The Tale of Despereaux
By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment
The Tale of Despereaux is an animated movie based on a Newberry Medal winning book by Kate DiCamillo. The book told multiple stories and was split into four different parts, but the full title (The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread) implied that the story was about more than the mouse. Leaving out the subtitle implies that the story will primarily focus on the mouse, but there’s also a rat, a princess and a servant girl and the movie spends a lot of time with them. Before Despereaux is even introduced there is an entire subplot with Roscuro the rat that ends with soup (and rats!) being outlawed from the entire kingdom.
Once the story gets to Despereaux we learn that he isn’t like the other mice. Through his character we learn that being different – or even strange – is not necessarily a bad thing. The other mice are taught to be afraid in school, but Despereaux has a healthy curiosity about the world. Even compared with other mice, he is tiny, but he doesn’t even notice this…because in his own mind he is a giant. Eventually, he even develops an interest in books and a love for reading. (How many children do you think could benefit from having this unusual little mouse as a role model?)
The Tale of Despereaux is filled with advanced themes and ideas that most animated films don’t even seem to want to acknowledge…and it’s really a shame that – because of the multiple storylines – the overall effect is somewhat disjointed. When soup and rats are outlawed the narrator even asks, “What happens when you make something illegal that is just a natural part of the world?” That’s a pretty heavy question for a kid’s cartoon. When Despereaux breaks the mouse rule of “no reading” he is banished …for the good of the community. That’s another fairly mature idea. Some of the other concepts mentioned during the story are: honor, justice, grief, courage, truth, heartbreak, bravery, pain, hope, loyalty, friendship, longing, duty, hurt, nobility, forgiveness, chivalry and how to be a gentleman.
- Score
- 7/10
The Tale of Despereaux would be an excellent movie for a child to watch and re-watch endlessly (just in case the media that we consume really does have an influence on us), but (sadly) they will be more interested in Kung Fu Panda, Wall-E or Bolt. (Which, admittedly, are all better – but much more lightly-themed – films.) The book is rumored to be very different from the animated version, but it did win an award, so maybe your children will learn some important lessons from the written version …if you can interest them in reading in the first place. If only there were an animated film with a main character that promotes reading…
