The Tale of Despereaux | Rotten Tomatoes

The Tale of Despereaux

G

Released Dec 19, 2008

1 hr. 34 min.

Kids & Family

Adventure

Fantasy

Animation

List

56%

112 Reviews

Tomatometer

44%

100,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Once a thriving place of sunshine and delicious soup, the faraway kingdom of Dor has fallen into sadness. An accident leaves the king brokenhearted; the sunshine fades, and the soup disappears Into this world is born Despereaux (Matthew Broderick), a book-loving mouse and friend to Princess Pea (Emma Watson). When Pea is kidnapped, Despereaux must find a knight's brave heart within his tiny body and rescue his friend.

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Premiered Jan 03

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Critics Consensus

Despite its striking visuals, The Tale of Despereaux as a story feels familiar and unimaginative.

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Stettafire

The book was fantastic, a really dark fantasy that showed hope in dire situations. The film was a heartless cash grab that bore no resemblance to the book and spoke down to it's audience.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/24

Full Review

Luke R

The movie was bad, the plot was bad, the characters were bad, everything was bad.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

03/10/24

Full Review

Iss M

A very beautiful movie with beautiful feelings I recommend

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/02/23

Full Review

Blu B

It feels like it only has the key story points in it without any of the emotional character devlopment scenes. That's the best way to describe the biggest issue this has. We see Des meet the Rats, meet the supporting cast, saving the day, but we never see or get to know anything about these characters beyond surface level motivations at best. Especially Ros & Des who hardly have 2 minutes together. This lack of emotional development scene leads to characters just being introduced and than forgotten about once there contribution is over and a very unfocused narrative. At first it seems like Ros is going to be the main focus and than 25 minutes later we forget about him and get Des's backstory and coming of age. On top of that the subplot with the ugly cleaning girl feels completely unneeded and just adds to the unfocused narrative. When the Queen dies at the start we ever see her interact or learn anything about her and it leads to no emotional impact or for the King or Princess. It never makes all these subplots really work together in a cohesive way. On top of that the animation is subpar. Most of these scenes don't ever pop with color or lots of emotion because of the lack of character development scenes and the dim lighting in many scenes means there isn't much life or investment to be had. The voice acting is ok enough because of this. There isn't much chemistry or humor to be found but no one is really out of place save for Weaver's narration which feels very subpar. The music is decent and better in the start but slowly devolves into generic forgettable stuff. All this leads to subpar editing and pacing as well. I can't recommend this really to anyone. This could've been a charming tale instead of a cash in on another rat movies popularity around this time if it had more character development. but as it is just skip it.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

10/23/23

Full Review

Green F

I love this movie. It's unique and has a good message.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

05/06/23

Full Review

Cyrus K

My one really big complaint is that Matthew broderick who is an adult is voicing a little kid mouse.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/06/23

Full Review

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Rob Stevenhagen

Director

Sam Fell

Director

Matthew Broderick

Despereaux

Dustin Hoffman

Roscuro

Emma Watson

Pea

Tracey Ullman

Mig

Show Less Cast & Crew

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The Tale of Despereaux: Official Clip - Boldo The Brave

3:27

The Tale of Despereaux: Official Clip - Fighting the Cat

3:21

The Tale of Despereaux: Official Clip - Rat in the Soup

3:31

The Tale of Despereaux: Official Clip - Tales of Chivalry

2:47

The Tale of Despereaux: Official Clip - Apology Gone Bad

2:08

The Tale of Despereaux: Official Clip - Mousetrap Gauntlet

2:08

The Tale of Despereaux: Official Clip - Kidnapping the Princess

3:15

The Tale of Despereaux: Official Clip - Protecting the Princess

2:40

The Tale of Despereaux: Official Clip - Despereaux, The Fearless

2:40

The Tale of Despereaux: Official Clip - Despereaux vs. Botticelli

2:28

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Nell Minow

Movie Mom

Rated: B-

Feb 18, 2012

Full Review

Jake Wilson

The Age (Australia)

Scratch a CGI fairytale and you'll find an allegory about class, particularly if rodents are involved.

Rated: 1.5/5

Jan 9, 2009

Full Review

Ben Lyons

At the Movies

It just tries to take a little bit from some of the things we've seen over the past few years that have worked to make this work and it's just desperate and it doesn't work.

Dec 22, 2008

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

The film contains a certain storybook quality that is quietly appealing, though the story is ultimately flat and uninvolving.

Rated: 1.5/4

Mar 3, 2024

Full Review

Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

The mediocrity of the story is rivaled only by its terribly indistinctive character designs and video game equivalent animation.

Rated: 3/10

Nov 28, 2020

Full Review

Jason Best

Movie Talk

With so many story threads to weave together, the makers of The Tale of Despereaux can't help getting their plot in a tangle, but Sigourney Weaver's delightfully wry narration prevents things from unravelling completely.

Nov 22, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

Once a thriving place of sunshine and delicious soup, the faraway kingdom of Dor has fallen into sadness. An accident leaves the king brokenhearted; the sunshine fades, and the soup disappears Into this world is born Despereaux (Matthew Broderick), a book-loving mouse and friend to Princess Pea (Emma Watson). When Pea is kidnapped, Despereaux must find a knight's brave heart within his tiny body and rescue his friend.

Director: Rob Stevenhagen, Sam Fell
Executive Producer: William Sargent, Ryan Kavanaugh, David Lipman, Robin Bissell
Screenwriter: Gary Ross, Will McRobb, Chris Viscardi
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: Larger Than Life
Rating: G
Genre: Kids & Family, Adventure, Fantasy, Animation
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 19, 2008, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 6, 2016

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