After several years of waiting, the next exciting installment in the Puss in Boots series has
arrived! "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" focuses on both heroes and villains, both old AND new,
all striving for the legendary wishing star - with everyone's favorite sword-wielding cat hoping to
use this magic wish to regain his nine lives. There's a lot of great
characters in this new DreamWorks flick, but where exactly do they fall on the morality spectrum?
I'm Brad with WickedBinge, and this is Puss in Boots: The Last Wish - Good to Evil.
Now, before we begin: MAJOR spoilers from this point out. So,
if you don't want any twists or surprises ruined for you, maybe take a quick trip to
the movie theater before you watch this video. With that said, let's get this ranking started!
Now, as always, we’re going to be starting off with our purest and
most heroic characters before working our way down. These characters are The Good
Easily getting our Gold Medal of Good is Perrito. Honestly, this puppy just takes ‘being good’ to
the next level. Living amongst cats when he first meets a retired Puss in Boots, Perrito hopes
to one day become a therapy dog and help people through their emotional issues. While he’s not an
official therapist, we do see him personally help both Puss and Goldi through talking with them.
Beyond that, Perrito is just looking for some friends, since he doesn’t have any friends or a
family of his own. Although he can be a bit clingy at times, Perrito is also incredibly trusting,
believing in the good of others, as well as being very selfless. He doesn’t even want the Last Wish,
believing that he already has everything he needs and just wanting to focus on making
his friends happy. It’s really no wonder that this good boy is getting our top spot.
For our Silver Medal of Good, we're giving it to The Cricket. If you know the classic
‘Pinnochio’ tale, then you already have a pretty good idea of who this guy is supposed to be,
even if they don’t refer to him as Jiminy. Either way, the Cricket is part of Jack Horner’s magical
items collection, getting brought on the quest for the wishing star alongside all of Jack’s
other magical weapons. Credit where it’s due, when he takes up the role of Jack’s conscience,
the Cricket does at least TRY to get through to Jack, believing that there is good in
everyone. Thankfully, this belief doesn’t blind him to the truth about Jack being an
absolutely awful person. Once the Cricket realizes this, he gives up on Jack and,
in a surprise twist, even plays a part in making sure that Jack doesn’t get the Last
Wish - which was just really great and really satisfying to see, if we’re being honest.
Moving onto our Bronze Medal of Good, we have Mama Luna. As a lover of cats,
Mama Luna’s home is open to any stray that comes by. While her home can be a bit dull for more
active cats like Puss in Boots, she still makes sure to provide plenty of food, yarn balls to play
with and space for sleeping. She could probably set up a couple more litter boxes though… While
she may be just an ordinary human, Mama Luna is still very protective of her cats, who she
loves like they were her own babies, and tries to fight for them w hen the Three Bears Crime Family
threatens them. Really, the only negative that we could say about her is that while she notices that
Puss is no ordinary housecat, she still insists on treating him like one, making the experience of
‘retirement’ all the more draining and unbearable for him. This isn’t her being cruel per say, but
we still felt that we needed to take a couple of points off for it.
Briefly getting a mention next on our list is The Village Doctor. He’s a minor character,
being the one to tell Puss that he died. He also, apparently, fills several other roles
in the small village, such as the town’s barber. Though he is a bit kooky and,
as Puss says, doesn’t always seem to have the best bedside manner, this doctor does seem to
at least care about his patients in that he insists that Puss retire before he loses his
last life. He doesn’t want to see the cat get himself killed, and even though Puss seems to
disregard him, the doctor still gives him advice and a few cat treats for the road,
showing that he isn’t a bad guy, even if he sometimes has to deliver bad news.
Up next, we have the one and only Puss in Boots. In many ways, Puss is still the same
sword-wielding cat who we all know and love - whether that be for better or for worse. Puss
can be both heroic and mischievous, taking on a sort of ‘Robin Hood’ persona at times as he
happily does things like save people from giants or gives stolen gold to villagers.
However, because his ‘legend status’ is so important to him, Puss can sometimes
come off as a bit selfish and self-centered. He still sometimes tries to use his cuteness
to manipulate others, and he has no qualms with double-crossing criminals like the Three
Bears Crime Family. We do see him trying to take the Last Wish for himself despite
Kitty’s suggestion that they try to share it, but while this wasn’t a great moment,
it’s shown that it was brought on more by Puss’ fear of death than any actual malice. In the end,
Puss is able to both do the right thing and save the day, so while we can’t excuse his more
questionable or slightly more criminal traits, we feel that he’s still a good cat at heart.
She’s still a thief with quick paws, and while she may snatch things like his boots or hat from
him just to mess with him, it’s made clear that Kitty still cares strongly about Puss’ well-being,
despite any grudges she may hold against him. She also grows to care about Perrito,
helping rescue him several times, and plays her own part in stopping Jack, so even if she isn’t
trying to be a legendary hero like Puss, Kitty is still able to fall into the role fairly well.
Next up, we have the characters who tend to fall
somewhere between good and evil. Welcome to the Grey Area
Starting off this tier, we're going to begin with Mama Bear. Of the three bears, Mama seems
to be the kindest and most gentle, surprisingly enough. She loves her family with all her heart,
and seems to especially have a deep connection with Goldi, who she welcomed into her family
without hesitation. Mama also has a pretty easy going personality, despite being a literal
mama bear. However, she still has plenty of both bear-like and criminal-like qualities,
and can be both tough and threatening when she wants to be. But because she is seemingly the
kindest of the bunch, we felt that she earned a spot right on the edge of Grey.
Ranked just a bit lower than her adoptive mother, we have Goldilocks. As the de-facto leader of
the crime family, Goldi isn’t afraid to be a little ruthless towards others, wanting to do
whatever it takes in order to get her wish - even if it means stealing from others or
roughing some people up. But when it comes to her family, well… This is where Goldi’s softer side
comes out more often than not. While she does lie to her family about what she plans on using the
wish for, Goldi never actually tries to hurt any of the bears beyond maybe just squabbling with her
brother. Her desire to take the wish from herself comes from her believing that she has to have a
human family, but it’s made clear that she still cares about the Bears and wasn’t just using them.
In the end, she realizes that the Bears really are her true family and even saves Baby Bear
from getting destroyed by magic, finally accepting what she has as “just right”.
Next up on our list is Papa Bear. Papa probably gets the least focus of his family. Although
he’s the patriarch of the group, he tends to let Goldi take the lead on their jobs. Though
grumpy at times, Papa can also be easy going and seems to love his kids just as much as
Mama does, even if he can be just a bit critical of Baby Bear. We also see him call out Goldi for
not seeing them as her true family, but we feel this is fairly reasonable. Much
like the other members of the Bear Family, Papa isn’t too bad of a guy all things considered,
being more of a mild criminal at best. Really, the worst thing we see from him is when he
stuffs Mama Luna into a piano in the hopes of interrogating answers out of her. Still not great,
but certainly not the worst thing we’re going to be discussing on this list.
We've now come to the final member of the Bear family, Baby Bear. It really isn’t easy being
the youngest, and Baby shows this by being just a bit bratty and surly - especially towards his
human sister, who he doesn’t even consider to be his sister at times. We also see him being
more than a little mean to Perrito after the Bear Family kidnaps him, seeing the
pup as little more than a snack. When it comes to his family’s criminal activities, while Baby
is considered the ‘smash’ to Goldi’s ‘grab’, he’s willing to leave the job behind once he’s
reminded of their cozy cabin - and all the honey in it. This may come off as him just being lazy,
but it could also show that he maybe isn’t as mean as he tries to be. This comes to a head at the end
of the film after Goldi rescues him, where we see just how much he truly does appreciate his sister.
Wrapping up the Grey Area is easily the most intimidating character that we've ever gotten in
the Shrek franchise - Death. Originally thought to be just some Big Bad Wolf Bounty Hunter,
this wolf serves as both a representation of death and as a grim reaper of sorts. Though
he’s not the big villain of the film, Death still serves as a personal antagonist for Puss,
in that he believes that Puss is just going to waste his last life, so he might as well kill
the cat now. We see him chase down Puss in Boots several times throughout the film, almost getting
a kick out of taunting him. But while Death can come off as just a bit bloodthirsty and cruel,
we feel like a better way to describe him would be ‘tough but fair’. When Puss makes
it clear that he now values his life and that he is going to actively fight for it instead of
being careless or running away, Death - although still a bit annoyed - lets him go. While he may
enjoy a good chase, it’s made clear that Death doesn’t just kill for the sake of killing,
and that he’s able to respect those who see the value in their life. For these reasons,
we feel that he just barely makes it into the Grey Area.
We've finally arrived at the most wicked baddies around! These characters are the Bad to Evil.
Our Bronze Medal of Evil is going to be awarded to the Baker's Dozen. These bakers are Jack Horner’s
personal army, using various weapons to try and fight off the different creatures and defenses
of the Dark Forest. We don’t really know much about these guys, as they mostly just serve as
faceless goons. As such, we have no idea whether they’re actually evil or if they were forced to
work for Jack for one reason or another. We can only judge them on their actions,
and since they do assist Jack in his quest, trying their best to kill both Puss and Kitty,
we had no choice but to put them in the Bad Tier. Maybe these guys have some good in them like Goldi
and the Three Bears, but if they do, they sure don’t make it very clear in their fight scenes.
Moving onto our Silver Medal of Evil, we're giving it to the briefly seen Serpent Sisters. These
are two ladies who Jack hires to steal the map to the Wishing Star. According to them, they had
to do “a lot of murder” in order to get this map - and as far as we can tell, they don’t seem to torn
up about it and in fact seem to actually enjoy murdering. We only get these two for one scene,
after which one of them gets turned to gold and has to be wheeled out by the other, so
they come off as your stereotypical bad guys. But while the Sisters are bad but simple, our final
character is still able to shine as easily one of the most evil Dreamworks characters to date.
Finally, our Gold Medal of Evil is going to Big Jack Horner. It’s almost funny how this guy was
barely in the advertising for the movie, making his over-the-top wickedness all the more of a
surprise. After being snubbed by fame, his ‘story’ being considered as just an old nursery rhyme,
Jack made it his mission to collect as many magical items as possible in the hopes of becoming
all powerful. While the other characters want to use the Last Wish in understandable ways to
make their lives better, Jack really just wants to rule the world. But beyond these selfish desires,
Jack also has little to no concern regarding his goons or anyone else for that matter. It’s
made very clear that Jack will take out whoever he needs to in order to get what he wants, not
caring if they’re an enemy or an ally. He’s even willing to shoot a puppy in the face and smiles
as he aims his crossbow! If that’s not evil, then we don’t know what is. With no redeeming
qualities whatsoever, Jack more than earns his spot as the most evil Puss in Boots character.
Before we go, we just wanted to hand out a few quick sinner medals.
We’re going to be giving our Darwin Medal to Baby Bear. While both he and Perrito had
some fairly dumb moments, Perrito is more ‘innocent’ while Baby can actually be dumb,
as we see with his failed plan to steal the map.
The Pride Medal is naturally going to Jack Horner. His ego is so huge that any
slight against it is usually followed by Jack just straight up murdering the
person who dared to make fun of him. We’re also giving Jack the Envy Medal,
as it’s only when he sees Pinnochio getting more attention than him does he start
going down the path of evil. Moving onto the Greed Medal,
we’re giving it to the Serpent Sisters. As they state in the film, the only reason why
they stole the map and murdered so many people is because Jack promised them their weight in gold.
The Wrath Medal is going to Kitty Softpaws. Throughout the first half of the film, we see
her holding a grudge against Puss for running away and abandoning his plans
to marry her - and she makes this VERY clear both subtle verbal jabs and through a few hard kicks.
Finally, we’re giving the Lust Medal to Puss in Boots. This medal actually has two
reasons for it going to Puss specifically. The first is more literal, as we see that the only
reason why Puss died the first time is because he stopped in the middle of a Running with the
Bulls event to flirt with a pretty lady. The second reason is more metaphorical,
as Kitty states that for Puss, his ‘truest love’ is in actuality himself and his so-called legend,
with this love for himself being what prompts several of his actions in the movie.
But let us know in the comment section if you agree with our ranking, and tell us what we should
cover next. Remember to hit that notification bell and binge our Good to Evil playlist,
where we break down the morality of the characters in your favorite cartoons,
shows and movies. But most importantly, stay wicked!