Movie Review: The Tale of Despereaux (Friday, December 26, 2008)

Title: The Tale of Despereaux
Rating: G
Release Date: December 19, 2008
When seen: December 26, 2008
Venue: Regal Cinemas
Manassas, VA
Review: 4 Stars / 4

One might question my maturity, but I just get a kick out of fairy tale movies. This story, "of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread" (as the book, by Kate DiCamillo, on which the movie is based, is subtitled), was terrific. The animation in this swashbuckling romance adventure was very solid, and the characters were excellently voiced by an all-star cast, including Emma Watson, Kevin Kline, Dustin Hoffman, Matthew Broderick, Christopher Lloyd. The musical score was very dramatic... you could almost forget that the hero is a mouse, except that they keep reminding you that he's very abnormal for a mouse. On several occasions, Despereaux is accused of being more man than mouse. When asks what he is, he replies that he is a gentleman. He's definitely my kind of mouse — a noble gentlemen, with a quest, who knows no fear, and has an unhealthy obsession with storybooks. Now all I need to do, is find myself a copy of the book, so I can enjoy it all over again.

—Brian (12/26/2008 10:54 PM)