PUSS ‘N’ BOOTS (1961)
aka El Gato con botas
Article 2686 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-4-2008
Posting Date: 12-20-2008
Directed by Roberto Rodriguez and Manuel San Fernando
Featuring Sananton, Antonio Raxel, Humberto Dupeyron
Country: Mexico

A lowly shepherd seeks a way to defeat an ogre that is terrorizing the kingdom in the hopes that by doing so, he will be allowed to marry the princess. When he encounters Mother Time, he is given several pieces of clothing to be worn by the hero who will save the land. They’re too small for him, but they fit his cat, who magically transforms into Puss ‘n’ Boots. And then…

It’s Mexican Moppet Movie Madness time once again. We’ve been there before with SANTA CLAUS and LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD, and, like those, what we have here is a frantic fever dream with songs, overly dosed with caffeine and sugar, replete with talking trees, a whip-wielding henchman, wicked stepbrothers, evil ogres and their stupid sons, giant talking roosters, and sheep. One rule in these movies – whenever the non-human characters start singing, run for the hills. Puss ‘n’ Boots seems deliriously incompetent; he makes three disastrous attempts to find food for the starving royal family, and he only manages to defeat the ogre by thinking of his own appetite. Throw in a scene where the cat decides to solve the hunger problem by having a newly made (non-human) friend volunteer to be butchered by the king’s cooks, a subplot that leads to a plot point about cannibalism, and you’ll get an idea of what to expect. Proceed at your own risk.