Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Bardlerx Strictly average movie

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Delight Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

immarcesible I have been reading The Tale of Despereaux to children since before it was awarded the Newbery Medal in 2004. When I heard they were finally going to make a movie of the book, I was extremely excited. I showed the trailer to my newest crop of Despereaux fans after we had finished the book. What we saw was shockingly not like the book we had read. The theme of light and dark had been taken out and replaced with physical comedy and cheap sight gags. But I gave hope to the film being better than the trailer led on.I never got a chance to see it in the theaters, but I did get it on DVD. After previewing it, I realized it was utter rubbish. Having adults voice the child characters was jarring. When I went ahead and showed it to my students, they begged me to turn it off after the first 15 minutes.We watched Stardust instead. It was a lot closer to Kate DiCamillo's book than this trainwreck was.

Python Hyena The Tale of Despereaux (2008): Dir: Sam Fell, Rob Stevenhagen / Voices: Matthew Broderick, Emma Watson, Dustin Hoffman, Tracey Ullman, Robbie Coltrane: Exciting animation about bravery. Despereaux is a little mouse with big ears who knows no fear. Roscuro is a rat that accidentally caused the Queen a heart attack when he landed in her soup. Since then rats have been outlawed. Clever writing flawed only with a few silly elements including a ghostly character that the vegetables become. Directed by Sam Fell and Rob Stevenhagen with terrific colorful animation. Strong voice talents included Matthew Broderick as Despereaux, the brave mouse who dares to associate with humans. We know that he will save the day but it is great fun for its young audience. Dustin Hoffman voices Roscuro who causes tragedy with the Queen. He attempts to correct his mistake only to be at ends with greater conflict. Emma Watson voices Princess Pea, human Princess who freaks at the sight of Roscuro until she is kidnapped by her slave girl. It is obvious that she will learn a big lesson. Tracey Ullman voices the servant girl who desires to be a Princess and assists in the kidnapping of Pea. Robbie Coltrane voices her father who is a jailer. She will gain a void filled in the end. A terrific tale of bravery and adventure that should entice the imagination. Score: 9 / 10

Armand nice, charming, sweet. a fairy - tale from old and precise recipes. a delight. and seed of special joy. because the princess, the sad kingdom, the silky moral lesson are at perfect place. but, more important, the hero is magnificent. and very special. a family film. or just a form of magic in the era of blockbusters. a beautiful work in which each detail is important. because it is a story about old fashion virtues - courage, truth, honor, honesty. and respect for duty. and a new mouse in middle of action is not bad thing. maybe for be conscience for a sad rat. and Charming Prince for a young girl. and model for public. because message is simple - the identity is more important than voice of majority. always.

TheLittleSongbird As a few people know already I am a huge fan of animation, and would immediately see something no matter how good or bad it was. I was interested in The Tale of Despereux, it actually looked interesting, and naturally I wanted to see how much justice it did to one of my favourite books, written by Kate DiCamillo.I have to say, The Tale of Despereux was a bit of a disappointment. Not terrible, but it could have been better, considering the source material. I have to admit though, the animation is wonderful. I admit I was more impressed by the backgrounds and colours than the character designs, the character designs were good in general but the backgrounds were nicely rendered and the colours were suitably bold and bright. Also the music is beautiful, it had lovely motifs and a sense of adventure, and the message was a nice one. And I was surprised at the voice acting, it was very good on the whole. Initially, I wasn't sure of some of the choices, but all did well. Emma Watson is good enough, but Dustin Hoffmann, Kevin Kline and Robbie Coltrane are great. Wasn't sure about Matthew Broderick though. He can be likable and above average, but he flounders when his characters are badly underwritten or poorly explored, which was sadly the case here.I think I would have had a better reaction to The Tale of Despereux if I hadn't read the book. I do try to judge films by their own merits, but for those who haven't read the book or are considering reading it, I want to share my opinion. It is a wonderful book, full of memorable characters, exciting and poignant stories, a great atmosphere and a full emotional punch at the end. On its own, this film is reasonable, as an adaptation it is sadly quite poor. Some of the characters are poorly explored, particularly Despereux who is disappointingly bland, while Roscuro doesn't come close to the complex character he is in the book. The story is a bit of a mess, it had a great idea, but some of it felt rushed and skimmed over, while scenes were unfocused and pointless. I really wasn't taken with the subplot about soup, sorry but that felt somewhat superfluous to the story. Worse was the script, the actors delivered very well but some of the dialogue is pretty bad, instead of being intelligent, funny, poignant or thought-provoking, it came across as trite and hackneyed.Overall, reasonable attempt but doesn't quite work. Oh, and for those who haven't read the book and weren't taken with the movie, you may find the book is much more worthwhile. 5/10 for the animation, voice cast and music. Bethany Cox