#I mean I do admire & appreciate the immense and vibrant details in pibtlw

[child-of-dreamworks-animation]

@helterskeltermess

Oh, you get it.

While I can't blame the whole thing entirely on Joel Crawford, who happened to have directed both Croods 2 & pib2, and was certainly responsible for part of the issue, the main reason behind character inconsistencies, I think, is DreamWorks' decision to swap the animation team.

I mean, well, switching directors mid-production or mid-series isn't normal, but it's not that uncommon as well. The Shrek series has passed onto several directors along the way, yet no obvious character inconsistency is reported/spotted. Same with the Kung Fu Panda, the characters, by and large, stay in line with their personalities at their first appearances. HTTYD series is a bit complicated: the movie trilogy was directed by Dean DeBlois (so no inconsistency issues for sure), the TV series (RoB, DoB, RTTE) and multiple shorts were all handed over to different newbie directors(?). Although in some episodes, there might be some slight drift-aways from the original, but mostly it's doing fine. (I'm a die-hard fan for the httyd series, but yeah, I'm still very much unsatisfied with the way they deal with the movie finale :()

But in the case of pibtlw, well, FIRST, there is that incredibly long time span in-between the 2 movies. And SECOND, a switch of directors: originally Chris Miller who directed the prequel (approx. 2014-2016?), then Bob Persichetti (2019, also head of story of pib1), and finally Joel Crawford (2021?-2022). WHAT WITH the cancelation of the original piece Puss in Boots: Nine Lives and 40 Thieves and incessant changes of the scripts. AND the acquisition of DreamWorks by Comcast/Universal, during those turbulent days, a lot animators were laid off and left for other studios. In the end, with one thing and another, the former animation crew of pib1 was dissolved, and the story lost its track as a natural result. (Shame, they have made such beautiful concept arts back then.) I doubt if similar things have happened with Croods 2, but I never checked. I'm only aware that the majority of animators of pib2 come from Croods 2. So that's the cause, I suppose?

And speaking of Puss in pibtlw, true, he wasn't wildly out of character, but still he'd gone a bit too far. Vain, narcissistic, gloaty, (even going from party to party, and not taking his past deaths seriously) definitely sounds like him, but he's never appeared to me to be someone who would be actively looking for death, or put it in another way, he wouldn't laugh at death or life-or-death matters. Seriously, he knew the consequences, and he had seen deaths on multiple occasions already (see Shrek3 & pib1). Puss might well be tempted to conquer death (having so many lives under his belt) just as much as to live his life to the fullest. In other words, Puss still holds Life dear, however frivolously he is playing around Death. (Paradoxical? yeah, I'm well aware...)

The thing is, being arrogant/playful doesn't automatically discount Puss' love & passion for life. And by introducing that oppressive, larger-than-life Death Wolf into the sequel, DreamWorks has probably pushed Puss' personality a bit too far: initially, he was too big of himself, and then in the middle, he was so terrified petrified of death that he knew no better than simply running away. Multiple factors contribute to that, for sure, but still, Puss wasn't like that in pib1, was he? He was chivalrous, noble, and valued honor above all else, nowhere close to the somewhat selfish and all-abt-himself character in pibtlw, surely?

Additionally, I believe the change in style is also partly to blame? I'm not essentially against introducing that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse art style into the sequel, it's just... I find it a bit too dramatic and comical to fit in? Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is first-of-its-kind in the (possible) animation series, so whatever they did with the style would be just fine. But that's not the case with pib sequel. The 1st movie, dated from 11 year ago, embraced a realistic style. So did the Shrek series. For consistency's sake, the sequel should have followed the original style. It's a bit outrageous actually to switch style amid series. But the new style is trendy and sooo cool, oh yeah, I know, still not a big fan* ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ , sorry to disappoint. And all those comical visual effects, while amplifying the emotions & drama, don't do much good closing the gap. In fact, I think the over-emphasis on drama and comedy seems to deprive the characters of their subtlety and delicacy (which btw supplemented by vast details in pib2, yet still... not quite).

Then again, I am not sure whether all these are the result of change of director/animators/head of story, or simply something lost in time--a lot had happened, you know. Just... Pity how the story could have turned out otherwise, had it been narrated by the original crew, retaining that original flavor. That's all.

*actually, what I'm saying up there is while the new style doesn't suit pib2 (the best), although somehow paradoxically I can't imagine a pibtlw in realistic style either, the visual effects in itself is still STUNNING. I've watched the latest trailer of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse twice, not without my brain buzzing after the 2ed watch lol, and I can't put in words how much effort animators have invested in this and how simply WONDERFUL it looks. It will win another Oscar, for sure.

This is a bit controversial, so I will put it under a read-more.

Anyway, haven't said this earlier but I think there is a tiny discontinuity in terms of Puss' personality between the first movie and the second. (I am not saying pibtlw isn't good, it's just... pibtlw is fantastic on its own, but to take the first movie into account, I suspect there is a slight shift in the character development of Puss.)

Puss has always been cocky and narcissistic and self-important throughout the series, but he isn't all that reckless. He isn't reckless to a point where he utterly disregards the value of life like he did in the sequel.

Puss has seen death after all. In the first movie, he witnessed Humpty giving up his life to save his hometown San Richardo. He knew what death meant.

Sure, committing suicidal acts by stuffing himself in a cannon only to prove Kitty wrong is definitely something Puss would be up to (typical of orange as well), but that's probably because he still has plenty lives to spare (he was on his fifth at that point).

Playing at adventure when the stakes are not so high is perfectly fine, but really... stamping on a boy's face (whether on purpose or not) with no apology whatsoever is surely a bit too much? Yeah, Puss is that awesome legend, that superstar that everybody looks up to, but at least some respect for life, for others?

He paid due respect in the first movie. He respected Kitty's privacy, and in return Kitty confided her tragic back story - that's basically how they ended up together in the first place. Trust and mutual respect.

And Puss wasn't too puffed-up to annoy Kitty. I mean, of course Puss is known for his irresistible feline charisma. Kitty knew it. There's a line in the first movie in which she said "I know you have a reputation with women". But after spending days, months, years together, Kitty is fed up and eventually she grows immune to it, much to Puss' dismay, which is all kinda cute. Anyway, this is beside the point.

All I am saying is Puss would never be as cautious as Kitty, (he had a, relatively speaking, secured childhood, lucky boy), but he certainly wouldn't overextend himself to a degree where he mocked death in the face???

Idk, it's been over a decade between the first movie and the second. Lots can happen. And there's Shrek (sorry, I'm not a big fan of the Shrek series but... he wasn't that full of himself in Shrek either??? *correct me if I get it wrong*)

It's just... it appears to me Puss is a bit out of character at the beginning of the sequel, but the rest is fine.