Review of Despereaux

We’ve made a successful trip out to see Despereaux.  I have not read the book so anything that I know about the movie I’ve learned from watching the trailer.  I met my sister at the theater with 5 of my kids who range from age 10 to 2 years old.  We sat down in the theater and my sister broke out the treats and the movie started.

Firstly, my kids sat through the whole movie.  At one point my 6 year old put her head under my arm to shield her eyes from an action sequence, but other than that everyone sat and watched.   As the movie started I found myself being a bit critical.  The colors on the screen were bright and the animation was smooth, but the sound was so low I could hear all of the munching in the theater.  I guess it could have just been my children that I was hearing, but that’s beside the point.  I wonder if “G” rated movies have a lower volume setting.

As we reached our first little action sequence where a rat is being chased by the guards I felt that the editing of the sequence was a bit slow.  I found myself mentally marking where I would have cut the scene to make it a bit more exciting.  I caught myself and again noted that this is a “G” rated movie and the slower pace and lack of choppy action sequencing my be on purpose.  At that point I decided that I was being too critical and I just needed to relax and watch the movie.  😀

So here’s what I learned.  A rat that seems to be the opposite of your stereotypical rat has an accident that causes great heartache to the King.  As a result of the King’s pain and heartbreak his kingdom is made to suffer.  Then we meet a mouse that is not your stereotypical mouse.  As a result of his oddity and lack of enough sense to scurry in the face of danger he is banished from his home.  The Mouseworld fears that he is a danger to their way of life.  Then we meet a peasant girl who wants to be a princess.  She has been bartered into service at the castle and is tricked by the rats to do their bidding.  These three outsiders come together and help to set right the wrongs caused by our inability to see the past someones oddities.  In the movie the princess reacts unfavorably to Despereaux the mouse and asks, “Are you a Rat?”  When he replied in the negative she further inquired, “Are you a Mouse?”  to which he replied, “I, am a gentleman”.  He was not defined by others perceptions of what he was nor was he defined the characteristics of his birth.  He chose to define himself by honor, truth, chivalry and above all he was a gentleman.

In the end, the story was paced so that the children could follow it and the final scenes captivated all of our attention.  We have been reading the book as a family and I will tell you later how the two compare.

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