Puss in Boots

[canadian_turtle]

I think it'll eat you before you can eat it!!

[a_person]

You obviously don't know how greedy I am.

[Beate]

Great balls of fire, where do I start?

Note to self: resist entering any last-minute twitter comps for premieres as the stress can make your hair white overnight. It was 4.30pm till someone finally phoned me, it took another 20 minutes for the confirmation email to come through, and by the time the lady responsible for the hotel room called, I was already on route. I had just about time to call OH and instruct him over the phone to pack a small overnight bag with toothbrush and toothpaste, PJs and medication and get me a change of clothes, although the purple sweater I asked him to bring turned out to be an orange t-shirt on arrival, but hey, at least he brought it. I had to collect the damn tickets at Paramount Pictures HQ which is in a side road off Piccadilly, and even though I had been there before, it took me ages to find it. I then legged it over to Leicester Square only to find that OH wasn’t anywhere to be seen yet. I called him and discovered he was still at Canary Wharf! I think he got so confused about where he needed to be that I told him to get a taxi, thinking that would be the easiest option. I have no idea what it cost but it also took ages. We should have been seated by 6.30pm but by that time I was still stuck in a humongous queue in front of the cinema.

By 7pm he still wasn’t around and I got really panicky. The lady I asked for help was super nice though and said I could either go in and leave his ticket at reception or wait for him in the foyer, but anyway, we would still be admitted. The bloody taxi driver then dropped him at the wrong end of Leicester Square and it took him ages to find the cinema entrance as there were still so many barriers up. It was 7.30pm by the time we finally got in, and we must have missed about half an hour of the film so I definitely will be at the O2 on Sunday trying to catch the whole film! It also meant we missed Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek and any red carpet action. We had goody bags at our seats with a water bottle, popcorn, some Puss in Boots facemasks and some drawing sheets and crayons in it. No chocolate, damn. We had crap seats in row B but because we were so late, we were allowed to sit in some end seats further back which I was very glad about.

From what I saw of the film it was enjoyable if non-sensical, but nowhere near as good as the first Shrek film, which is always my benchmark. It's as if they were having a contest how many children's stories they could cram in: Golden Goose - tick, Jack and the Beanstalk - tick... 7/10 for now.

We then took a taxi to the Marriott Hotel Marble Arch, and narrowly escaped an accident when a car shot out from a side road towards us. It just stopped in time or we would have been toast. The lady at reception was surprised when I couldn’t even show her a confirmation note or anything, all I had was the reference number the lady had given me in a voicemail. The room was booked in my first name, so from then on I was “Ms Bee-tee” to everyone, and OH was “Mr Bee-tee”. I hadn’t got the strength or conviction to correct any of them. The room was lovely and had two queen size beds, so we ordered some expensive room service as I couldn’t be bothered to go out again. We went to bed pretty early but I couldn’t sleep half the night as I always have problems with hotel rooms, and OH was snoring as well. Unfortunately we had to get up early as I had to get to work, so after a nice breakfast we set off again.

That was the most expensive free premiere I have been to in a while, and the most tiring. My head will probably fall into my plate tonight from the exhaustion.

[stuartboy]

Disasters! Edinburgh overbooked and full up. Turned away along with several others. Much love to SKY girl who offered Odeon vouchers as compensation. Less so to Odeon operative who was overheard telling her to try and not offer tickets in the hope that people just walk away. Also he made them non-3D vouchers so won't be able to see Poose-in-Boots later. At least I wasn't latest either, A!

[TheyCallMeMrGlass]

Thoroughly entertaining movie. Very suave, funny, sweet story and surprisingly more toe tapping than Happy Feet 2. I actually forgot I was seeing yhus film until suddenly last minute, I had a reminder. I knew I was going to be late, thought about not going but then suddenly made a dash for it and sure enough I got there 20 minutes late but the film hadnt started yet! Yay.

Loved the film, had a lot of heart and style. I personnally like this even more than the Shrek movies. look forward to seeing further adventures of Pussin Boots.

8.5/10

[big_bad_wolf]

Another full cinema here in Bournemouth,mind you it was the small one they used. Also lots of security guards lined along each row to stop people filming it. I went in with high hopes for this film (been looking forward to this for ages) and i was'nt disappointed, great family film,some laughs thrown in,the story was great,just loved it from start to finish. All the kids must have enjoyed it,no noise or getting up to go to toilet,a great sunday morning.

[kevinknapman]

Saw this in one of the smaller screens at the Uxbridge Odeon.

I enjoyed the film. Lots of fun gags for both kids and adults. Although admittedly in terms of big laughs it's all about 'Oooh Cat' and rightly so. A gag they thankfully only used three times and didn't overdo. Still there were plenty of other laughs to keep things ticking along nicely.
[spoiler]The moment where the villagers hail Humpty Dumpty as their saviour with cries of 'huevos, huevos' was particularly amusing[/spoiler]
I think the set-up is perhaps more enjoyable than the final act which meanders a bit. The story also isn't particularly memorable, just an excuse to get these characters together, though it was nice to see they wisely kept Shrek references at bay allowing the Puss in Boots character to carry this movie on his own. My other gripe is that the Nursery Rhyme characters never really fit in to the desert setting and it never quite worked in that respect. In Shrek, these types of fairytale characters made sense in enchanted forests and castle settings but seemed oddly out of place here.

Some of the 3D was effective, especially when swooping across the landscapes. Occasionally non-existent in some scenes but impressive when it does work.

Overall it was very enjoyable and well-animated. Not a classic by any means but a definite improvement on the last couple of Shrek sequels.

[Beate]

I knew I was going to be late, thought about not going but then suddenly made a dash for it and sure enough I got there 20 minutes late but the film hadnt started yet!

Huh? You were at least 15 minutes early!
Valda's friend never made it in, maybe they didn't let her in anymore?

[funthing29]

I didn't like this very much. The story was not particularly exciting and it lacked any wit or charm. The film was weighted down with exposition and boring dialogue. The new characters weren't very interesting and there were no great one liners as one would expect from the Puss character. A few cute moments but a major disappointment overall. I actually preferred Happy Feet Two, which I thought was rather mediocre, so that doesn't speak very highly of Puss In Boots!

4/10.

I must admit that the 3D was rather impressive.

Lee Valley was packed. That cinema only has small screens so I don't think it was the best choice of cinema for a family film.

[Beate]

Got there super super early at 10 to 10am, cinema was already open but no one was going up to the balcony area. So I approached an usher asking to be allowed to go up there and he said "Uh, the superscreen is for the church today, you are in screen 7." Oh right. So that's why people couldn't get tickets, as the screening was shoved in a much smaller room!

Valda was there already, busy blocking seats in the back row with coats and bags, so we bagged some for PXC, a_person and the permanently confused Mr G. Security made an announcements about phones off at least 4 times, which prompted valda every time to take hers out and check it, LOL.

It was good to see the film from the beginning, as I had missed the first half hour at the premiere. That first half hour turned out to be the best of the lot actually. It was fun to watch but it is no patch on the first Shrek movie, which had a proper story. All the fairy tale elements like Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill, the Golden Goose and Jack and the Beanstalk seemed to be jumbled together in an attempt to form a story, but seemed disjointed and out of place. Jack and Jill's talk about having a baby was funny but would have gone over the kids' heads. The 3D was pointless as always and I found the use of split screen intensely annoying. At least Antonio Banderas didn't overdo his accent, and there were some funny lines and scenes in it. Humpty Dumpty is incredibly irritating though, but Kitty Softpaws steals the movie for me. She is strong, sassy, clever, good at what she does and has a good heart. Puss in Boots has a ridiculous name, especially when spoken in a Spanish accent, and tries to be the Zorro of the animal world.

I missed Donkey. Can we have a Donkey film next or is the franchise now milked dry?

We then had to queue for half an hour to give a short interview to get our Cineworld vouchers (2D only!), even though we had signed up by email beforehand and there were only a handful of names on the list. They had made the mistake of asking everyone at the exit whether they wanted free cinema tickets so got a huge crowd together and ran out of tickets shortly after us! At least the people who had signed up before got 2 tickets each while all the others just got one each. The interview was of course very leading, what did you like best and what was your favourite character etc. Managed to say that I think 3D is pointless when the question came up but I guess I am going to be edited for that. Not that I care.

7.5/10 Happy Feet 2 was more fun.