ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

CHRISTMAS is a time when cinemas have a captive family audience. There should be an abundance of suitable Festive fare but the pickings are fairly lean this year. Despite all its imperfections, animated feature The Tale of Despereaux could still be the best bet.

Based on the award-winning children’s novel by Kate Di Camillo, The Tale of Despereaux is funny and charming, and nicely narrated by Sigourney Weaver. There are a good number of famous voices hiding behind a rogue’s gallery of characters. The film’s main problem is that are too many characters and too little focus to a story that has enough incident to fill a whole series of fairy tales.

The initial focus is on Rat Roscuro (voiced by Dustin Hoffman), who is riddled with guilt after falling into a bowl of soup and causing the Queen of Dor to suffer a fatal heart attack. The focus then shifts to Despereaux Tilling (Matthew Broderick), a tiny, unconventional mouse with huge ears and a vivid imagination. His dreams are all about noble deeds and heroic acts.

The fearless Despereaux eventually gets the chance to play the hero and restore happiness to the gloomy Dor but not before we have also heard the stories of unhappy servant girl Miggery Sow (Tracey Ullman), Princess Pea (Emma Watson), the chef Andre (Kevin Kline) and the Shrek-like gaoler Gregory (Robbie Coltrane).

Adults may find it a little chaotic and tangled as it fails to successfully weave all these different strands into a coherent narrative. There are times when it feels a little rushed, or as if something is missing. On the other hand, kids will probably ignore the holes in the plot and just savour the characters, the incident and the fast pace.

Nationwide release

Directors: Sam Fell, Robert Stevenhagen
Voice cast: Matthew Broderick, Dustin Hoffman, Tracey Ullman, Emma Watson, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver (narrator)
Screenwriter: Gary Ross based on the novel by Kate Di Camillo
Certificate: U
Running time: 93 mins
Country: USA
Year: 2008