“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”, has been the must watch film of 2023 ever since its release in December of 2022— Tiktoks, tweets, and overall hype centered around the fearless, adorable cat known from the loved film series “Shrek” due to it’s storyline, characters, and overall message in the film. 

Many animated children’s films had a popular debut in 2022, like Turning Red, Minions: Rise of Gru, Lightyear, and The Bad Guys. These films having a spike in popularity amongst children, teenagers, and adults only proves the importance and the evolution of animation in film—one of those films being the new Puss in Boots. 

Throughout the film, Puss finds himself struggling with accepting and acknowledging death due to using eight of his nine lives, which leads him on a quest with companions Kitty SoftPaws and Perrito the dog. The movie discusses heavy topics such as the denial and acceptance of death, escaping  responsibility, the recognition of anxiety, and morality.

Throughout the years, we have seen children’s films struggle with those topics, deeming them as “inappropriate for children” or making it out to have a simple cut and dry solution, but this film brings these struggles to life while showing everyone’s favorite fearless hero to be just like us all: afraid. Newer 2022 animation doesn’t discuss these topics, and films like Turning Red and Lightyear are less beloved and impactful because of it. Puss In Boots grossed five hundred million in the box office, surpassing the Disney Pixar releases of that year, and proving that children’s films discussing real life issues are better received by the public.

This movie proves that it isn’t just a film, it’s a reflection of real life with its dark humor, trauma, characters, and so much more. We see this exemplified with Goldie, an orphan that wants to fit in. And characters that are morally terrible without a reason, like Jack Horner. The film represents hard hitting subjects like Death, and characters filled with fear like Puss. This film shows that these problems, fears, and anxieties that we all have are valid especially in the eyes of young children.