The Tale of Despereaux
directed by Sam Fell and Robert Stevenhagen
written by Will McRobb, Gary Ross, and Chris Viscardi
based on the book by Kate DiCamillo
starring Matthew Broderick, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Watson, Tracey Ullman, Kevin Kline, William H. Macy, Stanley Tucci, Ciarán Hinds, Robbie Coltrane, Christopher Lloyd, Sigourney Weaver, Richard Jenkins
This charming animated film creates enough magic to undercut its occasional melancholy tone. It’s a bit dark in spots for the young ones dealing as it does with sadness, longing and heartbreak.
An odd mouse named Despereaux (Broderick) is born in the Kingdom of Mouseland. He is so unlike the other mice who are innately terrified of everything and tend to cower or scamper when they are frightened. Despereaux loves to draw cats on his notebooks and considers carving knives to be beautiful. His radical approach to mouse life gets him into serious trouble and he is sent into the dungeon to fight it out with the rats.
This is a story about bravery, chivalry and clear purpose. Despereaux considers himself a gentleman and carries himself as any self-respecting creature might if born into a world where such an attribute was celebrated rather than scorned. No matter what his instructors and parents do to persuade him into groupthink he shuns their attempts and continues to view his world with wonder and amazement. There is nothing worth fearing according to this worldview. Everything that appears is merely made fearsome by how one approaches it. It’s a valuable lesson for the kiddies who also learn that there are many emotions experienced by all that are not pleasant in the slightest and can lead a person into an exceedingly dark and lonely place devoid of sunshine, love and value.
Despereaux’s principal error is to follow his instincts away from the codified life that he is expected to lead. His adventures take him as far from home as is considered possible and from the moment he sees her–the Lady Pea (Watson)–he realizes he has apprehended a vision unlike any other he is likely to experience. Some may call it love but it is much more than that. It is ceremonial and consumed with every sacred thing a poor mouse can imagine. She becomes for him a testament to everything that is grand and noble and he expresses his intent to finish a fairy tale he has clandestinely been reading instead of eating as is traditional amongst mice.
Princess Pea is fraught with longing. Ever since her father the King banned soup–considered so precious that an entire day is devoted to its honor–from the realm as well as all rats, it has not rained and the sun has hidden itself behind dark, ominous clouds. The Princess wants things to be the way they used to be and confesses her desires to her new mouse friend. The film explores the Princess’s agony through a rather grey prism. Her mother the Queen has recently died because a soup-mad rat named Roscuro (Hoffman) has fallen into her soup bowl causing her to have a heart attack. The lonely King plays mournfully on his lute and becomes utterly despondent, such is the extent of his grief.
The film is substantially downcast throughout. Sorrow and torment hang over every frame as Despereaux finds himself trapped in a place very much unlike any he has ever known. He is forced to deal with filthy, rotten rats in order to fulfil his destiny and serve the Princess in the proper manner as befitting her crown.
There are a few characters who colorfully enhance the story and provide it with a sense of purpose. Andre (Kline) is the master chef who annually prepares the great soup on the special day and takes tremendous pride in his work. When the King bans soup he becomes despondent at suddenly having his pride stripped from him as well as his livelihood. Miggery Sow (Ullman) is a tragic girl who has experienced many injustices in her young life. Her father gives her away to a man who abuses her in an undisclosed fashion. She slops pigs until that fateful day when she is sold to another man for the same price he gets for one of his pigs. Mig finds herself at the castle and eventually becomes the Princess’s personal slave/assistant/fetcher. She dreams of one day herself becoming a Princess but otherwise curses her lot.
The greatest of all secondary characters is the Lord of the Rats, Botticelli (Hinds) who demands great awe from his subjects and who preaches evil as a doctrine that ought to be followed to the letter. Botticelli is basically Count Orlok from F. W. Murnau’s film “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror”. He has the same beady little eyes; long, pointy nose; and his posture is very much in line with that affected by Max Schreck, the actor who brought this early version of Dracula to life.
A toxic message that can be extracted from this film and something that narrator Sigourney Weaver addresses are that there are great perils attached to any effort to take away something that is perfectly natural. It’s a very simple concept with profound implications. There are many things that are natural to a person but perhaps should not be publically practiced in any realm. To some persons the most ghastly practices are “natural” but not in any way acceptable to the society in which they reside. Vile acts of the most unmentionable horror, as embodied by Botticelli, are nearly universally viewed as loathsome but to the practitioners of these acts they seem quite normal. To allow such behaviors to run amok would perhaps create a world utterly devoid or reason or understanding. Yet again, what is considered here is a natural that is healthy and life-affirming and not decrepit and rotten. The film certainly supports the former as it applies to proper society as a whole.
The performances in this film all serve the material gallantly. Matthew Broderick captures his character’s appreciation of the many mysteries unfolding all around him. One gets a real sense of Despereaux’s vitality and his thirst for life. Ciarán Hinds is perfectly demonic in all the right ways and his totemic performance creates a giddy embodiment of everything the wee ones are inculcated to fear and despise. Emma Watson brings a quiet desperation to her regal character. Princess Pea is a sullen, lonely girl who Watson portrays with a legitimate sense of piety and grace. Tracy Ullman gives her character a sense of decency born aloft after many sorry years of neglect and abuse. Ullman subtly reveals the vulnerability of Mig and provides her with a great deal of sympathy.
Overall, this film might be targeted at children but its themes will resonate with grown ups as well. There is a substantially maudlin quality to this film that comes through in many scenes where the characters are struggling to right themselves after various tragedies have befallen them. Certainly, it’s an enchanting picture about a cute mouse with enormous ears and huge eyes but it’s really a bit more than that. The sorrows are realistically conveyed and the lasting impression is one that is informed by concerns that include loneliness, ennui, and a definite sense of despair. Certainly, the film itself is a celebration of uniqueness as well as honor, decency, and perseverance. It’s also about the necessity of forgiveness in a world that is often devoid of such bold and often difficult measures.
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