Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1672 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-04-20
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 93 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Tale of Despereaux looks a little like Shrek. The storytelling and animation draw on everything from Ratatouille and classic fairytales to Shakespeare, Jonathan Swift, Indiana Jones, and, in its action sequences, even Bourne and Bond. But this movie stands on its own; too dark and violent for very young children, perhaps, but for the most part it’s exciting and funny, and it delivers a message about bravery and forgiveness that is relevant to us all. Voiced by Matthew Broderick, the title character is a little guy, even by mouse standards, with enormous ears and an imagination to match; much to the dismay of his elders, he "never cowers, won’t scurry, and refuses to be taught to be scared" (he’d much rather read a book than eat it, a pursuit that fills his head with visions of valiant knights, damsels in distress, and a life defined by "courage, honor, and decency"). That leads to his being banished from Mouseworld to the realm of the rats, where, it is presumed, he will be eaten. But no. Ratworld--a dark, chaotic, genuinely scary place--happens to be the current residence of one Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman), a peaceful sort whose shenanigans in the human world have accidentally led to the death of the Queen, the imprisonment of the Princess (Emma Watson), and, worst of all, the banning of Soup Day (no small deal) and the end of soup itself! Roscuro and Despereaux join forces, inadvertently helped out by a homely but soft-hearted farm girl named Miggery Sow (Tracey Ullman), and, well, you can imagine how it all turns out. Directors Sam Fell and Robert Stevenhagen and scriptwriter Gary Ross (adapting Kate DiCamillo’s book) have concocted some vivid and interesting worlds for their film; the look is unusual, often washed out, muted, and bathed in hazy light; and the voice acting is excellent (others include William H. Macy, Kevin Kline, Stanley Tucci, and Frank Langella). All in all, despite a conclusion that’s confusing even while it’s predictable, The Tale of Despereaux is a worthy addition to the crowded animation field. --Sam Graham

Synopsis
Universal Pictures crafts a whimsical tale of courage using some truly stunning CGI animation in THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX. Based on the award-winning book of the same name, the film features some all-star voice work from the likes of Sigourney Weaver, Dustin Hoffman, and Matthew Broderick. The story begins in the European city of Dor, a picturesque town know for its amazing soup. When the soup-obsessed rat Roscuro (Hoffman) accidentally brings about a tragedy in the royal kingdom, the Dor King falls into mourning, both soup and rats are banned, and the skies turn to gray. Roscuro soon finds himself living in the dank darkness of a place called Rat World. Nearby, in Mouse World, we finally meet our hero, Despereaux (Broderick). Despereaux is an unusually small mouse with some rather over-sized dreams. Despite his small stature, he longs to live a bold and exciting life, and he chafes at the dictums of Mouse World--where mice are taught to live quietly in fear. When Despereaux goes so far as to befriend the human Princess Pea (Emma Watson), he is booted from Mouse World down into the miseries of Rat World. There he meets Roscuro, and together the two decide to carry out their own individual quests and right what has been wronged. While Roscuro soon finds himself going astray, Despereaux sticks to his guns--or rather, his sewing-needle sword--and he fights to bring joy and freedom back to the city of Dor.


The film remains pretty faithful to the book, although it does trim down some of the quirkier aspects of the novel. Yet the story is still refreshingly dark in places, and is reminiscent of such classic tales as THE SECRET OF NIMH and WATERSHIP DOWN--smart cartoons that were always about much more than mere cuddly talking animals.

Customer Reviews

excellent little gem of a movie!
I stumbled upon this film whilst browsing the kids section in HMV, to see if there was any C.G.I efforts that I didn't own yet, I'd never heard of this movie and was surprised to see something I had neither heard of or seen an advertisement for! The artwork on the box made me pick it up, I scanned the blurb on the back and decided to buy it based on curiousity and the drawn in "Burtonesque" (my term for anything that reminds me of the artwork/style of Tim Burton the king) faces of the human characters on the cover.
I watched this with my 6 year old daughter as my 4yr old son was too busy playing "Sonic the hedgehog" to want to come and watch the film, (probably just as well, as I feel the film may not have been as 'engaging' for a younger child- as the other reviewer pointed out that the film sits somewhere between the lines of being an adult/child cartoon)
As an adult cartoon I very much enjoyed it and found the artwork therein to be absolutely stunning! yes it does look a little like "shrek" and it follows a somewhat "mish-mash" formula as does shrek but the film differs in that it has dark undertones and barely any humour at all. This did not make the feature boring, instead it gave it a mythical, epical and most importantly serious feel instead, there is nothing wrong with a cartoon being serious in my opinion and it made a refreshing change from all the other happy go lucky colorful stuff out there.
The story is not really all that epical after you've watched it but the general feel of the film due to it's style, themes and sound give it an epical feel. There are only a couple of laugh out moments, the rest of the film's focus is pretty serious and straight-forward with a few darker themes, It still held my daughters attention from start to finish none the less!
I loved the visual style of this film, the narration I felt worked well most of the time, although at times I did find it a little intrusive, but not so much that it spoilt my enjoyment of the film.
I gave this 4 stars because I thought it was a brilliant addition to my C.G.I collection and well worth the £12 I paid for it, I don't think anybody should give it a miss based on opinions that it is not engaging enough, I don't feel it should be compared to other contemporary C.G.I efforts, this is not toy story, bee movie or shrek, but it has it's own style and enough charisma and substance to sit among classics such as "Rattatouie" and "The nightmare before christmas" just for being different and grown up! this is definitely one for the adults, but children who have an affection for more grown up stories or who like to watch films with their parents rather than on their own will watch this. Get it if you yourself like cartoons and quirky imaginative storytelling and/or you have kids who share your tastes, fine for older children, some younger children may not find it engaging enough to sit through the entire movie, but that's just some, we are not all the same!

better than I expected
This is interesting story. My daughter loves it.It's a bit dark but we enjoyed it.

A dark tale of revenge and prejudice
I was expecting a somewhat lighter tone from a children's animation featuring (as I thought) a mouse. But the mouse is only a small part of the story and much more of the action focusses on his friend, a rat called Roscuro. He is charmingly played by Dustin Hoffman, and is fine for about 2/3 of the movie, but in the middle, he turns nasty and this can be quite distressing for children. There is much here that is cribbed from the (much better) animated films Flushed Away and Ratatouille.

The title character Despereaux is fine as far as he goes, but doesn't seem to do very much in the story. The human characters are mainly grotesque in appearance (as are all the rats), which again doesn't make this a laugh a minute for children. There is some merit in showing characters that are more than just good or bad, and I did get the feeling that they were more than just ciphers. But generally, I wouldn't recommend this for children.