ThiefHott Too much of everything

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

immarcesible I have been reading The Tale of Despereaux to children since before it was awarded the Newbery Medal in 2004. When I heard they were finally going to make a movie of the book, I was extremely excited. I showed the trailer to my newest crop of Despereaux fans after we had finished the book. What we saw was shockingly not like the book we had read. The theme of light and dark had been taken out and replaced with physical comedy and cheap sight gags. But I gave hope to the film being better than the trailer led on.I never got a chance to see it in the theaters, but I did get it on DVD. After previewing it, I realized it was utter rubbish. Having adults voice the child characters was jarring. When I went ahead and showed it to my students, they begged me to turn it off after the first 15 minutes.We watched Stardust instead. It was a lot closer to Kate DiCamillo's book than this trainwreck was.

Python Hyena The Tale of Despereaux (2008): Dir: Sam Fell, Rob Stevenhagen / Voices: Matthew Broderick, Emma Watson, Dustin Hoffman, Tracey Ullman, Robbie Coltrane: Exciting animation about bravery. Despereaux is a little mouse with big ears who knows no fear. Roscuro is a rat that accidentally caused the Queen a heart attack when he landed in her soup. Since then rats have been outlawed. Clever writing flawed only with a few silly elements including a ghostly character that the vegetables become. Directed by Sam Fell and Rob Stevenhagen with terrific colorful animation. Strong voice talents included Matthew Broderick as Despereaux, the brave mouse who dares to associate with humans. We know that he will save the day but it is great fun for its young audience. Dustin Hoffman voices Roscuro who causes tragedy with the Queen. He attempts to correct his mistake only to be at ends with greater conflict. Emma Watson voices Princess Pea, human Princess who freaks at the sight of Roscuro until she is kidnapped by her slave girl. It is obvious that she will learn a big lesson. Tracey Ullman voices the servant girl who desires to be a Princess and assists in the kidnapping of Pea. Robbie Coltrane voices her father who is a jailer. She will gain a void filled in the end. A terrific tale of bravery and adventure that should entice the imagination. Score: 9 / 10

criticalhippo108 I was surprised to see this moving getting such "eh" reviews. I went into it with pretty low expectations, but was pleasantly surprised. The story is beautifully told. The animation, the music, the voice acting; it all works together to create one of those movies that you can't help but be enraptured by. The animation in particular is exceptionally unique, and stands out from other modern animated films (Tangled, Shrek, etc.) which I feel tend to look very similar to one another. Each character has a distinct look, and Princess Pea is beautiful without being yet another classic doe-eyed princess.Many other reviewers commented on the "lackluster" plot, but it isn't that way at all. The story does tend to meander along without many twists, which is probably the movie's biggest flaw. Other than that, though, the tale is truly enchanting. The characters are all deep and round and interesting, and I could feel their emotions. The plot was like a puzzle; for the first half they give you the pieces, and for the second half they all fall together before your eyes. At first I was worried it would get too convoluted, but the mismatched plot points all came together with clarity and simplicity before my eyes. I highly recommend this film!

Hatokirei I truly enjoyed this movie although I do have to agree with some posters and their question of ratings. Personally I didn't find anything terrible about it and would allow my 8 or 9 year old to watch, possibly 7 if I felt they where able to handle it. I grew up watching the visually amazing cinematic accomplishments like Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, Watership Down (that one was horrible for a child), and The Secret of Nimh, while I never found those scary (except Watership) I can imagine some parents wouldn't want their young ones to watch them either.From a story stand point, The Tale of Despereaux is lovely; the animation is quite stunning with the colors running more towards the dark then the light (since the sun went away). It's a fairly classic tale, brave mouse gets ostracized for being brave (different) and banished to be eaten by the rats. One rat takes him in and they become friends. All through out there are different characters with their own personal stories emerging which all in all I found well done. The cast was amazing with some well known actors lending their voices, while personally I didn't like Matthew Brodericks voice as Despereaux, I still think he did a fine job of it. I think it's a movie worth watching for adults and older children, but I would think a PG rating would be better suited.