Puss in Boots: A Furry Tail

There are worse animated 'mock-busters' out there than Puss in Boots: A Furry Tail, especially the whole of Video Brinquedo's and Spark Plug Entertainment's outputs (mainly because Puss in Boots: A Furry Tail doesn't feel anywhere near as much of a blatant or pale imitation). That however is in no way defending Puss in Boots: A Furry Tail's lack of quality.

What redeems Puss in Boots: A Furry Tail is the character of Puss, the only likable character here and has a real gallant charm too. His voice acting is also not too bad either surprisingly; it is very enthusiastic and in keeping with the storybook nature and the French (?) accent is serviceable. Also did feel quite nostalgic at the beginning with the Puss in Boots story being recited, setting up nicely the tone for a sequel story (Puss in Boots: A Furry Tail is actually more of a loose sequel than a mock-buster).

On the other hand, that is where the redeeming values for Puss in Boots: A Furry Tail end. The animation (hand-drawn and not CGI like the DVD implied), with the exception of a decently drawn Puss and the occasional nice storybook picture/painting background, ranges from pretty bad to awful. It has a very similar style to the animation style in Tappy Toes, except Tappy Toes' animation was better and that was only uneven at best, here the drawing is incredibly rough and static, the backgrounds are basically walls of flat colour and very, very sparse amount of detail and the character designs are incredibly ugly and stiff. It really did look like very few people were involved doing it and that they literally only had a few days to do it. The music has some rousing and pleasantly orchestrated moments but far too often it does get annoyingly gimmicky, the sort that you hear when children are taking part in activities on a children/family entertainment show and something surprising happens or when a presenter is revealing what they are trying to demonstrate.

From a writing standpoint, Puss in Boots: A Furry Tail fares even worse and where my summary title 'Puss in Boots but without the wit, charm or heart' most applies. The writing consists of very juvenile dialogue that seemed only there to pad the running time and incredibly forced jokes, and with very little wit or sparkle if at all. There is no doubt at all who the target audience is, another thing that makes Puss in Boots: A Furry Tail superior to the output of Video Brinquedo and Spark Plug Entertainment, but while undemanding children might find some enjoyment the movie very badly forgets to provide any fun for adults, who will despair at how juvenile and pointless it feels. The movie is a little over forty minutes long, but the story, when you speed the draggy pace up, tighten up the scenes that go on longer than they need to and get rid of some of the jokes, barely even has enough to sustain twenty minutes worth, that's how painfully thin the story is. Credit is due for it to not imitate an existing story so blatantly, but for a loose sequel kind of story there is nothing original about it at all and it's also not very interesting or fun.

Aside from Puss, the characters do not engage at all. The three blind mice weren't all that necessary, the king has very little to do, Dracul is only there for the sake of 'needing' a villain and the Queen was incredibly annoying. The voice work is not that well done, Puss is the sole exception while the rest are a mish-mash of bored, over-compensating and stereotypical accents. Worst of the lot was the Queen, whose voice just grates on the nerves.

In conclusion, poorly done and made but could have been worse. 3/10 Bethany Cox

How is it that a mockbuster of Puss in Boots managed to capture the spirit and humor of a Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon more than the 2018 reboot? While Chop Kick Panda and Tappy Toes are the more widely known of Renegade Animation's Gaiam-contracted rip-offs, A Furry Tail has flown under the radar outside of the stray review or RalphTheMovieMaker showing his acute lack of animation knowledge that one time.

That's really a shame though, because this is actually the best of the bunch, being consistently funny, having faster pacing, and possessing the most appealing art-style. I was skeptical at first since I really don't like fairytale parodies (outside of Shrek and Fractured Fairy Tales, funnily enough). If even Tex Avery couldn't make them funny to me, surely this one was doomed from the start. I'm happy to admit I was wrong, though. If Chop Kick Panda and Tappy Toes were like good Animaniacs episodes, this is like a Pinky and the Brain segment.

STORY & WRITING:

I don't think I need to go into depth with the story as it's a twist on the Charles Perrault version of Puss in Boots. Or at least according to the movie it is. I never read it so I'll just take their word for it. All you need to know is that Puss in Boots is imprisoned and must be freed by his three blind mice friends in time to fight the evil sorcerer Dracul. As always with these movies, the comedy is the selling point.

To be blunt, this movie is quotable as hell. Like, detach this script completely from the context of it being a mockbuster and tell me it's not funny. More so than the other two movies, this one I just can't understand the performative hatred towards.

The wordplay, the puns, and just the way characters talk in general simply ooze Jay Ward in a way that I feel like I'm crazy when I see the scant few reviews of this try to act like it's the mockbuster equivalent of Family Guy. Just some examples:

• "Listen, my trois petite frère, I have something I must confess!" "You need us to get a minister?"
• "All three of you; the collective 'you'." "Well, what is it, Puss?" "Go ahead, you can tell us!" "The collective 'us'!"
• "Blimey! Who does that blighter think he is, eh? Henry the bloody 8th?!"
• "Bonjour! Welcome to my petite chateau, or as I affectionately call it: 'Hell in one square foot'."
• "It's as if he knows that I know... And now I'm afraid that he may know that I know that he knows! Or worse, he may know that I know that he knows that I know!... Who knows?!"
• "There you go, Your Highness." "I'm afraid I don't have any ink." "I'm sure the blood on the tip will do." "Oh, quite nicely."
• "We have visitor coming tomorrow." "A visitor? Who?" "An unwelcome caller with malicious intent." "The Avon lady?"

-"Not for all the shillings in the world!" "Uh, that's a lot of shillings." "It's just a figure of speech. I'd feed him to the wolves for half a pound."

It's not even just a small few funny moments, either; the movie's dialogue is consistently this sharp. I could easily list double as many good lines or scenes as I already have here. Not only that, but the cast is also very likable. They play off each other well, they have charming personalities, and pretty much everyone steals every scene they're in.

ANIMATION:

This has the best animation and art-style of the Renegade Animation mockbusters in my opinion. Yeah, sure, there are some stiff-looking scenes (especially that sword-fight) but even that is made more appealing by the improvements they've made to the tweening. It takes the bounciness and effective posing of Tappy Toes while taking the less action-heavy approach of Chop Kick Panda so as not to make the limited animation a liability. Outside of those few blemishes, it could honestly pass for TV-quality animation.

The art-style and character designs are extremely reminiscent of a Jay Ward cartoon (think Rocky and Bullwinkle, George of the Jungle, etc.), having those signature cartoonish proportions and bodies being composed of visible shapes. King John and Dracul are the most obvious examples of this, with the former looking like a character straight out of Fractured Fairy Tales with his big nose and oval-shaped head and the latter having the typical hunched-over position with angular shapes that are associated with classic cartoon villains like Snidely Whiplash.

Dare I say I'd have rather have this art-style for the Jay Ward cartoon reboots? It's like a more technically polished version his art-style while also not too similar to be a complete knock-off. This movie really knocked it out of the park with that aspect. Also, while I preferred the backgrounds of Chop Kick Panda and Tappy Toes, the backgrounds in A Furry Tail are another nice love-letter to Jay Ward, as well, being deliberately drawn childishly with colors going outside the lines to simulate a storybook aesthetic.

Again, this isn't just a superficial reference; there are neat little things such as the sun and moon popping upwards in certain scenes or the storybook opening of the movie using designs flatly colored in a manner similar to the backgrounds themselves. It all comes together cohesively to form utterly charming visuals.

CONCLUSION:

100% worth your time, especially if you're like me and love Jay Ward cartoons. Even ignoring obsessions, this is just a great short movie in general. Good writing, fun characters, charming aesthetic. There are infinitely worse ways to spend 40 minutes of your life than watching a good old Fractured Fairy Tales-inspired romp if you ask me.