Movie Review

The Tale of Despereaux (G)

Pete Hammond

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Hollywood.com Says
The Tale of Despereaux has the feel of a timeless classic. It is a brave and beautiful, heartfelt, lively story that ranks with the best of animated films.

Story
In the tradition of a classic Disney-esque animated fairy tale, The Tale of Despereaux, based on the award winning children’s classic by Kate DiCamillo, is about a mouse named Despereaux (Matthew Broderick), with Dumbo-sized ears and an oversized heart. His home , the Kingdom of Dor, was once a happy place but now due to unexpected events, it has been shrouded by doom and gloom. Not for Despereaux! The fearless rodent doesn’t adhere to the usual mouse-like criteria but instead yearns for adventure, especially after he starts reading fables from the castle library. He also bonds with Princess Pea (Emma Watson), who is sad and lonely her kingdom is in such disarray. Despereaux looks at her as a damsel in distress and wants to help. Unfortunately, these are all serious no-nos in Mouseworld, and so Despereaux is banished him to live in the dungeon with the evil Rats, where he meets an agreeable rat, Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman), who is also different from his kind. Roscuro wants to right some past wrongs but is spurned by the princess. Needless to say, things do indeed go awry, and Despereaux must summon all his courage and bravery to save the day.

Acting
Some of the best ensemble casts in movies are being assembled for animated features these days, and The Tale of Despereaux is a prime example. Broderick is ideal as the dignified and ultimately courageous little mouse. Hoffman -- in his second ‘toon turn of the year (Kung Fu Panda) -- proves again as the soup-loving Roscuro he has a real future as an animated character. Harry Potter’s Watson has the perfunctory English princess role but plays it with compassion, while Tracey Ullman, as maid-cum-wannabe princess Mig, doesn’t go for the laughs but portrays Mig as a hopeful outcast looking for a fairy tale ending to her humdrum life. A whole set of other wonderful vocal talents in Despereaux include Kevin Kline, Frank Langella, Richard Jenkins, Stanley Tucci, William H. Macy, Robbie Coltrane and Christopher Lloyd. And to top it off with just the right touch of whimsy is the lilting narration of Sigourney Weaver, whose comforting voice will assure the youngest kids in the audience that things in Dor aren’t quite as dire as they appear.

Direction
Co-directors Sam Fell and Rob Stevenhagen invest into this gorgeous-looking film all the care that went into the art of DiCamillo’s beautiful book. In fact, unlike many other recent animated features, Despereaux is distinctly old-fashioned, despite all the CGI. The look of the movie is definitely inspired by older, more traditional Disney-style fairy tale classics. Gary Ross’ (Seabiscuit) fine screenplay is reverential to the book and doesn’t back away from the darker aspects of the story which, despite its G rating might be a little on the scary side for the very young ones. For everyone else The Tale of Despereaux is most likely this season’s must-see movie event for the entire family.

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