Most critics find the spin-off entertaining and able to stand without Shrek, and nobody dislikes it outright: nine of the seventeen reviews are positive, eight are mixed, none are negative. The praise clusters on Antonio Banderas, whose voice work several reviews call the main reason to watch, and on the 3D, which the Hollywood Reporter and Total Film both single out for its well-judged use of depth. The chemistry between Puss and Kitty, and the handling of Humpty Dumpty, also come up more than once.
The reservations are about story. Variety thinks the finale overdone and the film long; Empire and Eye for Film find the plot crowded; the Evening Standard says the final quarter is the weakest. The Skinny is the lone dissenter on the 3D, calling it ineffective, and faults a lazy script. The spread is narrow, running from Slant’s forgettable to the Los Angeles Times’ consistently entertaining: nobody is cross, and nobody is quite excited either.
