Jolly green ogre Shrek and his sweetheart Princess Fiona amassed nearly $3bn at the global box office before heading into the fairytale sunset at the conclusion of yesteryear’s Shrek Ever After. All good things must come to an end, except in Hollywood, where a single original idea deserves at least one sequel and a spin-off film franchise or television series. So it comes to pass with Puss In Boots 3D, a computer-animated prequel to the Shrek films that traces the formative years of the sword-fighting feline before he crossed paths with the ogre and wise-cracking Donkey.

Director Chris Miller, who helmed the third chapter in the Shrek saga, maintains a brisk pace, exploiting the 3D format in a rooftop chase sequence and a dance battle between the Casanova cat and his rival, replete with slow-motion acrobatics. The script plunders familiar characters from nursery rhymes and fairy tales, putting a fresh spin on Jack and The Beanstalk.

The story begins with the young Puss (voiced by Antonio Banderas) being abandoned at an orphanage where kind Imelda (Constance Marie) raises the kitten as her own. Initially picked on by the boys, Puss learns to fight to survive and he helps protect fellow outcast Humpty Alexander Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis).

Many years later, the surrogate brothers join forces with sexy pickpocket Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) to steal magic beans from murderous outlaws Jack (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jill (Amy Sedaris). These beans are rumoured to grow a beanstalk that leads to the giant’s castle and the greatest treasure of all: the Golden Goose. But old rivalries between Puss and Humpty jeopardise the daring enterprise.

Puss In Boots is the cat’s miaow. Miller’s colourful film is littered with neat flourishes, such as a saloon customer who avoids expository dialogue with the aid of tattoos on his body, or the strays in the Cat Cantina who form a makeshift orchestra for the dance showdown. Banderas purrs every line with unconcealed delight and he sparks fiery on-screen chemistry with Hayek’s feline fatale. Galifianakis milks laughs and sympathy for his ovoid oddball.

The climactic ascent of the beanstalk ensures a slam-bang finale, suggesting there is plenty of life in the swashbuckling furball if DreamWorks Animation laps up a potential sequel.

Harold (John Cho) has lost touch with his buddy Kumar (Kal Penn) and has turned his life around by ditching the reefers, clambering up the corporate ladder and marrying Maria (Paula Garces) in A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. Their attempts to get her pregnant on Christmas Eve are interrupted by the arrival of Maria’s father Carlos (Danny Trejo) and the entire Perez clan carrying a 12ft Douglas fir tree that the formidable patriarch has been growing for the past eight years.

Fate conspires to reunite the estranged buddies and a spark from Kumar’s discarded marijuana joint sets the beloved Christmas tree alight. Determined to impress Carlos, Harold heads into the night in search of a replacement fir with Kumar, buddy Todd (Thomas Lennon), teenager Adrian (Amir Blumenfeld) and Todd’s infant daughter in tow. As midnight approaches, when the Perezs are due to return from Mass, they cross paths with an old acquaintance, actor Neil Patrick Harris (playing himself), who might be able to solve the tree dilemma.

This is another hit-or-miss instalment of the comedy series, which would have surely stumbled straight on to DVD were it not for the pointless use of 3D. The only time the format impresses is during a sequence, induced by a batch of drugged eggnog.

Penn and Cho revisit their roles without breaking a sweat and, once again, Harris steals every frame, sending himself up with tongue wedged firmly in cheek, including a priceless running joke about his sexuality.