Author: Dan Stalcup

A competent enough Nordic riff on Godzilla, at least until it gets into kooky royal conspiracy material. The ending lost me a bit, and I’m not wild about the creature design, but the production is quite good at conveying the massive scope of the creature, which is the single most important part of a movie like this.

(Important, Disappointing Note: Not a Troll 2 prequel.)

Puss in Boots 2 is:

• The best movie in the Shrek franchise.
• The best Dreamworks movie since at least How to Train Your Dragon 2, maybe 1.
• The best mainstream American animated movie since at least 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.

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.

I know this is intended to be a subversive investigation of the boundaries and biases in creating art, but I find it just to be mean-spirited and impish. (That doesn’t mean I didn’t laugh a bunch of times.)

It feels scientifically engineered to be as boring as possible: People having astonishingly vacant conversations in beige rooms, the central murder mystery given the urgency of a tax return. There’s a long stretch of inexplicable 1982-level CGI. I tried to find some avant garde vibes to love, but it’s just too dull.

Check out my interview with the star of After Last Season, Jason Kulas – the first he’s ever given about the movie.

There’s not a single thing I like more here than in Knives Out, but I do like almost everything almost as much.