This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

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

Roscuro the rat visits the kingdom of Dor during the "Royal Soup Day." Roscuro goes for a closer smell and falls into the Queen's soup. He scared her to death, and the distraught king bans all soup and rats. Roscuro falls down into the kingdom of rats. Princess Pea despairs over the kingdom's decline. Then Despereaux is born. He's a small mice with giant ears who has no natural fears. They try to teach him to cower to no avail. He befriends Princess Pea with the love of books, and the council banishes him to the dungeons for breaking a code about talking to humans. Then he is pit against a cat in the Ratworld arena games.The animation looks good but the story is way too messy. There are too many story lines going on. The voice work is generally unimpressive especially Despereaux. He lacks energy. Emma Watson is a little better. Coming a year and a half after Ratatouille, the difference in energy and fun between the two is night and day. The movie is better off staying with Despereaux all the way through and introduce Roscuro later. This is a movie that needs a few more rewrites to clean up the messiness. Too bad because there is a good message somewhere in the movie.

As a child, (3rd grade-ish?) I read this book over and over again. It was dark, but powerful, and it rang true. It helped me through some dark times.Even today, being 18 years old, it's still one of my favorites. THE BOOK.However, the second I heard they were making a movie, I was scared of them butchering this wonderful tale. They certainly did.I stuck through until the end, just to hope it would have some sort of redeeming quality-- and it did not... I understand that they couldn't make it as dark as the book (It'd have to be rated PG or PG-13 or something) but STILL. A veggie monster?! What's up with that? The singing and dancing? They have absolutely RUINED a childhood (and adult) favorite.SUMMARY: If you read this book and enjoyed it... please do not even bother looking at this movie. It will absolutely ruin your day.

The qualities: - Superb graphics, expressive, beautiful and stylish; - Solid characters, both intrinsically and visually; - A compelling atmosphere, and mood in general.The flaws: - A chaotic script, confusing and unprofessional. They were too ambitious to keep as much as possible of the novel's sub-plots and secondary characters, but didn't know how to organize them according to the screen-writing rules.A linear direction: everything flows on too uniformly, the important scenes are not accented and developed enough. As such, it gradually becomes boring, and during the culminating moments it's positively anticlimactic.The disadvantageous comparison with "Oblio". That one had spark! This one is also smart, but less inspired.