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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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 Posted - 12/29/2008 : 17:47:55
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The Tale of Despereaux
What an adorable mouse! I wish the whole film inspired the kind of delight you get just looking at his cute little mouse-face and those ginormous ears.
If I were given the task of fitting a tale around that cute little punim I would use the ears. I'm sure I could think of a way to avoid a Dumbo clone. In a few shots we see the wee rodent in mid-air using ear-power, but although I kept waiting for the brave one to serve his Princess Lady-Fair using such a skill, nope, the story plodded along on all four feet.
Which is a shame because the vocal talent enlivening the film has an awful lot going for it, from Matthew Broderick as Despereaux and Dustin Hoffman as the rat rival who becomes his pal, leading a bevy of amusing stars.
I haven't read Kate DiCamillo's original source material, but it feels as though the writers were determined to squeeze in every twist and turn of the adventures of a fairytale kingdom, formerly famed for its soup, but whose monarch has banned not only soup but rats. Then the story literally falls through the floor, weighted down to an infrastructure ruled by rodents. Here it is that little Despereaux refuses to stifle his instincts for adventure and embarks on a journey to serve a pining human princess.
Somewhere in all this a more accessible tale is yearning to be set free, but as it is - it ain't no Ratatouille.
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Demisemicenturian 
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 01/12/2009 : 01:50:31
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The Tale of Despereaux
Yeah, I agree, I guess. Doesn't have the same magic, for whatever reason. The Dumbo-ness annoyed me but presumably that's the fault of the book. The banishment is also a little too Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Still, Despereaux's a nice little character and it is enjoyable enough. If a child loved it and wanted to talk about it a lot afterwards, it wouldn't be too painful. |
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The Tale of Despereaux
