Second Take is an occasional feature that revisits movies currently in theatrical release.
One remark that helped ensure former Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Chapek's stint at the top was short was his casual observation that animation was for children.
While tots do love cartoons, Chapek seems to have forgotten that for every child's ticket sold, a parent has to buy another one. As a result, even the most child-friendly entertainment is often loaded with jokes kids might not get until they reach a certain age.
For example, the new DreamWorks offering "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" has more dynamic and interesting characters than most live action films have. Screenwriters Tommy Swerdlow and Paul Fisher make the fearless feline more engaging by taking something away from him.
In the "Shrek'' movies and in his own films, Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) thwarts larger foes by mere audacity. He's not very big, but his cat reflexes enable him to survive duels that would kill larger creatures.
As "The Last Wish" begins, however, he's in for a rude awakening. It turns out his endurance is due to the fact that he had nine lives, but stupid accidents have now squandered eight of them.
Now, he has something to fear besides fear itself.
He briefly lets himself go to seed with crazy cat lady Mama Luna (Da'Vine Joy Randolph), but ends up reluctantly befriending an overly friendly dog named Perro (Harvey Guillen).
While he may now be mortal and now lacks a proper fencing foil, Puss in Boots is too proud to simply remain in seclusion. In the dark forest, there is a wishing star that can grant a single longing for whomever finds it. Getting his lives back is already a powerful draw, but he has to compete with Goldilocks (Florence Pugh) and the Three Bears (Ray Winstone, Samson Kayo and Olivia Colman) and the monstrous Jack Horner (John Mulaney), who isn't little or good anymore.
Did I mention that the Big Bad Wolf (Wagner Moura) and his former lover Kitty Southpaws (Salma Hayek) are also trailing Puss and the mysterious star?
As Banderas wrestles with a cartoon cat's ego and mortality, he finds new opportunities to hone his craft that haven't existed when he's on camera. It's not hyperbole to say that academics could write worthwhile essays on the cat's struggle. It's also rewarding to hear Banderas both woo and spar with Hayek. The two have a spirited rapport that makes their love-hate relationship consistently involving.
While kids will get their share of delightful eye candy, adults can giggle at all the clever nods to Sergio Leone's Italian Westerns and to other fairy tales. One of the reasons that Jack Horner is so tyrannical is that he's mad that he has only a nursery rhyme when Puss in Boots has his own fairy tale.
Oh, Pinocchio has a cameo here, and it's infinitely more entertaining than all of Robert Zemeckis' recent abomination about the puppet.
I'm not sure why director Joel Crawford ("The Croods: A New Age") decided that all the confrontations should be staged anime-style, but he and his collaborators exceed their quota of delights for a film that runs barely over 90 minutes.
Maybe that's why grownups won't mind attending this one with their kids.