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The Tale of Despereaux (2008) - Critic Reviews - Page 4 of 5

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Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Mark Adams (368) for Daily Mirror (UK) (1,133) on 19 Dec 2008

It is all nicely animated, and has a great voice cast, but is not really special or magical enough to really crack the ultra-competitive kiddie…

Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Steven D. Greydanus (674) for Decent Films Guide (519) on 19 Dec 2008

Not a Fractured Fairy Tale, not an ironic deconstruction … but a sincere morality tale in a folk storytelling mode, with dark themes to do…

Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Matthew Turner (2,508) for ViewLondon (2,339) on 19 Dec 2008

The Tale of Despereaux's heart is in the right place, but the script is messy and unfocussed, the animation is dull and uninspired, the characters…

Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Andrew L. Urban (972) for Urban Cinefile (2,850) on 19 Dec 2008

Laboured and disjointed, the film has none of the charm of a Ratatouille or a Shrek, but seems derivative of them…

Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Fred Topel (1,193) for Can Magazine (288) on 18 Dec 2008

So a queen dies by rat tainted soup? I guess that's what the kids are into these days…

Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Frederic And Mary Ann Brussat (3,072) for Spirituality and Practice (3,072) on 18 Dec 2008

An absolutely wonderful animated screen version of a Newbery award-winning children's book about courage, love, light, and forgiveness…

Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Jesse Hassenger (800) for Filmcritic.com (3,164) on 18 Dec 2008

With Pixar's advances towering on one side and classic Disney features on the other, this wan little picture might just as well slip, mouselike,…

Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Eric D. Snider (2,489) for EricDSnider.com (2,026) on 18 Dec 2008

It takes a long time to find its way; even once it's on track, it has a hard time juggling the shifting story lines and characters…

Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Dustin Putman (2,479) for TheFilmFile.com (2,314) on 18 Dec 2008

A curiously lifeless motion picture, its emotional content so stuffy and its tone so understated that it almost becomes a chore to sit through…

Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Christy Lemire (1,262) for Associated Press (1,685) on 18 Dec 2008

Whereas the gorgeous, sophisticated Ratatouille was both a crowd-pleaser and a critical favorite, duly winning the Academy Award for best animated…

Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Brian Orndorf (4,059) for BrianOrndorf.com (1,055) on 18 Dec 2008

It's frustrating to watch Tale flounder as much as it does, but when the filmmakers don't seem particularly comfortable with the source material,…

Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Kent Turner (504) for Film-Forward.com (768) on 18 Dec 2008

Unlike so many animated films that are clogged with trendy pop-culture references, the filmmakers recall older tales with a wink and a nod…

Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Joe Lozito (463) for Big Picture Big Sound (482) on 18 Dec 2008

Unusual animated fable - about a courageous mouse that saves a kingdom - suffers from an over-abundance of story but has its heart in the right place…

Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Adam Markovitz (84) for Entertainment Weekly (6,953) on 18 Dec 2008

The Tale of Despereaux looks like an illuminated manuscript brought to life. Too bad the story's such a mess…

Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Pete Hammond (936) for Boxoffice Magazine (2,896) on 18 Dec 2008

The all-star voice cast, led by Broderick's sweet and noble reading of the title mouse, is superb…

Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Bill Goodykoontz (2,123) for Arizona Republic (3,909) on 18 Dec 2008

The Tale of Despereaux gathers a host of vocal talent for a relatively complicated story of heroism and loyalty, requiring that its young audience…

Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Frank Swietek (3,473) for One Guy's Opinion (3,473) on 17 Dec 2008

A nice-looking, respectable but oddly unsatisfying family fable…

Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Anna King (15) for Time Out (7,510) on 17 Dec 2008

It's hard to care what happens to Princess Pea when she's just a whiny British toff, waiting for a prince with a phallic-looking noggin to save her…

Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Maryann Johanson (2,701) for Flick Filosopher (2,694) on 17 Dec 2008

[A]n absolute delight, sweetly inventive and surprisingly dark and dedicated to making you forget how many times we've seen similar stories…

Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

By Andrea Chase (1,182) for Killer Movie Reviews (1,182) on 17 Dec 2008

An animated film for both kids and adults that is vibrant, complex, and fearless in its depiction of the good, the bad, and the careless in all of us…

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