Susan Granger’s review of “The Tale of Despereaux” (Universal Pictures)
It’s hard for any rodent to follow “Ratatouille” and “Flushed Away” and this glum, lackluster 3-D animated children’s feature doesn’t come anywhere close. As narrated by Sigourney Weaver, once upon a time in the faraway Kingdom of Dor, Despereaux (voiced by Matthew Broderick), a brave little mouse with endearingly elephantine ears, devours stories about brave knights vanquishing dragons and rescuing fair maidens in the Royal Library. Unafraid, he befriends lonely Princess Pea (voiced by Harry Potter’s Emma Watson), whose world has been filled with mourning ever since her mother, the Queen, died from shock after discovering the rat Roscuro (voiced by Dustin Hoffman) in her soup. Since talking to a human is illegal, Despereaux is dispatched from Mouseworld to the dank depths of Ratworld, where he finds cultured Roscuro and persuades him to make amends. But when his apology is spurned, Roscuro decides to take revenge and kidnap the Princess – with the help of the resentful chambermaid Miggery Snow (voiced by Tracey Ullman) – and only Despereaux can rescue her. Adapted by Sam Fell and Robert Stevenhagen from Kate DiCamillo’s Newberry Medal-winning book, its disappointingly dour, Flemish-inspired design, often lacking in background detail, falls well below the Pixar/Disney standard. There are a multitude of faces – far too many for tiny tots to keep track of. In addition, the cruelty evidenced and the disturbing visual elements may upset very young children, despite the fact that everyone is eventually redeemed through forgiveness and the moral lesson: “What you look like doesn’t equal who you are.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Tale of Despereaux” is an adequate but hardly remarkable 5. Unless you’re desperate to get the kids out of the house, wait for the dvd.
