Film Reviews

The Tale of Despereaux

• Rating:
• Director: Gary Ross
• Starring: Dustin Hoffman
• Details: UK/USA / TBC / (G)

There seems to be an epidemic of sorts, where CGI toons are being put into production with extremely high profile casts, but scripts that are obviously lacking on the gag front. Unfortunately, The Tale of Despereaux is no different. Despite an interesting set-up, and a main hero with penchant for adorability, it feels like there's always something missing. Set in a fairytale world where mice and rats can talk, everything is hunky-dory until sea-rat Roscuro (Hoffman) falls into the Queen's soup, inadvertently killing her. This causes the king to fall into a deep depression, as he bans soup and rats from his land, resulting in the rodents amassing underground to set up their own disease-ridden subculture. Around this time, Despereaux is born, and is immediately different from his mice brethren. He doesn't cower and has a strong sense of adventure - two things that get him harshly booted from the community. When you look at the more successful recent animated fare, there seems to be just as many laughs to go with the charm - something that generally appeases the adults who bring their offspring to the cinema. But while The Tale of Despereaux has a certain charm, there is not one chucklesome moment during its entire running time. The recent (and far cheaper) Niko And The Way To The Stars was a film that proved you could appeal to the younger kids out there without completely alienating anyone old enough to wipe their own bum. But this really just plods along, still introducing important characters over half-way into its running time, and never really engages its audience completely - despite some nice animation and a storyline right out of the whimsical playbook. It might keep them quiet for the first half hour, but when you have to sit through it with them, it's really not worth it.

Review by Mike Sheridan