You may only think of Puss in Boots as a bad-cat outlaw and a blow-with-the-wind feline fancy. But the orange swashbuckler with the purring Latin accent is so much more than that. Others may run in fear from thugs and ruffians. But that he will not do. Others may steal from the church and orphanages. But that he will not do either. Others may share tearful tales of their painful childhoods. But that …

It all started long ago when Puss was just a lonely tabby taken in by an orphanage. Becoming fast friends with a young fellow outcast named Humpty, he made his way through, sharing his newfound brother's dreams of someday finding magic beans and scaling a beanstalk to a golden egg kingdom in the clouds.

It was then that our fine and furry rebel heroically saved an endangered innocent and earned his treasured boots as a symbol of bravery and honor. But it all quickly went in the kitty litter with a dastardly act of betrayal: A jealous choice that drove Puss and Humpty far apart and caused the cat to be wrongly accused of being a criminal.

The suave survivor—with his sword and his boots—has learned to live with his lot. To roam the land, a maverick on the move.

But when he runs into a vivacious señorita/thief named Kitty Softpaws, he wonders if things could be different. She dances like the wind. She can handle a sword like a samurai. She is every bit his equal. And she even shares his desire to find and plant the legendary beans.

There is only one problem. She is already in cahoots with a decidedly rotten egg: one Humpty Alexander Dumpty!

:: Review
If you're like me, when you hear the movie title Puss in Boots, you automatically think of Shrek. And if you're even more like me, that association causes a small, involuntary cringe.

Thankfully, you don't need even a single bit of ogre love to enjoy this new swashbuckling adventure. Puss' prequel stands on its own and is actually pretty clever and colorful. And its kitty litter, while still present, is fresher than those other films'. The screenwriters do push the tantalizing tabby's "lover's lover" shtick a bit. His early morning sneak away from a fluffy feline paramour isn't really necessary. The large and gruff Jack and Jill tend to skew a little dark and scary. And a catnip/marijuana joke is never needed in a film aimed at such young kittens.

But Puss in Boots also gives families a character-driven, intelligently conceived story that practically dares us all to earn our own pair of boots for our own acts of heroism and efforts to do the right thing.

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