"The Tale of Despereaux" is not your typical animated mouse movie. It's certainly not "An American Tail". In fact, it doesn't even feel like an American tale. Based on the children's fantasy novel by Kate DiCamillo, this animated adaptation may be written by an American, but it adopts the European sensibility implied by its hero's moniker. Where else are you going to find a fairytale kingdom in which the King outlaws soup after his wife has a heart attack when she sees a rat (voiced by Dustin Hoffman) in the royal broth? Or a climactic scene that involves storming a dungeon with a magical character made entirely of vegetables? (I can't entirely explain that last one). Hemp activists may take note when the film condemns the King for "making illegal something that occurs in nature", but otherwise I'm not sure what American audiences are going to do with the film. And while "Despereaux" has a bit too much plot for its own good, its heart is firmly in the right place.
The subtitle of the book is "Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread". And that explains why the titular rodent doesn't show up until about 20 minutes in - or as the narrator (voiced with dulcet tones by Sigourney Weaver) remarks, "a hero doesn't appear until he's needed". There's a lot of story to tell here. The opening of the film is a whirlwind of exposition geared towards getting the King in mourning and the Princess (voiced by Hermione herself, Emma Watson) on lockdown.
In the film's funniest scenes, we're introduced to Mouseworld (really, it's called that in a title card), a hidden enclave made of old teapots and various found objects. It is there that our small (even by mouse standards) hero is born. Despereaux has big ears, wide, expressive eyes and an inability to conform to the Mouse society's standards of timidity. Yes, Despereaux has courage and, as he grows up and attends mouse school, he stubbornly refuses to learn to be afraid. As you'd expect, that comes in handy later. Especially when we're introduced to Ratworld, Mouseworld's dark cousin. And yes, it does get dark: instead of matchsticks, Ratworld's bridges are made from skeletal remains; there's an "arena" where mice are sacrificed to a chained cat; and the pile of garbage from which the rats feed is controlled by the rat King, a character clearly modeled after Nosferatu and crossed with Mr. Burns from "The Simpsons" (or is that redundant?).
All this, and I haven't even gotten to the plot yet. Yes, "Despereaux" has story to spare. And ironically, that may be the problem with the film. This is an animated movie that prides itself on character motivations. It's not enough for a rat to kidnap the Princess; we must understand the backstory of why he does it. As a result, children and adults alike may be wondering when the film will cut to the chase. When it finally does, it's a disturbing climactic scene that is likely to set the course of human-rodent relations back to pre-"Ratatouille" levels.
Across the board, the animation is fine, if not stunning. And Matthew Broderick is a natural choice to play a young, wide-eyed hero. But it's possible Ms. DiCamillo's story required more trimming down. As it is, the plot gets away from the writer, Gary Ross. It's good to see an animated movie trying for something different, but directors Sam Fell and Robert Stevenhagen ("Flushed Away") may lose sight of their audience. "Despereaux" may be too much for kids and not enough for adults. Still, it's nice to know a story about a courageous mouse that saves a fairytale kingdom doesn't have to be, well, cheesy.
