Author: Dan S

I understand there’s a sense of nostalgia around these dumb, effects-heavy, non-superhero blockbusters. But this is just a far worse Independence Day (you gotta love that downgrade from young Will Smith to Patrick Wilson) with a little bit of Contact sprinkled in there, blended into the stupidest possible slurry. And it’s not even that fun. There are a few cool images, and the score gave me goosebumps once or twice, but that’s it.

Puss in Boots 2 is:

The best movie in the Shrek franchise.

The best Dreamworks movie since How to Train Your Dragon 2, maybe 1.

The best mainstream American animated movie since Spider-Verse, and possibly as far back as the early 2010s.

A vessel for the best animated villain in so long I can’t even think of the last one better than this — you might have to go to the Disney Renaissance.

And, in all seriousness, maybe the best movie of 2022.

There’s not a single thing I like more here than in Knives Out, but I do like almost everything almost as much. The two big exceptions are the over-obvious satire (I can feel Rian Johnson whispering “really makes ya think, huh” in my ear as I watch) and the disappointing ending. But it’s still pretty gripping storytelling for most of its (overlong) runtime.