''The Tale of Despereaux'' is a 2008 animated

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Sam Fell Samuel Jason Fell (born 22 November 1965) is a British animator, director, screenwriter and voice actor. Sam started his career as director on the short film ''The Big Cheese'' for 3 Peach Animation. He then joined Aardman Animations and worked ...

and Rob Stevenhagen (in his feature directorial debut). It is loosely based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Kate DiCamillo. The film is narrated by

Sigourney Weaver Susan Alexandra ( ; born October 8, 1949), better known by her stage name Sigourney Weaver, is an American actress. Prolific in film since the late 1970s, she is known for her pioneering portrayals of action heroines in Blockbuster (entertainme ...

and stars the voices of

Matthew Broderick Matthew Broderick (born March 21, 1962) is an American actor. He starred in ''WarGames'' (1983) as a teen government hacker, and ''Ladyhawke (film), Ladyhawke'' (1985), a medieval fantasy alongside Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer. He play ...

Robbie Coltrane Anthony Robert McMillan (30 March 195014 October 2022), known professionally as Robbie Coltrane, was a Scottish actor. He gained worldwide recognition in the 2000s for playing Rubeus Hagrid in the ''Harry Potter'' film series. He was appointe ...

Dustin Hoffman Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for Dustin Hoffman filmography, his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable charac ...

Richard Jenkins Richard Dale Jenkins (born May 4, 1947) is an American actor. He is well known for his portrayal of deceased patriarch Nathaniel Fisher on the HBO funeral drama series ''Six Feet Under (TV series), Six Feet Under'' (2001–2005). He began his c ...

Kevin Kline Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an American actor. In a career spanning over five decades, he has become a prominent leading man across both Kevin Kline on screen and stage, stage and screen. List of awards and nominations recei ...

Frank Langella Frank A. Langella Jr. (; born January 1, 1938) is an American actor. He eschewed the career of a traditional film star by making the stage the focal point of his career, appearing frequently on Broadway. He has received four Tony Awards (out of ...

William H. Macy William Hall Macy Jr. (born March 13, 1950) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer. He is a two-time Emmy Award and four-time Screen Actors Guild Awards, Screen Actors Guild Award winner, and has been nominated for an Acade ...

, Tracey Ullman, Emma Watson, and

Ciarán Hinds Ciarán Hinds ( ; born 9 February 1953) is a British Northern Irish actor from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Hinds is known for a range of screen and stage roles. He has starred in feature films including '' The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Love ...

. Animation was provided by Framestore Animation. The film was released in the United States by

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

on December 19, 2008. It is the second theatrically released computer-animated film distributed by Universal Pictures, following '' The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie''. ''The Tale of Desperaux'' underperformed at the box office, grossing $86.9 million against a $60 million budget and received generally mixed reviews; many critics praised the film for its animation, voice acting and the title character, but disparaged its story.

Plot

During Dor's annual "Royal Soup Day", sailor Pietro and his

rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include '' Neotoma'' (pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandicoo ...

companion Roscuro arrive in an enchanting medieval French kingdom renowned for its exquisite soups. Chef Andre, the kingdom's culinary maestro, crafts his delectable creations with the help of Boldo, a magical culinary genie residing in his pot. However, Roscuro's curiosity leads him to the royal banquet hall, where his accidental plunge into Queen Rosemary's soup triggers a heart attack, claiming her life. Disheartened by the tragic turn of events, Roscuro discovers that Pietro has left him behind to fend for himself in the castle's dungeons. Roscuro finds shelter with Botticelli Remorso, the enigmatic leader of Dor's rat population. However, he struggles to adapt to their warlike culture. Meanwhile, grief-stricken King Philip bans all things soup-related, declaring rats illegal. This prohibition not only prevents Andre from making his beloved soup but also drives Boldo away. Dor, devoid of the life-giving soup, slowly fades into poverty and despair. Princess Pea, deeply affected by her father's grief, mourns the kingdom's decline and her own isolation from the world. In a

mouse A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

village within an abandoned kitchen storage room, Despereaux is born into the Tilling family. The newborn Despereaux is immediately noted by his family for his large ears and having been born neither blind nor crying. As he grows up, it is clear he is different from other mice; he is brave and curious rather than timid, unnerving other mice around him. In an effort to teach him to be a "proper mouse", his brother Furlough takes him to the royal library to show him how to chew books, but Despereaux is more interested in reading them, becoming fascinated by their stories. One day, Despereaux encounters Pea, promising to finish the story about a trapped princess and tell her how it ends. Upon discovering that Despereaux has violated mouse law by talking to a human, his parents, Lester and Antoinette, turn him over to the mouse council to avoid blame. The council banishes Despereaux for the crime of having

courage Courage (also called bravery, valour ( British and Commonwealth English), or valor (American English)) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Valor is courage or bravery, especially in ...

. The "threadmaster", a blind mouse named Hovis, lowers Despereaux into the dungeons using a red thread, where he is presumed dead by the rest of the mice. In the dungeons, Despereaux tells the princess story to the jailer, Gregory, who stops listening and leaves him alone. Despereaux is captured by the rats and thrown into their arena with a

tabby cat A tabby cat, or simply tabby, is any domestic cat (''Felis catus'') with a Cat_coat_genetics#Tabbies , coat pattern distinguished by an M-shaped marking on its forehead, stripes by its eyes and across its cheeks, along its back, around its leg ...

. As Despereaux is about to be eaten, Roscuro saves his life by asking Botticelli to give Despereaux to him under the pretense of eating, appearing to relent to the sewer rat

dogma Dogma, in its broadest sense, is any belief held definitively and without the possibility of reform. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, or Islam ...

. Having been unable to adjust to being a sewer rat, Roscuro is desperate to hear about the outside world. The two become friends, as every day, Despereaux tells him stories of the princess and her sadness. Wishing to make amends for the trouble he has caused, Roscuro sneaks into Pea's room and tries to apologize to her, but she lashes out at him, and guards come after him. Hurt by this, Roscuro vows revenge. He enlists the help of Miggery "Mig" Sow, Pea's young, hearing impaired maid who longs to be a princess by convincing her she can take Pea's place if she kidnaps her. After Mig drags Pea to the dungeons, Roscuro double-crosses her and locks her in a cell. Meanwhile, Despereaux discovers that the princess is in danger, and he tries to tell the King, who is too depressed to listen. Despereaux tries to get help elsewhere; he returns to the mouse village and tries to enlist his family, but they are afraid of his presence — for he has fallen in

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

, so they mistake him for returning as a

ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

— so he rings the town's bell to prove his survival, but still no one comes to his aid. Andre hears the bell, reminding him of the time he made soup, and, having had enough of the law, gets back to making soup, which brings back Boldo. Despereaux tries to get help from Andre and Boldo, with limited success. As Andre is distracted by a rainy

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustics, acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorm ...

(which was caused by the smell of the soup being released into the sky), Boldo agrees and takes Despereaux back to the dungeons. En route, they are attacked by rats; Boldo sacrifices himself to allow Despereaux to reach the arena. In the arena, Roscuro sees the apologetic sincerity in Pea's eyes and regrets his actions. Still, an enraged Botticelli signals the rats to eat Pea. Despereaux releases the cat to chase some of the rats away, and fights off the others. Botticelli captures Despereaux, but the rain clouds part and sunlight reflects off a lost heart-shaped

locket A locket is a pendant that opens to reveal a space used for storing a photograph or other small item such as a lock of hair. Lockets are usually given to loved ones on holidays such as Valentine's Day and occasions such as christenings, weddin ...

into the dungeon, stunning the photophobic sewer rats. Roscuro saves Despereaux by using one of the arena's spotlights to direct the sunlight at Botticelli, sending him falling into the arena, where the cat chases him into its cage; Pea shuts in the both of them with her feet, leaving Botticelli to be eaten as the rest of the sewer rats flee into the shadows. In the aftermath, Mig is reunited with Gregory, who turns out to be her long-lost father, and they return together to their farm. Meanwhile, the King finally overcomes his grief and allows soup and rats back into the kingdom; it stops raining, and the sun rises over Dor; Roscuro returns to his life at sea; Despereaux, who also inspired the mice to be brave just like him, departs on a journey to see the world.

Voice cast

as Despereaux Tilling, a brave mouse who does not run from danger, as mice should *

as Chiaroscuro "Roscuro", a civilized rat who arrives on a ship and is taken in by Botticelli * Emma Watson as Princess Pea, the human Princess of Dor who befriends Despereaux * Tracey Ullman as Miggery "Mig" Sow, Princess Pea's servant girl *

as Botticelli Remorso, the gaunt and sadistic leader of the rat world *

as Gregory, the jailer and Mig's long-lost father *

as Lester Tilling, Despereaux's father *

Tony Hale Anthony Russell Hale (born September 30, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He is most known for his comedic leading roles in the Fox series '' Arrested Development'' as Buster Bluth, and as Gary Walsh on the HBO series '' Veep''. For the ...

as Furlough Tilling, Despereaux's older brother *

as Chef Andre, the royal cook. * Stanley Tucci as Boldo, Andre's Arcimboldo-esque soup genie and friend *

as The Mayor of the mouse world *

Frances Conroy Frances Hardman Conroy (born March 15, 1953) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Ruth Fisher on the television series '' Six Feet Under'' (2001–2005), for which she won a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, a ...

as Antoinette Tilling, Despereaux's mother *

as The Principal at Despereaux's school *

Christopher Lloyd Christopher Allen Lloyd (born October 22, 1938) is an American actor. He has appeared in many theater productions, films, and television shows since the 1960s. He is known for portraying Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future (franchise), ''B ...

as Hovis, the threadmaster in the mouse world * Charles Shaughnessy as Pietro, the sailor whom Roscuro accompanied to Dor *

as Ned, Mig's uncle; Smudge, a rat * Patricia Cullen as Queen Rosemary, Princess Pea's late mother who died from a heart attack * Jane Karen as Louise *

Bronson Pinchot Bronson Alcott Pinchot (; born May 20, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Balki Bartokomous on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC sitcom ''Perfect Strangers (TV series), Perfect Strangers'' (1986–1993). He also perform ...

as The Town Crier * McNally Sagal as the teacher at Despereaux's school * James Nesbitt (uncredited) as King Philip of Dor, Princess Pea's father *

as The Narrator

Production

The film's production was marred by disagreements and

malpractice In the law of torts, malpractice, also known as professional negligence, is an "instance of negligence or incompetence on the part of a professional".Malpractice definition, Professionals who may become the subject of malpractice actions inc ...

, or accusations thereof, between the French, British and North American staff.

Sylvain Chomet Sylvain Chomet (; born 10 November 1963) is a French comic writer, animator and film director. Early career Born in Maisons-Laffitte, Seine-et-Oise (now Yvelines), near Paris, he studied art at high school until he graduated in 1982. Chomet m ...

was employed early by Gary Ross and Allison Thomas as director, before the film was approved for funding by

Relativity Media Relativity Media, LLC is an American independent media company founded in 2004 by Lynwood Spinks and Ryan Kavanaugh. The company brokered film finance deals and later branched into film production and other entertainment ventures. The company ...

, with pre-production (including character design, the first drafts of the screenplay written by Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi, and the addition of the original character of Boldo) taking place at his studio,

Django Films Django may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * Django (1966 film), ''Django'' (1966 film), a 1966 Italian Western by Sergio Corbucci which had a particular influence on the Spaghetti Western genre and a number of unofficial prequels and sequel ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. Chomet came up against creative and ethical differences with the producers and was eventually fired from the project and thrown out of the studio space allocated to the film.

Mike Johnson James Michael Johnson (born January 30, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 56th speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2023. A member ...

was hired to replace Chomet as director, before the role went to

and Rob Stevenhagen.

Music

The score of ''The Tale of Despereaux'' was composed by William Ross, who recorded his score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Sony Scoring Stage.

Release

''The Tale of Despereaux'' was theatrically released December 19, 2008, by

Home media

The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

April 7, 2009. One Blu-ray release also includes a standard-definition DVD of the film, in addition to the Blu-ray disc. The film brought in a revenue of $25,531,805 in the United States DVD market.

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reports that of reviewers give positive reviews, based on 111 reviews, with an average rating of . The website's consensus reads: "Despite its striking visuals, ''The Tale of Despereaux'' as a story feels familiar and unimaginative."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

gave the film a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 53 out of 100, based on 25 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

gave the film an average grade of "B" on a scale of A+ to F.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' awarded three stars, and wrote in his review, "''The Tale of Despereaux'' is one of the most beautifully drawn animated films I've seen," but added, "I am not quite so thrilled by the story."

Christy Lemire Christy A. Lemire (née Nemetz; born August 30, 1972) is an American film critic and host of the movie review podcast ''Breakfast All Day''. She previously wrote for the Associated Press from 1999 to 2013, was a co-host of '' Ebert Presents at ...

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

was more critical, writing that the film "feels obvious, preachy and heavy-handed".

Box office

The film opened at number 3 in the United States, behind ''

Seven Pounds ''Seven Pounds'' is a 2008 American drama film directed by Gabriele Muccino, written by Grant Nieporte, and starring Will Smith as a man who sets out to change the lives of seven people; Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson, and Barry Pepper also ...

'' and '' Yes Man'', with $10,507,000 in 3,104 theaters, with an $3,385 average; on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the film was in second. The film closed in March 2009 after grossing $50 million domestically. The film grossed an additional $37 million overseas, for a total of $87 million.

Awards

Video game

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

based on the film was released December 2, 2008, for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

, Wii and

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

, and December 16, 2008, for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

. An

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

version was originally announced, but it was canceled. While the PlayStation 2, Wii and Microsoft Windows versions were an

action-adventure game An action-adventure game is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Definition An action adventure game can be defined as a game with a mix of elements from an action ...

, the Nintendo DS version was a 2.5D

side-scrolling A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller) is a video game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling grap ...

platformer A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...

References

External links

Official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tale Of Despereaux, The 2008 films 2008 computer-animated films 2008 directorial debut films 2008 American animated films 2000s British animated films 2000s children's fantasy films 2000s English-language films American animated adventure films American animated comedy films American animated fantasy films American children's animated adventure films American children's animated comedy films American children's animated fantasy films American computer-animated films Animated films about friendship Animated films about mice Animated films about princesses Animated films about rats Animated films about talking animals Animated films based on American novels Animated films set in castles Animated films set in France Animated films set on islands British animated comedy films British animated fantasy films British computer-animated films English-language fantasy films Films based on fantasy novels Films directed by Sam Fell Films scored by William Ross Films with screenplays by Gary Ross Films with screenplays by Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi Relativity Media animated films Universal Pictures animated films