‘The Tale of Despereaux' Film Review

Article originally published 12/19/2008 at popculturezoo.com

Traditionally, the task of taking kids to see a matinee showing of the latest bubbly animated feature is one that is both tedious and exhausting. As a parent, I’ve earned my stripes by enduring films that have included everything from talking dinosaurs to singing narwhals. Still, at the end of these animated death-marches, I was able to manage a smile to my daughter as she expressed her exuberance at watching ninety minutes of what I felt to be pure torture. Thankfully, the advent of computer animation, coupled with a revolution in actual storytelling (thank you, Pixar) has produced a slew of ‘kids movies’ that are actually watchable. So goes The Tale of Despereaux, which is making its way into theaters at a time in the holiday season that we parents are preparing for the daunting task of entertaining our kids for winter break. At first glance, this film is a formulaic story of fantasy, kingdoms and brave knights. However, beside the fact that the most intriguing character in the movie is a rat, The Tale of Despereaux is something much more… an animated film that may have more impact on parents than their kids.

Despereaux (Matthew Broderick) himself is a mouse who is introduced much later into the film than might be expected. Prior to that, we are given a lengthy premise where a rat named Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman) becomes responsible for the downfall of the city of Dor. Roscuro, whose fancy-free life aboard a sailing ship brings him to the port of Dor, becomes enamored with the city’s annual ‘Royal Soup Day’ and most importantly, the soup itself. You see, this is no ordinary soup. The city of Dor is known across the land (and seas) for having the most exquisite soups ever created and Chef Andre (Kevin Kline) is introduced as making its yearly creation on royal decree. Roscuro, fresh into town, gets his first whiff of this legendary concoction and is soon taken over with both the aroma and his hunger. He eventually finds himself in the middle of the queen’s soup bowl, creating a sudden and altogether unexpected reaction from the queen - she dies of fright. So, Roscuro and all the other rats in Dor are vilified by the king as public enemy number-one. In a fit of anger and grief, the creation of soup is also outlawed and a great cloud (literally) settles itself over the kingdom.

It is after this lengthy prologue that we are finally introduced to the ‘main character’ of the movie. Despereaux is born with his eyes wide-open and inexplicably large ears. As he grows up, and Dor itself withers, we learn that he isn’t like normal mice. Despereaux has no fear. The montage of scenes that establishes Despereaux’s differences from other mice seems almost unnecessary. The character himself is less interesting than Roscuro, who by this time has been forced to abandon his love of sunlight and the open sea for the dank and dreary existence to which the rats of Dor have become accustomed. Throughout the film’s second act, both Despereaux and Roscuro go through a similar journey, where they are being pressured to change by a society that is unwilling to accept the differences that define these characters. While Despereaux may be the movie’s poster-rodent, it is Roscuro’s sense of longing that truly captures the film. He feels that his single mistake caused the pain and suffering of an entire kingdom and his driving motivation is to apologize and seek out the forgiveness of a people who have shunned both him and his kind.

The Tale of Despereaux preaches a number of things and does so with surprising efficiency. While the concepts of honor, chivalry and loyalty are force-fed through Despereaux’s readings of an old fairy tale, it is Roscuro’s humbleness, longing for forgiveness and the ultimate affects of exile that truly sink in. I don’t know if this was a deliberate translation from the book upon which the film was based, but as the movie wound its way down to a somewhat-generic final battle sequence, I felt myself wanting to learn more about Roscuro and his fate. Despereaux himself was the less interesting character, whose bravado and bravery just felt one-dimensional and purposeless.

As an animated film, The Tale of Despereaux is a great example of what can be accomplished when decent animation (whether it be computer or hand-drawn) is coupled with a compelling story. While it doesn’t have the tear-inducing sweetness of Wall-E, it also stays away from the formulaic storytelling of Bolt. Instead, this movie strangely depends on heralding a story about a brave little mouse while actually telling a captivating tale of a misunderstood rat. By it’s end, we are certain that the day has been saved but more importantly, the true hero of the story has been redeemed. What matters most in The Tale of Despereaux is not blind chivalry, but the feelings of honesty and forgiveness that will strike closest to home in us all.