Le chat botté

all is known. but Christophere Walken change everything. in the most seductive manner. and it is not surprising.the role gives huge chance to explore the different nuances of a generous role. and the only problem could be only this generosity. because Jason Connery seems reduced at a nice sketch of his role and the royal court is far to be credible. but , against not the most inspired parts, it is a nice film. a young man and his cat. a meet. and a lot of adventures. Charles Perrault could be proud about a version of his fairy tale who use the humor as key to explore the different sides of a lovely story. and, in fact, this is only important thing in the case of this film who could be easily criticized if you ignore its small but significant virtues.

"Puss In Boots" was the last of the Cannon Movie Tales produced. Another attempt to elongate a basically simple story, it is graced with a lively performance from Christopher Walken (who still thinks highly of it) as Puss, a straightforward performance from Jason (son of Sean) Connery as the miller's son, and a charming one from Carmela Marner (one of the sisters in Cannon's "Beauty And The Beast") as the princess. Physically, the film looks fine, and the photography is good. The songs, however, go in one ear and out the other, and merely stretch the running time more than necessary. Not one of the better movie tales, but not the worst, either.

Corin (Jason, son of Sean Connery) is a poor miller's son. When the old man dies, all that he leaves him is a house cat. The cat appears as human to him, and keeps asking for a pair of boots. Once the cat gets the boots, he become Puss in Boots (Christopher Walken). Through wit and subterfuge, Puss passes Corin off as an important Marquis so that he could marry the princess. Then Puss takes on a ruthless shape shifting ogre who commands a great castle.

Sure this is a weak production. The special effects come from 100 years ago. The costumes and sets are gaudy. Christopher Walken is what makes this stand out. He sings. He dances. He dominates the movie. I wish he had more opportunity to play Puss as a cat. Puss is a bit of a dark character. He lies a lot. And it goes to a really dark place with the ogre. It's a dark little kiddie movie.

I never saw this when I was a kid, so this was seen with fresh eyes. I had never heard of it and rented it for my 5 year old daughter. Plus, the idea of Christopher Walken singing and dancing made me curious. The special fx are cheesy and the singing and dancing is mediocre. But the story is great. My daughter was entranced. I loved watching Walken in this role thinking about what the future held for him. Very amusing to see him dance! And if the songs weren't great, at least they weren't Disney over-produced saccharine sweetness. The ogre scene in the beginning was a little scary for her, and she was a little nervous when we saw him again at the end, but it was mostly benign. Interestingly, we had recently read "Puss in Boots", and I had wondered about the implausibility of the story. But while staying true to almost every aspect, Walken's acting made it believable. Great fun. I'd watch it again with my daughter.

Although this was obviously a low-budget production, the performances and the songs in this movie are worth seeing. One of Walken's few musical roles to date. (he is a marvelous dancer and singer and he demonstrates his acrobatic skills as well - watch for the cartwheel!) Also starring Jason Connery. A great children's story and very likable characters.