Puss in Boots (2011): Cast, Plot and Ending Explained

Puss in Boots (2011) follows a wanted outlaw cat who has been on the run since leaving his hometown of San Ricardo. He hears that the outlaws Jack and Jill own magic beans that grow a beanstalk to a giant's castle, where golden goose eggs can be found, and he sets out to steal them.

While trying to take the beans, Puss runs into Kitty Softpaws, a skilled cat burglar who has the same target. She works with Humpty Alexander Dumpty, who was Puss's closest friend when they were orphans and whom Puss let down years ago. Humpty and Kitty need a third partner, and Puss reluctantly agrees to team up with the pair.

Puss's goal is to steal the magic beans from Jack and Jill and climb to the giant's castle.

In Puss in Boots (2011), Puss teams up with Kitty Softpaws and Humpty Alexander Dumpty to steal magic beans and a golden goose, learns Humpty planned the scheme as revenge, and helps stop the Great Terror from destroying San Ricardo. Puss is remembered in his hometown for a past betrayal, and he learns that Jack and Jill hold beans that lead to a giant's castle and its Golden Goose.

The three take the beans from Jack and Jill and grow a beanstalk into the clouds. At the top they find the goose and carry it down, but Jack and Jill ambush them on the way, and Puss is knocked out.

Puss ends up in prison, where he learns that Humpty set up the whole scheme to get revenge for being left behind years before. He also learns that the goose is a chick, and that its enormous mother, the Great Terror, will wreck San Ricardo to get it back. Puss escapes with Kitty's help and confronts Humpty, and the two lure the Great Terror away from the town. Humpty sacrifices himself to save the gosling, which wins back Puss's trust. A golden egg is found inside Humpty's shell, and the Great Terror takes it back to her nest in the clouds. The town is saved, Puss is accepted again, and Humpty is later seen alive, riding on the Great Terror's back.

Puss in Boots (2011), the DreamWorks Animation film also called Puss in Boots 1, opened in US theaters on October 28, 2011, according to The Numbers and Box Office Mojo. Australia followed on December 8, 2011, and the UK on December 9, 2011, and those two dates are reported rather than confirmed. The date, city and venue of the film's premiere event are not confirmed.

On a $130 million budget the film grossed $149 million domestically and $406 million internationally, for $555 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. The full series breakdown sits on the Shrek box office page.

The official ratings are PG in the US, U in the UK and PG in Australia. Within the series, the film is fifth in release order and first in chronological order, and the Shrek movies in order guide shows where to slot it.

In the ending of Puss in Boots (2011), Humpty Alexander Dumpty sacrifices himself to save the gosling, the Great Terror takes the golden egg back to the clouds, and San Ricardo welcomes Puss home. That choice repairs the betrayal that split Humpty from Puss, and it is the right shape for the story, since the whole film is built on a childhood debt and the fairest way to settle it is at a cost. Humpty set up the scheme to get revenge for being left behind, so protecting the gosling reverses his own motive.

The golden egg found inside Humpty's shell is the strangest beat. The Great Terror takes it back to her nest in the clouds, which returns the magic to where it came from and removes the prize that started the chase. In the epilogue, San Ricardo welcomes Puss back, he and Kitty Softpaws grow closer, Jack and Jill are left recovering, and Humpty is seen alive again, riding on the Great Terror's back.

It could be argued that the last image softens the sacrifice, but perhaps it also confirms that his redemption was real, since even the giant bird carries him. Humpty risks his life for the town, and the film lets him keep it.

Syfy Wire reports that Guillermo del Toro pushed for a rewritten ending that deepened the bond between Humpty and Puss, and Miller has called Humpty's believable redemption one of the hardest parts of the job. That context suggests the emotional beat was worked on deliberately. For younger viewers, Humpty's sacrifice is the scene to talk through afterward, and the PG rating is a fair guide to how heavy it feels.

Puss in Boots is an animated film, so it was built by artists rather than shot on location, and its world is inspired by Spain and Mexico. Production designer Guillaume Aretos drew on the landscape of northern Spain and gave the houses and streets a deliberately crooked look, according to mande.net.

The story itself moves between two places. San Ricardo is the Spanish and Mexican styled hometown that Puss fled, and the giant's castle sits above the clouds at the top of the beanstalk. Computer Graphics World describes how the beanstalk was grown procedurally, which caused texture stretching that needed an iterative loop with the layout team.

Guillermo del Toro also helped shape the look of the town, per Syfy Wire.

Puss in Boots (2011) was designed for 3D from the start, and more than 620 artists worked on it (mande.net). Each item below carries its source.

• Guillermo del Toro was an executive producer and also voiced the Comandante of San Ricardo (Syfy Wire).
• Guillermo del Toro helped shape the look of the town and pushed for a rewritten ending that deepened the bond between Humpty and Puss (Syfy Wire).
• The film's world was meant to evoke Clint Eastwood Westerns and The Mask of Zorro, playing off Antonio Banderas's screen persona (Animation World Network).
• Director Chris Miller saw Humpty as a dreamer in the mold of da Vinci (Animation World Network).
• The team did not reuse Puss's rig from the Shrek films and gave him more hair and new animator controls (Computer Graphics World).
• The beanstalk was grown procedurally, which caused texture stretching that needed an iterative loop with layout (Computer Graphics World).