Tale with a morale may bore
An animation that is too difficult and long-winded for young children to understand, The Tale of Despereaux offers a very important lesson about living in harmony with others.
Citizens of the Kingdom of Dor love soup and laughter, and humans, mice and rats live happily - as long as their paths don't cross. When the queen finds a rat in her soup, she dies of shock, and the grief-stricken king bans all soups, mice and rats from the kingdom. Everyone, including his daughter, Princess Pea (voiced by Emma Watson), starts living unhappily ever after.
Despereaux (Matthew Broderick), a big-eared mouse doesn't fit with his family. His fellow mice are taught to be afraid and live like cowards. But he doesn't believe this attitude will achieve anything. He is brave and adventurous, and when he befriends Pea, and she is kidnapped, his alternative attitude brings him to the rescue.
The film is unlike a Pixar or Dreamworks production: there is little humour, very few tongue-in-cheek characters, and the artwork isn't particularly noteworthy, looking more like the illustrations from an antique book of fairy stories than state-of-the-art animation.
The ending offers redemption, though, with its message of acceptance and new beginnings.
Special features on the DVD include an interactive map of the Kingdom of Dor and a list of the top ten uses for oversized ears.
