Movie Review : The Tale of Despereaux
NBC-Universal Movie Stars Matthew Broderick, Emma Watson
Dec 18, 2008
Universal Animation has wisely concentrated on the story for their new CGI animated fable, The Tale of Despereaux, and filled out the cast with talented voice actors, rather than big-name stars. However, scriptwriter Gary Ross (Big, Seabiscuit) doesn't trust his audience's intelligence, which clutters the flick with needless exposition.
Kate DiCamillo Novel Becomes Movie
Based on the Newbery Award-winning children's novel by Kate DiCamillo, the movie follows the titular mouse who refuses to cower and scurry like other mice should. Despereaux (voiced by Matthew Broderick) is obsessed with fairy tales and, like a modern day Don Quixote, seeks a fair princess to save.
Despereaux does indeed find his princess: a lonely child named Pea (Emma Watson). When Pea's mother dies after discovering a hapless rat (Dustin Hoffman) in her soup, the King bans both soup and rats from the kingdom, plunging the land into an endless gloom.
Will Despereaux rescue the princess and bring sunlight and soup back to the kingdom? Ya think?
Broderick, Hoffman, Watson Shine In The Tale of Despereaux
One of the film's many strengths is in the voice cast. Matthew Broderick carries the flick as Despereaux, while Hoffman ably negotiates the complexities of a character who drifts from sympathetic to antagonistic, and back again. The well-chosen supporting cast – which includes heavyweights like Frank Langella, Tracy Ullman, William H. Macy, Kevin Kline and Stanley Tucci as an ambulatory vegetable man – rock their roles admirably. The only disappointment is Robbie Coltrane: stuck with a two-note character as the jailer.
But the big surprise here is Watson. Best known for portraying Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, she makes a strong voice acting debut as the young princess who's imprisoned by her father's grief.
The CGI animation style isn't state-of-the-art but it is appealing. Despereaux and the other rodents are well-done, but the humans get short shrift, looking somewhat waxy. Ironically, it's the most cartoony humans who have the most life-like skin tones.
The biggest problem with an otherwise fun and exciting script is that Ross doesn't trust his audience's intelligence. The scriptwriter telegraphs his biggest plot twists, making them less-than-surprising when they occur. Massive subtitles denote the homes of the mice and villainous rats (just in case you couldn't figure it out from the images and background music), and a familial relationship between two characters couldn't have been made more clear if Ross had pounded on assorted audience members with a shovel, screaming, "They're related!"
His lack of faith in his audience also comes through with Sigourney Weaver's overly intrusive and distracting narration. Many times, she's merely restating something the viewer's figured out already.
Some might argue that children can't pick up plot nuances like experienced film reviewers can, but others would rebut that spoon-feeding them isn't good for them, either. Also, if kids don't see a plot twist coming, it (a) becomes a genuine surprise when it happens, and (b) they'd want to revisit the movie so they can hunt for clues. That's what sells DVDs, people.
The Final Analysis
Kudos to NBC-Universal for concentrating on a great story, instead of trying to wow the audience with needless bells and whistles. Oh yes, and an extra point for the fact that no poop or fart joke comes anywhere near this flick. It's a modern fairy tale with little sign of the dreaded "Shrek Effect".
The Tale of Despereaux isn't perfect by any means, but it's proof that Pixar's "story first" formula is finally beginning to take among rival animation studios. For heading in the right direction, this movie gets a 7/10.
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