In Dreamworks’ latest film, “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”, we get to see the return
of a few of our favorite feline friends.
We also get to meet plenty of new characters - from eager buddies, to crime families, to
some pretty intimidating enemies.
All these characters have some sort of connection to each other by the end of the film, so we
figured that we might as well rank them.
I’m Brad with WickedBinge, and this is Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Relationships - Healthy
to Toxic.
As with our other Puss in Boots 2 videos, we want to give you all a fair warning that
there will be MASSIVE spoilers discussed in this video.
So, if you don’t wanna be spoiled, this is your last chance to back out.
Just make sure to come back once you’ve seen the film.
Starting off, we have the most solid and most loving relationships.
These relationships are the Healthy.
For our Gold Medal of Healthiness, we’re going to be giving it to Puss in Boots and
Perrito.
In all honesty, these two have a pretty familiar dynamic, being almost like Shrek and Donkey
in some ways while still having their own unique relationship that is just incredibly
sweet and nice to see blossom over the course of the film.
When they first meet in Mama Luna’s home, Puss sees Perrito as a minor annoyance who
he is too jaded to actually talk to.
Before long, however, Puss agrees to start working with Perrito in the hopes of getting
to the Wishing Star.
Now, this could have been seen as Puss simply using Perrito, but thankfully Puss starts
to have genuine affection for the pup by the time they and Kitty are making their way through
the Dark Forest.
While Puss is more physically protective, rushing in to save Perrito whenever he gets
captured, Perrito focuses more on the helpful and emotional side of things.
This is best seen after Puss’ panic attack, where Perrito is able to comfort him and help
calm him down.
Afterwards, the two of them talk and Perrito gives Puss some advice that he actually tries
to follow, showing how much he’s come to appreciate Perrito’s perspective.
Although their personalities may clash a bit at times, there’s really no denying that
these two were able to become pretty great friends by the end of the film.
Moving onto the Silver Medal of Healthiness, we have Perrito and Kitty Softpaws.
These two are the second-half of the Team Friendship trio, and while they may not be
quite as close as Puss and Perrito, we don’t doubt the love and affection that Kitty and
Perrito do have for each other.
Being someone who wasn’t used to having somebody she could trust, Kitty was just a
bit hostile to Perrito at first.
Perrito, however, took it all in stride, seeing the best in Kitty and immediately wanting
to be her friend.
After Kitty starts to realize that Perrito really is just as innocent as he claims, she
starts to warm up to the little guy, becoming just as protective of him as Puss is.
We also see Kitty trying to teach Perrito how to do the ‘cute eyes’ move, which
he’s able to successfully use in the film’s climax, as well as give him some of her own
advice.
It’s great to see Kitty grow to care so much for Perrito in spite of how little she
originally trusted him, with Perrito seeing her as just another one of his best friends.
D’awww.
As for our Bronze Medal of Healthiness, we’re giving it to the mother/daughter relationship
between Goldi and Mama Bear.
When it comes to Goldi and her two bear parents, it certainly seems like she’s the closest
to Mama.
After all, according to the flashback we see in the illusion of the Bears’ cabin, it
was Mama Bear who first came up with the idea of adopting Goldi when they first discovered
her in their home.
Even when Goldi grows up, Mama still trusts her daughter completely and just wants her
to be happy - even if it means one day saying goodbye to her.
While Goldi did still hide her true intentions regarding the wishing star, it’s shown that
she feels guilty about this and that she never wanted to hurt her mother’s - or the rest
of her family’s - feelings.
It may have taken Goldi a bit to realize that she didn’t need a human family just because
she herself was human, but we feel that she might not have come to this conclusion at
all if not for the strong connections she already had with her family - especially with
Mama.
We have one last relationship in this tier that we’d like to touch on, and it’s a
bit of a surprise - that being the brief friendship between Perrito and the Bear Family.
After a brief scuffle over the map, the Bear Family ends up kidnapping Perrito, intending
on using him as bait in order to get the map back.
Naturally, while Perrito is with the Bears, he quickly endears himself to them, getting
involved in Goldi and Baby’s sibling squabble before telling Goldi that she “won the orphan
lottery” when it came to her found family - which she ends up taking to heart by the
end of the film.
The Bears, in turn, warm up to Perrito so quickly that Papa even suggests simply keeping
Perrito instead of just eating him or using him as bait.
It may only be a quick scene, but we feel it’s a necessary one that helps lead into
the resolution between the Bear Family and Team Friendship in the third act - but we’ll
talk a bit more about that relationship later.
Next up are the relationships that, while not completely awful, could still use a bit
of work.
This is the Grey Area.
Starting this tier off is the romantic relationship between Puss and Kitty.
While they may have separated on good terms at the end of the first Puss in Boots film,
these two kitties have had a lot of history with each other since then.
Between Kitty’s grudge against him for running away on their wedding day and Puss’ focus
on getting his nine lives back, the two act more like bitter rivals and exes than old
flames for the first half of the film.
But despite all the arguing that they do, it’s made clear that both of these cats
still have deep feelings for each other, allowing them to still care about each other.
For as annoyed as she is with him at times, Kitty still listens to Puss when he tries
to apologize and even helps him shave his itchy retirement beard off.
In many ways, Kitty almost seems like she knows Puss better than he knows himself, which
speaks to just how strong their connection is.
Even the brief ‘betrayal’ that happens between them after Puss tries to take the
map for himself is resolved rather quickly, because for as afraid as Puss is of dying,
he just can’t bring himself to hurt Kitty again.
Add in the fact that these two have excellent teamwork, and you’ve got a case for them
still being one of the strongest Dreamworks romances, even with their ups and downs.
Next up, we have the brief relationship found between Mama Luna and Puss.
Usually, cats and cat-loving old ladies are able to get along pretty well.
Unfortunately, this just isn’t the case for these two.
Given how reluctant he was to even retire in the first place, Puss never really had
any strong connection towards Mama Luna, even after she took him in and gave him food and
shelter, easily leaving her behind when he first hears about the wishing star.
On the other hand, we can’t exactly blame him for not wanting to bond with Mama Luna,
as while she may have seen him doing not-normal-cat things like using the toilet or the stove,
Mama Luna still insisted on forcing Puss to act like a ‘normal’ cat, making the experience
of retirement all the more miserable for him.
Really, the only reason why this relationship isn’t any lower is because, regardless of
their lack of any bonding moments or feelings of companionship between them, there’s no
real malice found between these two either.
Heading back over to the Bear family, we’re ranking the sibling relationship between Baby
Bear and Goldi next.
These two, for the most part, seem to fall into a fairly similar dynamic when it comes
to animated siblings, often bickering or tossing insults at each other.
Goldi is the smarter sibling while Baby Bear is much more brash and defensive, so it’s
not all too surprising that there’s so much friction between them.
Some of their insults, however, can be pretty harsh - especially the scene where Baby insists
that Goldi isn’t actually his sister.
Despite this, Baby is actually pretty heartbroken when he hears that Goldi plans to wish for
a human family, which in turn furthers Goldi’s own guilt about her wish.
In the end, when Baby is nearly destroyed on the Wishing Star, Goldi chooses to sacrifice
her wish in order to save her brother, showing that even with all their bickering and small
annoyances with each other, these siblings truly do love each other.
Entering the lower half of our list, we have the alliance that was (eventually) formed
between The Bear Family and Team Friendship.
It’s always a fun dynamic when you have a set of characters that manage to go from
rivals to friends.
Although the Bear Family was looking to hire both Puss and Kitty for their map heist, we
can’t imagine that they were planning on sharing the wish with either feline.
As such, we can’t completely blame the cats for being so willing to double-cross the Bears.
From there, it’s a constant fight for the map, with the Bears even stooping to kidnapping
Perrito in order to get an advantage.
But, as we said, Perrito is able to win the Bears over somewhat.
As for Puss and Kitty, while they may have struggled with trusting in others before,
both they and Goldi are willing to put their differences aside in order to keep Big Jack
Horner from getting the Last Wish, destroying the map together.
At the end of the film, everyone parts ways on friendly terms, hinting at the two groups
possibly considering each other as allies now.
It may not erase all the animosity they had for each other in the beginning but, hey,
still an improvement!
Just barely managing to stay out of the Toxic tier, we’re going to rank Puss and Death.
In another case of starting off as rivals of sorts, when Puss and Death first meet,
they have very little - if any - respect for each other.
Puss just sees Death as another wolf bounty hunter while Death sees Puss as an arrogant,
life-wasting fool.
Because of this, Death has no qualms with taunting or psychologically messing with Puss
whenever he shows himself, truly believing that Puss doesn’t deserve his last life,
if only because Death just expects him to waste it anyway.
But for as much damage as Death causes to Puss’ emotional state, it’s still necessary
in a way, since it’s partially what teaches him to actually value and fight for his life.
By the time the two of them clash for the final time, there is much more mutual respect
there, despite them technically being enemies.
Though he acknowledges that he can never truly beat Death, Puss still promises to keep fighting
for his life instead of being careless or always trying to run away from his final fate.
While he is a bit frustrated that his hunt ended so anticlimactically, Death is still
able to show Puss mercy once he sees that the cat truly has learned his lesson, once
again making Death come off more as ‘harsh but fair’ than simply monstrous or bloodthirsty.
When the two depart, we’re left with the fact that they will eventually fight again
- but until then, the fact that they were even able to find a sort of truce with each
other is still pretty impressive in its own right.
We’ve finally come to the relationships that never should’ve been formed in the
first place.
These are the Toxic Relationships.
For our Bronze Medal of Toxicity, we’re giving it to the professional relationship
between Big Jack Horner and the Baker’s Dozen.
On the surface, Jack has a fairly standard transactional relationship with his employees,
who act as both his bakers as well as his private army.
However, for as loyal as the Baker’s Dozen are when it comes to enthusiastically fighting
for their boss and putting their lives on the line for his goals, Jack is hardly able
to offer this same courtesy towards his men.
To say that Jack sees them as ‘less than’ is an understatement.
Whenever he gets one of them killed - either accidentally or on purpose - he just has no
remorse whatsoever, seeing each of his baker’s men as disposable and replaceable.
We don’t know if the Baker’s Dozen actually want to work for Jack or if they’re forced
to do so under an unbreakable contract, but this still doesn’t make their refusal to
actually leave him for their own sakes - or even just TRY to leave - any less concerning.
We’ve heard of toxic work relationships, and this example of it definitely takes that
idea to the next level.
Moving onto the Silver Medal of Toxicity, that one is going to enemies Jack and Puss.
Funnily enough, while these two serve as strong foils to each other and are the film’s main
protagonist and antagonist, they actually don’t have much of a personal relationship
with each other.
There’s no actual history between them, and they pretty much only see one another
as obstacles being in the way of their respective goals.
The most personal it gets between them is when Jack is trying to get Puss to give him
the map by threatening to shoot Perrito in the face with a unicorn horn-shooting crossbow.
Other than that, they may as well be strangers.
But hey, sometimes that’s all you really need for a relationship between a hero and
villain.
While it may not be all too personal, it doesn’t make the conflict between them any less interesting,
nor is it any less satisfying to see Puss - with Perrito and Kitty’s help - defeat
Jack once and for all.
Finally, our Gold Medal of Toxicity is going to the relationship between The Cricket and
Jack.
While this relationship is mostly played for comedy, essentially being the anti-Pinocchio
and Jiminy Cricket, it still doesn’t take away from just how toxic it is.
For one thing, Jack didn’t even plan on bringing the Cricket with him, having packed
it in with all his other magical items and weapons on accident.
To his credit, the Cricket does at least try to be a good conscience, despite his own discomfort
with Jack.
But of course, Jack doesn’t make this task easy on him, seeing the Cricket as little
more than an annoyance and not even trying to actually listen to him.
When the Cricket has finally had enough, it’s seen as less of him giving up and more just
him finally accepting what’s right in front of him - and really, that’s probably the
least toxic part of this relationship, just the fact that the Cricket isn’t totally
blinded by his own belief of there being good in everyone and actually trying to stand up
for himself.
This doesn’t go completely well, as Jack then just flicks the Cricket off of him before
going on his merry way - but hey, at least the Cricket is able to get his revenge in
the end.
And that’s our list!
But let us know in the comment section if you agree with our ranking, and tell us what
we should cover next.
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But most importantly, stay wicked!