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IMDb > The Tale of Despereaux (2008)
The Tale of Despereaux
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The Tale of Despereaux (2008) More at IMDbPro »

Photos (see all 65 | slideshow) Videos (see all 18)
The Tale of Despereaux (2008) -- The Tale of Despereaux - Theatrical Trailer
The Tale of Despereaux (2008) -- Clip: Despereaux tries to tell Chef Andre about the Princess' capture
The Tale of Despereaux (2008) -- Behind the scenes: Tracey Ullman makes noises in the studio
The Tale of Despereaux (2008) -- Interview: Sigourney Weaver "On the what the film has to offer"
The Tale of Despereaux (2008) -- Trailer: Despereaux, a tiny mouse with huge ears, is determined to rescue his beloved princess.

Overview

User Rating:
6.1/10   4,762 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 7% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Writers:
Kate DiCamillo (book)
Will McRobb (screen story)
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Tale of Despereaux on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
19 December 2008 (USA) more
Tagline:
Small Hero. Big Heart. more
Plot:
The tale of three unlikely heroes - a misfit mouse who prefers reading books to eating them, an unhappy rat who schemes to leave the darkness of the dungeon, and a bumbling servant girl with cauliflower ears - whose fates are intertwined with that of the castle's princess. | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
7 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(78 articles)
Winnie The Pooh Heading Back To The Big Screen
 (From Cinema Blend. 2 June 2009, 8:35 AM, PDT)

Hoffman offers Penn handcuffs for marriage
 (From digitalspy. 28 May 2009, 10:38 PM, PDT)

User Comments:
Dropped the book, and the ball more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Additional Details

Runtime:
93 min | 90 min
Country:
UK | USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS
Certification:
USA:G (certificate #44910) | UK:U | Ireland:G | Australia:G | Portugal:M/4 (dubbed version) | Portugal:M/6 (original version) | Norway:7 | Czech Republic:U | Portugal:M/6 (subtitled version) | Finland:K-7 | Canada:G (all jurisdictions) | Singapore:G | South Korea:All | Netherlands:6 | New Zealand:PG | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Hong Kong:I | South Africa:PG | Greece:K | Argentina:Atp | Peru:PT | Brazil:Livre | Mexico:A | Sweden:7

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
A number of characters have names that are artistic references. "Roscuro" refers to the "Chiaroscuro Movement", Botticelli is a reference to the artist Sandro Botticelli, painter of "The Birth of Venus", and Boldo is named after Giuseppe Arcimboldo, a famous surrealistic painter who composed faces and figures out of various objects in the way that Boldo himself is made out of fruit, vegetables and kitchen utensils. more
Goofs:
Continuity: When Despereux is about to be dropped into the rat dungeon, he has red string wrapped around his waist. The camera cuts away to show the dungeon, and when it comes back to see Despereux, the red string is missing. more
Quotes:
Narrator: [voiceover] I could say they lived happily ever after, but what's the fun in that? more
Movie Connections:
Featured in The 81st Annual Academy Awards (2009) (TV) more

FAQ

A Note Regarding Spoilers
What was that vegetable thingie in the kitchen?
What is the name of the lute music played by the King?
more
25 out of 37 people found the following comment useful:-
Dropped the book, and the ball, 26 December 2008
4/10
Author: tim-1268 from United States

My Girlfriend was extremely excited about this movie as she is a 4th grade teacher and this is one of her favorite books. So as a prequel to seeing the movie She made me read the book so it was fresh in my mind. This really didn't matter as if you forget about the names this is almost nothing like the book. There are similarities to the book in this movie but most of the major plot points are hit upon wrong, forgotten, or just dropped completely. Even after I gave up on being like the book early on the movie was really clunky. One problem being they used concepts from the book that they didn't explain in the movie such as Miggery being deaf but not explaining why.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Tale of Despereaux (2008)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
What in the holy hell was up with the veggie demon? kindigth
who was the Threadmaster? lark-10
Voice-over Hogs (and not the ones on the farm) josebut8
Just plain bad slickyz
Just gonna say... ShiningSeal
Dustin Hoffman as a Rat cerchiamusic
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Recommendations

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