Kitty Softpaws in Shrek: Who She Is, Who Voices Her and Which Films She Is In

Kitty Softpaws (often called just Kitty) is a cat burglar and Puss in Boots' rival and love interest, voiced by Salma Hayek Pinault in Puss in Boots (2011) and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022). The first film was directed by Chris Miller and the second by Joel Crawford, and she is billed second behind Antonio Banderas in both.

She is introduced as a rival, not a friend. Puss is trying to steal a set of magic beans from the outlaws Jack and Jill, and he discovers that Kitty has the same target. She works alongside Humpty Dumpty, who was Puss's closest friend when they were orphans, and the three eventually agree to climb the beanstalk together.

What does she look like on screen? She is a capable thief, quick and confident, and she is slow to trust. In The Last Wish she and Puss both hunt the map to the Wishing Star, so the two of them are competing again before they cooperate.

Because she belongs to the spin-off side of the franchise, a viewer who only watches the four main films will never meet her. For the cat she is always paired with, see Puss in Boots.

Kitty's arc runs from rival to trusted partner across two films made eleven years apart. In Puss in Boots (2011), she teams up with Puss and Humpty, takes the beans from Jack and Jill, and helps grow a beanstalk into the clouds. At the top the group finds a golden goose and carries it down, but Jack and Jill ambush them on the way and Puss is knocked out.

The turning point comes in prison. Puss learns that Humpty planned the whole scheme to get revenge for being left behind years earlier, and that the goose is only a chick whose enormous mother, the Great Terror, will wreck San Ricardo to get it back. Kitty helps Puss escape, and that choice marks the moment she moves from partner of convenience to someone Puss can rely on. The film's epilogue shows the two of them growing closer.

In Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022), Puss meets his old love Kitty again while both of them are hunting the same map to a Wishing Star. They race against Goldilocks and her bear family, who run a crime gang, and against the crime boss Jack Horner. A cheerful little dog named Perrito travels with Puss, and Kitty's honesty is one of the things that helps Puss see he has been running from fear. By the end Kitty and Puss reconcile, take Perrito in and sail off together.

Kitty's most important relationship is with Puss in Boots, which begins as competition and becomes a romance that lasts across both films. The Last Wish describes her as his old love, so the history between them is treated as settled long before the second film opens.

Her second tie is with Humpty Dumpty. She works with him when Puss first meets her, and he is the link between Kitty and Puss's orphan childhood. That triangle gives the first film much of its emotional weight, because Puss is carrying guilt over letting Humpty down years earlier.

In The Last Wish, Kitty becomes part of a small group with Puss in Boots and Perrito. Her rivals in that film are Goldilocks, with Mama Bear, Papa Bear and Baby Bear, and the crime boss Jack Horner. Death (the Wolf) also hunts Puss throughout.

Kitty is not in the credited cast of Shrek 2, so her relationships all sit inside the spin-off films.

Kitty Softpaws survives both of her films and is last seen sailing away with Puss in Boots and Perrito. In Puss in Boots (2011), she and Puss grow closer after the town of San Ricardo is saved. Humpty Dumpty sacrifices himself to save the gosling and the town, and the epilogue shows him alive again, riding on the Great Terror's back, so the ending leaves Kitty's circle of friends intact.

In Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022), the ending belongs to Puss, who decides not to use the wish and accepts that he has only one life left. He faces the wolf, who is Death, and Death lets him go while saying they will meet again. Kitty is there at the end as Puss's partner, and the film closes with Puss, Kitty and Perrito becoming a family and heading off on new adventures together. For more on the wolf, see Death.

Will she return? Shrek 5 is in production with a confirmed US release date of June 30, 2027, according to Variety. No cast for Kitty Softpaws in that film has been announced in the sources reviewed, so her place in it is unconfirmed. Details live on the shrek 5 page.

In my opinion, Kitty's best scene is her first appearance in Puss in Boots (2011), when she turns up as a thief chasing the same beans as Puss. It sets her up as his equal, and the pairing works because she arrives with her own plan and her own partner in Humpty.

My second pick is her part in the prison escape. After Puss learns that Humpty planned the scheme, Kitty is the one who gets him out, and the choice shows her loyalty without a speech. It is a practical rescue, and I think it is stronger for that.

My third is the reunion in The Last Wish, where Puss meets his old love while both of them chase the map to the Wishing Star. They start on rival terms and reconcile by the end, which suits a franchise that has always liked to twist fairy tale love stories, going back to Shrek and Fiona.

My last pick is the final scene, when Puss, Kitty and Perrito sail off together. It is the clearest picture of the spin-off's heart: a found family put together from a rival, an optimist and Puss, who has finally stopped running. If you want the first meeting, start with puss in boots, then continue with puss in boots the last wish.