Review of The Tale of Despereaux (2008) by Cj Z — 24 Dec 2010

One of the biggest flaws or The Tale of Despereaux is the fact that the whole story isn't just Desperaux. The story has three protagonists, and little kids might get confused about which is which near the end.

My imagining of the charming book was different, mostly through the titular character Despereaux. Voiced by Matthew Broderick, desperaux almost seems like a man in the movie. In the book, I pictured Despereaux as a small, tidy, Dumbo-eared small-voiced mousie. Watching the movie, I felt both largely dissapointed and kinda creeped out. Matthew's deep voice unsettled me. Plus, Emily Watson's character, Princess Pea, looks strange rather than the illustrations in the book. I don't know why the animators would do that. She looks like a beagle. Also, the changes regarding the master chef character; she's changed to a boy for the film, and has a magical fruit pal to cook? What? Too many mistakes are made for this to be a good film.