Tale of Despereaux (Movie)

I don't often do movie reviews. In this case, I am willing to make an exception.

Let me begin by saying that I really wanted to like this movie. Roni suggested I read the book Tale of Despereaux, and I really enjoyed it. I highly recommend it to anybody age 5 and up. It was an interesting take on the classic fairy tale.

Initial reviews I read of the movie were highly critical and seemed to unfairly compare the movie to Ratatouille, which was released about a year earlier. I felt, at the time, that reviewers were simply comparing the movie because both movies revolved around animated rodents. I now understand, however, why it is that they made the comparison. The makers of the Tale of Despereaux were not only inviting the comparison, they were begging for it.

It seemed to me that whoever did the Tale of Despereaux decided to not only borrow elements from Ratatouille, but chose to flat out steal characters from Ratatouille! Here is a comparison of two of the major antagonistic elements from each of the movies.

Anton Ego, the harsh food critic from Ratatouille

Botticelli, the main villain from the Tale of Despereaux

Please note the similarities. The elongated faces. The sour expression on the face. The hunched back. Even the voices for the two characters were nearly identical. It seems that the person who wrote the script for the Tale of Despereaux thought that if he combined the book and added elements directly taken from Ratatouille, he would have a sure success. Unfortunately, the combined elements are entirely superfluous, and end up muddling the story so badly that it bears little to no resemblance to the book.

The end result is a movie that is confusing for those new to the story of Despereaux, a brave but odd little mouse, and disappointing to those who are fans of the book. A truly subpar effort.

RATING (out of 5)

Visuals - .5 - the animation is sub par. I understand the desire to stand out from Pixar's animation style, but this isn't about style, this is about quality. The quality of the computer animation made it feel more like I was watching a made for TV movie.

Sound - 2 - The music was OK, as was the voice acting. Merely OK, is about the best thing this movie is going to get.

Acting - .5 - Voice acting seemed... forced. I especially disliked Sigourney Weaver's narration of the story. It felt rigid and emotionless.

OVERALL SCORE - .5 - I have rarely been so disappointed by a movie.