A Wish for Nine

BY BONNIE L. HARRIS

IT’S BEEN A LONG time coming, but Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, has finally arrived and hits a bull’s-eye with its swashbuckling action, hilarious characters, and an old-fashioned treasure hunt full of unexpected mayhem. Taking its cue from the Shrek franchise, Puss in Boots pokes fun at many of our favorite fairy tale characters

PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH

Universal Pictures, Rated: PG

In theatres & streaming on Amazon while giving them new voices and attitudes within a makebelieve land. Puss himself remains the loveable rogue from the original 2011 film, but he hasn’t grown wiser, and he accidentally loses his eighth life after angering the Sleeping Giant of Del Mar. When Puss wakes up alive, the town doctor warns him about squandering his last life, but he stubbornly refuses to retire. That is, until he meets a mysterious wolf who poses as a bounty hunter and defeats him in a sword fight. Retirement quickly becomes too much to endure so when

Good Morning, Mars!

GOOD NIGHT OPPY

Amazon Studios, Rated: PG

Streaming on Amazon

Puss hears of a magical map that leads to the Last Wish, he’s instantly on the hunt to get back his nine lives. But Puss isn’t alone because Goldilocks & the Three Bears and Big Jack Horner also know about the wish and will stop at nothing to find the map. Puss in Boots finds helpful friends along the way in a scraggly dog named Perrito and another feline criminal, Kitty Softpaws. But the wolf stays close and his haunting whistle

FOR the PARENTS

YOU DON’T HAVE to be a rocket scientist to be wowed at Amazon’s completely wonderful documentary feature, Good Night Oppy. It’s a story of man and machine, and how that machine became a personality who captured the world’s imagination. Actually, they were twin girls, Spirit and Opportunity, born in Pasadena at Cal Tech’s Jet Propulsion Lab in 2003 and sent to the far ends of Mars to find evidence of ancient water. The scientists, engineers, rover drivers, technicians, and student interns share their versions of the adventure as the rover nicknamed “Oppy,” overcomes horrific weather conditions, sand traps, and sub-zero winters to continue her mission. With a geeky great soundtrack of morning wake-up songs and digital landscape recreations helped by detailed graphics, we learn how the twin machines arrived on the red planet and how they survived not only their 90-day mission, but also the sends Puss into frenzies of fear until their final confrontation. When Puss eventually realizes that the wolf is Death, he must choose to live his last life to the fullest or not at all. Defeating the wolf still leaves the wish up for grabs and Puss jumps into the free-for-all battle with Kitty & Perrito as his trusted allies. It’s a surprise ending with plenty of fireworks and strong hints of new adventures with “old friends.” ✦ next 8-15 years of exploration. Two generations of NASA support staff nurture, repair, and literally pray for Oppy’s survival after her sister, Spirit, goes dark in 2011. Finally in 2016, Oppy finds her evidence in the massive Endeavor crater, but arthritis, graying wires, and memory loss slow her down. We might say good night, but never good-bye to Oppy’s extraordinary glimpse of another world.