The Tale of Despereaux

Rating:

* * *

Verdict:

A beautifully animated fairytale with adorable characters, but it's too sombre to appeal to the younger audience it's aimed at.

The

Tale of Despereaux

is the debut animated feature from London based visual effects and computer animation studio Framestore, the Oscar and Bafta winning company responsible for special effects on films such as

The Dark Knight, Quantum of Solace

and

The Golden Compass

.

This film is based on Kate DiCamillo's novel of the same name, and while I'm not familiar with the book, I'm encouraged, for all the wrong reasons, to hunt it down. Watching

The Tale of Despereaux

it is easy to imagine how enchanting this book must be as a bedtime story, but translated into a full-length feature it's underwhelming and overly complex. Sweet and heartfelt with a cute little twist? Sure. Entertaining? Not really.

Our unlikely hero is Despereaux Tilling (Broderick), an undersized mouse with oversized ears and plenty of courage.

Unlike other inhabitants of Mouseworld, in the fairytale kingdom of Dor, Despereaux is a lover of reading books, rather than eating them. In addition, he doesn't cower, isn't afraid of cats, humans or mouse traps and is curious about the world around him. The bewildered leaders of the Mouse Council consider they have no choice but to banish Despereaux for not being mousey enough.

Exiled to the dungeon, he meets Roscuro (Hoffman), a rat who too bucks the trend. A lover of sunlight and soup, Roscuro, along with all the rats in Dor, has been banished by the King after Roscuro accidentally ended up in the Queen's soup, killing her of fright.

The death of the Queen plunges the land of Dor into a deep depression, and when the King's daughter Princess Pea (Emily Watson) is kidnapped, Despereaux is determine to save her and bring the kingdom back to life.

The Tale of Despereaux

is a darker tale presented with a dignified and classier edge than most fairytale animations, but it lacks the engaging charm of similar work such as

Ratatouille

or

Shrek

. The stunning animation is the redeeming feature, but it is unlikely the book's audience (between 4-8 years old) will find it makes up for the film's disappointing lack of energy and humour which they will no doubt be expecting.

Francesca Rudkin

Voices:

Dustin Hoffman, Matthew Broderick, William H. Macy, Sigourney Weaver

Director:

Sam Fell

Running time:

93 mins

Rating:

PG (some scenes may scare very young children)

Screening:

Hoyts, Berkeley and SkyCity Cinemas