleverly written film with cat puns, witty dialogue and veers from Daesperado, Zorro to Mother Goose and a touch of Sergio Leone. As for the story, for what there is in predictability is made up for with excitement, helped by the hilarious dance fights and superbly choreographed chases up beanstalks and over bridges. The characters are generally great, though I didn't really care for Humpty Dumpty as a character or a villain.

Zach Galifilianakis deserves a lot of credit for his voice work, but while not as bland as Rumplestiltskin, Humpty Dumpty's motivation could have been better explored and he is never really likable or interesting. Consequently by the end, which compared to the rest of the film was too dark for my tastes, he didn't garner my sympathy, like I did with Rameses and especially Lord Shen. Kitty however is wonderfully slinky, and voiced beautifully by Salma Hayek, but it is the title character(one of the Shrek franchise's best characters) who steals the show.

Marvellously voiced by Antonio Banderas, Puss in Boots is suave and although the cute big eyes gag is used quite a few times, I find it far too endearing for it to be getting old. Overall, a fun film, beautifully animated, generally exciting and clever. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I enjoyed the movie and I thought it was a really nice comedy. Having seen the trailer though, there was almost nothing left to laugh about. Most jokes are in there. Which of course can be said about most comedies and you wonder why the have to put all the jokes in there? Are they afraid no one will go into the theatre? Whatever the case may be, the movie is entertaining enough.

But is it Oscar-material? I don't think so! In a year, where Pixar only had Cars 2 to offer, none of the rivals seemed to really catch the opportunity. And the one movie that actually should have been the winner wasn't even nominated (see "Tin Tin" the Spielberg movie). People would argue it was motion captured, but they still had to animate that and the backgrounds and everything else.

Back to Puss in Boots, which sees Banderas reprising his role, having good chemistry with Salma Hayek (nothing to wonder here) and Zach G. doing his comedy routine. Unfortunately the movie takes again the completely inapt way of unbelievable villain turning nice and good again. Most of the movies who try that, just aren't convincing enough, as is this. But kids won't mind and you will have fun for the running time.