A family film you want to rub noses with. Puss in Boots does limp for a few minutes with the risk of nowhere to go, but by the time our feline friend leaps up a magic beanstalk the whimsy takes on a big adventure worthy of big-screen treatment. Antonio Banderas as the title character has us in stitches, tongue-lashing milk from a tequila glass or doing the flamenco in a dance-off. Inspired casting has Salma Hayek as Kitty Softpaws and Zach Galifianakis as Humpty Alexander Dumpty. The story throws in a deception or two, but it doesn’t grind on – it has a frolicking pace and kitty-pun gags.

Puss in Boots does have a failure early on, and in addition to getting beans (he gets all kinds, including jelly), he has a reputation to win back from the town and a mother to make proud of. Humpty Dumpty does not have the strongest self-esteem for a sidekick, for he grovels and glowers constantly. But Humpty drags him into this golden goose scheme, but when mother goose shows up it’s a giant golden goose. We’ve got some big fairy tale riffs being played here. And as dashing and vainglorious as Banderas is, his character has something to teach the younger ones in the audience about tolerance for friends.

The mildest things in “Puss in Boots” amuse us: the paws, the chasing after flashlights, the poking swordplay, the skipping atop white clouds. It’s not a movie you want to see over and over again. And it’s mostly here to occupy the younger ones in the family. But it’s got some discreet adult humor, too. (“Catnip is for my glaucoma.”) If there’s a next time, I’d like to see Puss in Boots in bed with Kitty Softpaws. Discreetly, of course.

90 Minutes. Rated PG.

MINDLESS MOVIE / GOOFY COMEDY / WEEKEND FAMILY MOVIE 

Film Cousins: “Gay Purr-ee” (1962); “The Aristocats” (1970); “Shrek 2” (2004); “Shrek the Third” (2007).