Screen Rant recently reported on Dreamworks Animation’s lineup from 2009-2012, a list which included the likes of a fourth Shrek movie, a third Madagascar and a sequel to Kung Fu Panda. But also amongst the animation line-up – which reads as a whats what of money making franchises – was a Puss in Boots solo movie, which is a spin-off to the Shrek franchise. With the following synopsis, Dreamworks hinted at what form the spin-off movie will take, by saying it’ll deal with the character’s early years:
“Swords will cross and hearts will be broken in this adventure starring one of the most beloved characters of the Shrek universe – Puss In Boots. It’s a swashbuckling ride through Puss’s early years as he teams with mastermind Humpty Dumpty and the street-savvy Kitty to steal the famed Goose that lays the Golden Eggs.”
However, today we have confirmation of what that above synopsis only hinted at by way of an interview (by Coming Soon) with the very man who voices the Puss in Boots, Antonio Banderas: The spin-off Puss in Boots movie will, indeed, be a fully fledged origin story. That’s right, even the furry creature first seen in Shrek 2 has jumped aboard the origin story bandwagon.
Ever since the Star Wars prequels, it seems that major movies dealing with the trials and tribulations of some of our favorite fictional characters (Batman, Wolverine, James Bond…) have to go right back to when they first became what we know them as today. As I asked in the Dreamworks Animation line up article, is there really enough to the Puss in Boots character to give him his own feature-length movie? An origin story, which from the above synopsis includes the likes of Humpty Dumpty (which, I must admit, is an awesome idea), certainly does provide Dreamworks with a bit more to work with. But I still only see him having enough gas in the tank to last for a short film – any longer than that and I fear it will get a little tiresome.
As stated, the origin story news came from an interview with Banderas, where he was promoting his upcoming movie, The Code aka Thick as Thieves. Just in case you’re interested, here’s some of what the voice behind Puss in Boots had to say:
“They’ve [DreamWorks has] been working very, very heavy on the script for almost three years… it looks unbelievable. It looks really, really cool… I’m very happy with what I’m doing [with the character]. In a way, it’s easy work because I know the parameters of the character. I know how to move him around.”
“We’re going to go from the time he’s a very little cat, so you see actually why and how he becomes an adult killer, and the reasons why he ends up on that path… It goes away from that kind of use of popular culture that ‘Shrek’ has. It goes in a different way, and the movie sometimes gets almost emotional, I may say, and it’s kind of epic… It’s going to surprise people I think; they’re not going to expect what we’re going to do.”
I’m not a big fan of the Shrek series (I thought the first was pretty good, the second was “meh” and I’ve only caught parts of the third, which was pretty damn bad from what I saw), nor the Puss in Boots character. To me it was a character funny for the first few scenes he appeared in within Shrek 2, and that was mostly down to Banderas voicing him (something about the contrasting match of the look to the voice really tickled me). I can’t say I’m looking forward to the Puss in Boots spin-off movie all that much.
What do you think of Puss in Boots being an origin story? Are you looking forward to the character having its own movie?
Puss in Boots is slated for a March 30, 2012 release.
Source: ComingSoon.net
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