I really like how they made him a serious character and didn’t play him for the laughs anywhere. Made him feel like much more of a threat, where Disney would probably cut the music there and make him all goofy about saying that dreamworks made sure to let the audience know that he is a threat not a joke.
I would have to give it to the facial expressions and how it plays with his tone of voice. He doesn’t come across as condescending or uppity as he says it… he’s more frustrated that he feels the need to go through this extra step to communicate who he really is. Almost as frustrated as he is with Puss treating his own life so lightly.
It helps that he’s never played for laughs, so even though the statement is kind if dryly humorous, there’s a gravity that his presence has (established by a top tier first appearance) that makes you take him seriously first before you can even try to think about how he just ran through his FAQ list to cat zorro. Expressions-wise, he also just seems bored about it. Like he doesn’t really care to explain, but wants to be crystal clear about it so Puss knows EXACTLY who he’s pissed off.
I love how straight Death is played in this movie Just a guy doing his job and loving every minute of it he’s not evil he’s just tormenting Puss because he’s sick of seeing him literally treat his life like it’s disposable Also I like how he took a form that is the opposite of Puss Puss is a normal cat with bright sunny orange furr and green eyes Death is a humanoid wolf with white moon like furr and blood red eyes Love that contrast
I think they chose the wolf because wolfs and dogs can follow you everywhere you are and you can't hide from them because of their sense of smell, just like you can't escape death
@@OneBiasedOpinion death is beautifull but sad- nothing can exist forever in the same form and one day your matter will feel the flames of a mortuary or be eaten by the insects in the dirt and soak into plants. death gotta be easy cause life is hard. you cant exist without worries and you cannot stop worrying completely without leaving existence
Not the Big Bad Wolf, it’s literally Death in that chosen form. They even gave him Scythes. He’s not an evil character, they show him as a force of nature doing his job. Because he’s sick of watching Puss being disposable his lives, the most precious things in the world.
@SubZero7285 you're not understanding why the Reaper is depicted with a scythe in Western cultures. The scythe was not a weapon, it was a tool for reaping crops. It's the reason we call it the grim reaper, he reaps the dead like a farmer reaps crops. The Sickles were also a tool for reaping crops, therefore Death may also have use for Sickles as a symbol of reaping the dead as well. We aren't talking interchangeable as weapons, we are talking about what these symbolize and how it relates to death.
in most Esoteric studies regarding Death, it is commonly held that the entity is not intended to kill you but it is meant to help you come to terms with your death. All things die, the entity we think of as death is meant to guide us on, and help us with the fear that we have towards ending. The trick is that fear is a survival mechanism, fear triggers in us the fight or flight response, driving us to do whatever we can to survive. BUT While we might be able to escape some fatal situations we will eventually die, and so for humans death had to come up with an alternative method of dealing with us. All other creatures, when they see death, recognize it as a friend and accept it. Humans fo not on Account of our understanding of what it means to die. That is where the concept of death chasing you as some personal monster comes from. It's not to make you panic, but to force you to face your fear and acknowledge that there is nothing you can do. Death has to make you understand hat you cannot run forever, that eventually you will have to lay your head to rest. Those who have already come to terms with it will not see death as an adversary. Death will come to them as it comes to all other creatures, the only difference being that we are able to recognize it for what it is. And according to some really old writings, death particularly enjoys humans because they are interesting.
@@williamlevison9966 he meant with animation giants like disney and pixar, dream works HAS the best villains, with the best of the best like Lord Shen and Death the wolf.
Depends on the era, because modern Disney/Pixar can't or forgot how to write proper, intimidating villains nowdays, I'm glad other studios like Dreamworks and others are taking the risks in making good to great antagonists now
For me, the word "straight up" when used in cinema is kinda out of place or sounds too modern. But in this case, I would piss myself. "straight up," in this case, is used with such horror and fear that it is hard to describe.
They honestly did this perfectly. Honestly, until this point we are still to believe that Puss lost both his sword and his nerve to a really skilled bounty hunter, which is fine, but leaves a bitter taste of defeat. But then this reveal hits, and I'm just like, "Oh, he literally had no chance. Damn." The "Straight up" was good to make it clear, this IS DEATH. Not some goof, not some guise, not a moniker or some role the wolf is playing. It's actually death, which makes the rewatch of his intro make so much sense.
I don't think it was too modern but it does invoke the feeling of updated speech. Like now instead of making it so a joke can be made it fits in any format it's put on. I mean to an extent this clip can be taken out of context (at least past the straight up when he says he's coming (that would probably be hilarious but horrifying conceptually)), but the feeling is good enough to make people look into the clip for the full line read. Unless slowed down to a similar extent as straight up any other line would feel weird. Even doing that can make a word feel weird just by how it's said like the word literally for example. I mean hearing the words "I'm Death(./,); (S/s)traight.... up" comes off on a whole other level than if he used another line. Plus straight up being 2 one syllable words feels like he's cutting to the chase which he's been doing the whole movie really. 3 words or multiple syllable words would leave too much room for tension to break. I might be wrong but to me every Death line delivery is meant to create conflicting emotions until he says he's Death. Because for most of the he gives off an uneasiness mixed with "why is he so cool". Add in that the whistle represents the fun he's having and it creates a character that has an aura on par with the devil himself.
I love the execution of him listing off the “fancy” ways of interpreting his being death. In ANY other movie the intense music would’ve cut out and thy would’ve made him say it awkwardly for laughs. Instead, despite being ever so slight levity writing wise and kinda meta, it’s used to emphasise the fear factor eliminating any suspicion or speculation, he is simply Death itself.
Fun fact: During Puss' fight with the giant in the beginning of the movie, you can briefly see Death watching him in the crowds, showing that he was indeed there for all of Puss' deaths.
Yeah, it's funny to see reviews on this film and the reviewer saying how awesome the "big bad wolf" was... He's not the big bad wolf... He's death "straight up". 😬
@mr. man Because the previously established wolf fails to fit either of those adjectives, while it’s hard to get ‘bigger’ or ‘badder’ than the Grim Reaper.
Death isn’t presented as evil, he simply hunts puss because puss is a creature that has lived many lives and never cherished them. Death despises that kind of thing, the privilege to live more than one life and yet just waste them by being reckless and forgetful. But once puss saw the error of his ways, he started to cherish and respect life. Death noticed that change immediately and disappeared. When he said we’ll meet again, I seriously hope there will be another movie with him in it but I’m guessing not. Because to be honest, amazing characters like death are only ever in one movie. That’s how perfect they are.
I love how death’s accent changes so often in the movie, I think it’s either because he’s lived for so long around so many differently speaking people or because he keeps souls with him until the world ends which screws with how he talks (or maybe I’m the only one who noticed an accent change)
One thing I always felt added to the fear factor of a character, was when there was no reflection in there eyes Yeah, sometimes there's a light in Wolf's eyes, but other times that light appears in the center of the pupil and makes him look like some other worldly menace. But what makes it TRULY terrifying is when there's NOTHING in his eyes, no light, no reflection, just his eyes insane, fixated, soulless gaze that he gives Puss
Reminder: The Wolf is just the Form Death Chose specifically for Puss to terrorize and as a personal reminder of his (AND OUR) inevitability of dying And for squandering his 8 lives from his "The Legend" mindset which unsettled Death expecting to get the soul of a wastrel of life so he decided to get his last life since he was disregarding it all at the time Remember Death not even in real life have to be a Cloaked Human it's here to remind us all of our inevitable end (if you have wasted your life almost like Puss hell just take your life if not generally he's there to remind and guide us to wherever we go in the end) and you must come to terms with existential dread or crisis one way or another so you can appreciate life no matter what awful suffering its part of the test and how life is. It wants us all to fear and come to terms with it. Fight for your life but accept it will eventually end whether faithful or not in religion, Death is not evil he comes for us all when it all ends
I don't know if anyone noticed this but, when the crystal breaks in front of the wolf's face, the cracks forms his skull further showing he is death. that just makes it more scary and awesome at the same time.
Wolf: I do love the smell of fear. It's intoxicating. Drunk Puss: It is? Wolf: Sorry to crash the party with your past lives - or, your past deaths, as I like to call them. I was there to witness all of them... Each. Frivolous. End… But you didn’t even notice me, because "Puss in Boots laughs in the face of death"... right? But you’re not laughing now. Puss in Boots: You're no bounty hunter. You are...! Wolf: Death. And I don't mean it metaphorically, or rhetorically, or poetically, or theoretically, or any other fancy way to say "figuratively". I'M DEATH. STRAIGHT. UP. LITERALLY. And I have come for you, Puss in Boots.
Death just gives me ths CHILLS! His presence, his chill yet unsettling voice, just everything about him is frightening, and that's why I love him so much! I saw it twice last week, and... OH! 10/10!
I wonder if each person that Death targets gets something that is completely opposite to them. Like how Puss's Death is a wolf, pretty much like the whole cat and dogs thing. Would a dog get a white tiger with red eyes?
That line of who he is, is just as epic as when Death revealed himself to St Germaine in Castlevania. "You know me. I've been with you for a while now, guiding you...you know me...we're old friends now! I am Death...and you people took my treasure away from me..."
My brain out of nowhere: Hold on death is a wolf and hunt down puss because he disrespected life... ... ... GOD, DON'T TELL ME LIFE IS A THICC ASS LAMB!?
He really was there to witness them *all*. Go back and watch the fight with the giant, specifically when the crowd does the wave. Look in the doorway to the back left of the crowd
I actually went laughing when he explained what's the NOT kind of death he is, and when he got defeated in the end he went: "NGHHH...NGAA!! *Speaks in spanish* YOU RUINED THIS FOR ME!"
I found it funny when he said it he doesn't mean death metaphorically, 'cause when i heard that he was death before i've watched the movie i thought " oh it's probably just a symbolism or something like that" but then he said " i'm death straight up" and i went "oh this guy serious".
This was my favorite scene in the entire movie!!! If they make another movie I hope they bring Death back and also have Life show as well. The name of the movie could be: "Puss in Boots Life and Death"
Even though I think death is one of the greatest animated villains ever... I think keeping his screen time short was genius and he doesn't need to ever be featured in another movie unless the character is truly going to die... And he should only be there for no more than 3 mins to explain whatever caused that character to die and in another form.. Not a wolf.. But just keep the voice and the eyes and whistle....
you can genuinely feel the exasperation when he talks about the "fancy way." Like you can tell nearly everyone he's dealt with has rambled off and dismissed him as much as they could. Dude is just plain done with everyone's BS.
in most Esoteric studies regarding Death, it is commonly held that the entity is not intended to kill you but it is meant to help you come to terms with your death. All things die, the entity we think of as death is meant to guide us on, and help us with the fear that we have towards ending. The trick is that fear is a survival mechanism, fear triggers in us the fight or flight response, driving us to do whatever we can to survive. BUT While we might be able to escape some fatal situations we will eventually die, and so for humans death had to come up with an alternative method of dealing with us. All other creatures, when they see death, recognize it as a friend and accept it. Humans fo not on Account of our understanding of what it means to die. That is where the concept of death chasing you as some personal monster comes from. It's not to make you panic, but to force you to face your fear and acknowledge that there is nothing you can do. Death has to make you understand hat you cannot run forever, that eventually you will have to lay your head to rest. Those who have already come to terms with it will not see death as an adversary. Death will come to them as it comes to all other creatures, the only difference being that we are able to recognize it for what it is. And according to some really old writings, death particularly enjoys humans because they are interesting.
