The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Directors:

Sam Fell
Robert Stevenhagen

Writers:

Kate DiCamillo (book)
Will McRobb (screen story)

Release Date:

19 December 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Animation | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

Tagline:

Small Hero. Big Heart.

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. |

Plot Keywords:

Book | Dungeon | Mouse | Darkness | Princess

Awards:

7 nominations

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Matthew Broderick	...	Despereaux (voice)
Dustin Hoffman	...	Roscuro (voice)
Emma Watson	...	Princess Pea (voice)
Tracey Ullman	...	Miggery Sow (voice)
Kevin Kline	...	Andre (voice)
William H. Macy	...	Lester (voice)
Stanley Tucci	...	Boldo (voice)
Ciarán Hinds	...	Botticelli (voice)
Robbie Coltrane	...	Gregory (voice)
Tony Hale	...	Furlough (voice)
Frances Conroy	...	Antoinette
Frank Langella	...	Mayor
Richard Jenkins	...	Principal
Christopher Lloyd	...	Hovis (voice)
Charles Shaughnessy	...	Pietro (voice)

Runtime:

93 min | 90 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

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

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Justin Long was originally slated to voice the title character, Despereaux. Ultimately, the role went to Matthew Broderick.

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.

Quotes:

Narrator: [voiceover] I could say they lived happily ever after, but what's the fun in that?

Movie Connections:

Featured in "This Morning: (2009-04-09)" (2009)

Disappointed - not what I expected

I expected a bit more out of this movie than was delivered. My 7 year old actually fell asleep near the end of the movie. No kidding. Another reviewer hit the nail on the head in describing the animation as video game quaility (maybe like 1990's quality). The story is a great storybook but terrible in movie format. I kept waiting for a funny part to come or something exciting to happen. It rarely did.

I have to disagree with another reviewer who praised the voices. Honestly, I can't see the importance of having big named screen actors doing the voices of these characters other than trying to draw folks into a mediocre movie, unlike Madagascar where the voices and big named people actually make the movie even better.