Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a film that undeniably bursts with joy. The action choreography, the electrifying animation, and the titular character’s growth all flow organically and with a ton of energy. Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish also excels in crafting a rich, thematically brilliant villain in The Wolf/Death with a fantastic vocal performance from Wagner Moura, chilling sound design (that whistle), and breathtaking animation. Remarkably, he isn’t the only fantastic antagonist in the film. “Big” Jack Horner — voiced by John Mulaney — is far less nuanced than the Wolf, but still entertaining. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish takes a simple nursery rhyme about a boy who sticks his thumb into a pie and pulls out a plum and creates a magnificent villain. Like everything in the film, “Big” Jack Horner throws so much evil at the wall while having a good time doing so.

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Horner Is a Classic Fairy Tale Villain in 'Puss in Boots: The Last Wish'

Big Jack Horner looking sinister as he holds an orb in 'Puss in Boots: The Last Wish'
Image via DreamWorks

The film’s creative team said in an interview with Animation World that Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a celebration of fairy tales in its appearance. Jack Horner harkens back to one of the most entertaining parts of classic fairy tales: the baddie who is just pure evil and loves it. He wants to control all magic and fights Puss (Antonio Banderas), Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), and the Bear Crime Family (Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, and Samson Kayo) with his menagerie of magical objects, making money with a thriving pie business he checks with his purple thumb. In his first moments, Horner creates a sense of fear among his bakers looking for approval on his plum pies. He later gets angry when the thieves who stole the wishing star for him make fun of him about his childhood as “Little Jack Horner.” As payback, Horner uses his Midas touch gauntlet to turn one of the thieves who stole the map to the wishing star into solid gold. (To be fair, he did promise them “their weight in gold” beforehand.) Right from the get-go in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Horner shows his cards as someone who works alone, values power, and will use force to maintain his image. Who else has a giant, stained-glass window of themselves as a knight in shining purple armor holding a triton while riding a unicorn?

In Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, we see one flashback of Horner as a kid performing his nursery rhyme to sell pies and later throwing a tantrum when the people gawk over Pinocchio (“What’s so impressive? I’ve been a boy the whole time?”). Later, the Ethical Bug (Kevin McCann)— the Jiminy Cricket-esc conscience he accidentally brings about — presses Jack on his past. Horner quickly squashes any theories about him having a tragic backstory, as he had “Just loving parents and stability and a mansion and a thriving baked goods enterprise for me to inherit. Useless crap like that.” He barely appreciates what his family gave him; all he wants is to control all magic “and no one else gets any.”

Horner Knows (and Loves) That He Is a Villain in 'Puss in Boots: The Last Wish'

The ethical bug perched on Jack Horner's shoulder while giving him advice in 'Puss in Boots: The Last Wish'
Image via DreamWorks

Oh, and Jack Horner has no value for life. He threatens to shoot Perrito (Harvey Guillen) — a puppy — in the face with a baby unicorn horn and consistently has no care for his workers dying. Horner watches them die fighting the Pocket Full of Posies and kills some of them himself when he shoots unicorn horns at them by accident. And to repeat: he specifically has baby unicorn horns. And he just laughs off their deaths, more excited to see that unicorn horns turn beings into explosions of confetti. He then lets the remaining bakers die as they hold him up as a bridge to walk over a canyon, watching most of them fall to their death. He again laughs it off, saying “Can’t bake a pie without losing a dozen men.” The Ethical Bug finally calls Jack an “irredeemable monster.” Jack agrees, flicks away the bug, and only saves one baker after asking if she’s chatty.

Horner is completely aware that he is an awful person, and chuckles in the face of kindness. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish never makes any attempt to show the good in Jack, and the film is better for it. So many fairy tales and film adaptations of those stories revel in having an “irredeemable monster” for the protagonist to fight. Jack Horner is the perfect embodiment of that archetype, and he is so much fun. He shows so much glee about owning these magical objects and then wasting them just to get the wishing star. He screams as he forces the phoenix to burn magic flowers rather than taking time to smell the roses. Horner just acknowledges that he is awful and wants power and, as a villain, is entertaining. Mulaney’s delivery helps, as he gleefully jumps headfirst into this character and punctuates so many good lines. His insults — “Little Bo Creep” is fantastic — to the way he can tease moments of sincerity as he wistfully talks about world domination gains hilarity. And Mulaney can go between screaming like a petulant child when he wants to get his way and going into full darkness, criticizing his young self and exclaiming “Little Jack’s dead!” Mulaney deserves credit for going all in on this despicably delightful villain.

Horner Is the Opposite of Puss in 'Puss in Boots: The Last Wish'

Big Jack Horner, voiced by John Mulaney, smiling and holding up a clenched fist in 'Puss in Boots: The Last Wish'
Image via DreamWorks

Thematically, Horner has little connection to the main storyline of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish on the surface. But there is one bind that ties him to Puss: his pride. The entire film is an examination of Puss’ status as a legend and his efforts to maintain that lone hero status has left him on his last life with few allies and no one to connect to. He learns to value other beings and to be open with others, including having a panic attack in front of Perrito and finally appreciating Kitty. Now, Horner lacks all of those attributes and does not care. He cares little about the consequences of his actions — even if it leads to those literally and physically supporting him dying. Jack is a warning to the most extreme narcissists who let their egos take over unfiltered.

Jack does meet his demise in the end of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, like most evil fairy tale villains. His arrogance gets in the way, and he overlooks Puss and Kitty while falling for Perrito’s distraction. Horner’s overconfidence is his undoing — but not before he eats his Alice in Wonderland-like magic snacks to grow large and escape his infinite nanny bag. Horner serves as an entertaining adversary for Puss and team friendship and, like Puss in Boots: The Last Wish itself, harkens back to classic fairy tales by being an engaging and hilarious villain.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is playing in theaters now.