DVD Review: The Tale of Despereaux

Animated Adaptation of Kate DiCamillo Book Fails to Leave a Mark

May 25, 2009

With the influx of animated films of late, this film by Universal studios comes off as somewhat lacking, as it tries to pay homage to Kate DiCamillo's popular book. 5/10

In The Tale of Despereaux, the audience follows several intersecting storylines, all taking place in and around the royal palace in the Kingdom of Dor.

A long time ago, in a faraway land (as most of these tales tend to go) called Dor, a sailing ship came to dock, in order to re-supply. A diminutive member of the crew, a pet rat named Roscuro (voice by Dustin Hoffman), decided to explore the royal city, and let his nose take the lead, pointing him towards a giant cauldron of soup, prepared by the eccentric royal chef André (Kevin Kline).

You see, there is a yearly event in Dor, called "Royal Soup Day", when the Royal Family tastes the latest culinary miracle by the aforementioned chef.

When Roscuro inadvertently wreaks havoc during its preparation, and ends up into the Queen's bowl of soup, she dies of fright (by way of a heart attack, or other sudden ailment), in view of all in attendance.

Floored and grief stricken, the King of Dor declares all rats banished, and makes soup illegal throughout the kingdom, leaving himself, his realm and his daughter Pea (voiced by Emma Watson, Hermione from the Harry Potter films), in utter sadness and depression.

Meanwhile, in the lower portions of the royal castle, a newborn mouse with oversized ears, Despereaux (Matthew Broderick, Ferris Bueller's Day Off), sees the light of day, and grows up different from the other mouse children. How different? Little Despereaux doesn't seem to have the same fears as the others, instead finding the outside world fascinating, seeing it as a realm to be conquered, with himself as a valiant knight looking to save the day.

All the while, Roscuro lives even deeper down the catacombs, and becomes a reluctant member of the greedy and devious (even depraved) society of rats, who live out their exile as an isolated community, with their own brand of entertainment (coliseum-like gladiator matches, with a cat as the enemy -- look for it!).

Also, Despereaux follows the tale of a homely young cleaning maid named Miggery Sow (Tracey Ullman), a depressed jail guard, and of course, the isolated Princess Pea, alone in her room, cutoff from the world due to her father's edicts.

Though this film has the usual elements of a successful Hollywood computer animated film --- a top-notch voice cast, a worthwhile tale of redemption regardless of species, loveable characters --- the story itself it simply just too uneven to hold itself together.

For one thing, thought the film is called The Tale of Despereaux, the film could already have been called Despereaux and Friends, as less than half the film is focused on the little guy. Filmmakers Sam Fell and Robert Stevenhagen likely relied on the format of DiCamillo's book, which is broken down into three elements, namely Roscuro (or Chiaroscuro), Miggery the Maid and Princess Pea, with Despereaux linking them.

Also, in a way to probably differentiate themselves from their Disney/Pixar competitors, Universal opts for elongated cartoonish characters, which may rub some viewers the wrong way. Sure, the result is different, but not in such a good way as to be pleasing to the eye.

The animation is decent, however it is just so disjointed, that it just doesn't appeal as much as other films. Could it be that the Pixar giant has spoiled audiences to the point of expecting similar quality from competitors? Perhaps.

Matthew Broderick, known in the 80's for his charismatic turn as righteous guy Ferris Bueller, seems to have lost a lot of his steam in the early 2000's, with increasingly smaller and smaller roles. This one is no different; his voicing of Despereaux just falls flat, and doesn't offer a memorable character, especially a titular one.

Dustin Hoffman does a slightly better job, with Roscuro the rat, coming off as a tired, down on his luck rat, who spends later years living with the guilt of having brought down the kingdom, through his irresponsible actions.

Emma Watson has a handful of scenes as Princess Pea in the movie, as does Brit comedienne Tracey Ullman as Miggery, and both do well enough to serve the true purpose of a voice actor, that of not bringing too much attention to the actor, but the character. This way, people hear the story on screen, and spend less time thinking how much that little princess sounds like that girl from Hogwarts.

Kudos must go to Kevin Kline (as chef André), as Stanley Tucci as Boldo the animated pile of foodstuff André speak to. Any kitchen scenes these two share are most memorable, and outshine the entire cast combined.

This film will undoubtedly end up on the kids' DVD shelf, given that it's another 83 minutes of affordable babysitting material for moms everywhere. As for adults and animation purists, they will likely flinch at this non-Pixar film, which did its best to convey the essence of a fine literary piece, but just couldn't measure up to today's considerable CG animation standards.

Note: The DVD boasts very few notewhorthy extras, it has one interactive game, but it too will be solved within minutes by any attentive literate child.

5 out of 10 for a well meant family tale, that ends up all over the place (but not in a geographic sense)

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