This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Simply Perfect

Admirable film.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

I am a huge fan of the book, it's actually one of my favorite books of all time. So when I heard that there was a movie being made about it, I was thrilled. The story in the book lends itself to film wonderfully, and I saw it opening weekend. 10 minutes in I regretted making my mom spend money on it. I was immediately put off by the visual style. I know many have praised the movie for its unique style, but it just did not work for me, specifically the faces of the princess and king. They seemed to elongated and unnatural, very different from the illustrations in the book, which were recreated beautifully elsewhere. Not horrible, but it was the first major departure from the book, and there are many still to come. I do realize that the movie is an adaptation and will differ in some aspects from the book, but there are good changes, like moving the death of Boromir to the end of the the Fellowship of the Ring and there are bad changes like adding Tauriel as a love interest for a dwarf that is going to die. Tale of Despereaux has a plethora of the latter. For starters the cook is now a man, there is a living representation of soup that has a major impact on the climax, Roscuro's story happens after Despereaux's, Despereaux and Roscuro are friends at first, the list goes on and on. These changes serve to move the story very far from the book. Roscuro is no longer the tragic figure who only wanted to live in the light but couldn't because society would never accept a rat, to a good guy who just made a mistake one time. Despereaux is no longer the mouse who dreams to be a knight solely because he wants to do the right thing, but has a double agenda of helping a friend. Not a bad moral, don't get me wrong, but that's not what made the book popular to begin with. While I'm not opposed to changing things from the source material, Ella Enchanted is both a favorite book and movie of mine, the changes have to make sense and remain true to the spirit of the original at least. Tale of Despereaux does not do that in the slightest. If you've never read the book and are under the age of 10, you'll probably like this movie. Anybody else will probably spend their time checking their watch or raging at how much was lost in translation to the screen.

Before watching the movie, I read the book. The book was awesome; very well-written, engaging, and fulfilling. The movie follows the book's plot, for the most part. However, the illustrations/animation of the movie are really bad. The mice are adorable; but the human faces are very ugly. I got an eerie feeling watching this movie, just due to the way the humans were animated. Their faces were way too elongated and they just scared me. An unfortunate situation where a great story is ruined by the ugly animations.Aside from the animations, this movie did not turn out to be very engaging. It seems to be very dull and boring, for the most part. I did not mind the dark themes of the movie and violence, because that is just part of the story. These themes actually enhance the movie. The lessons learnt are very good, but it is not that fun to watch. Maybe little kids will like it more than older ones.

nice, charming, sweet. a fairy - tale from old and precise recipes. a delight. and seed of special joy. because the princess, the sad kingdom, the silky moral lesson are at perfect place. but, more important, the hero is magnificent. and very special. a family film. or just a form of magic in the era of blockbusters. a beautiful work in which each detail is important. because it is a story about old fashion virtues - courage, truth, honor, honesty. and respect for duty. and a new mouse in middle of action is not bad thing. maybe for be conscience for a sad rat. and Charming Prince for a young girl. and model for public. because message is simple - the identity is more important than voice of majority. always.

I know that comparing an adaptation to the source book is too close to not looking at the film for its own merits. I won't go into a line by line list of the changes, but the changes bring nothing to the film. They only take away. The changes seem designed to make the movie more like a typical animated film, which the story wouldn't have been had it stuck closer to the themes of the book.The three characters who really have a story in the book are Roscuro, Miggery Sow, and of course, Despereaux. In the movie, only Despereaux is painted with any real background and character, and all of that is noticeably different from the character in the book. The subtleties that made him so charming are gone, replaced by a devil-may-care nature. Where the Despereaux in the book found heroism in himself, where he didn't expect it, the Despereaux in the film was depicted as being born for heroism. This difference sums up the change in theme and direction of the movie. It becomes much more typical because of this change, without room for character growth. Roscuro and Miggery Sow are similarly rewritten so that they don't develop. The plot is rewritten around them, with strange additions such as the chef and the man made of food.At first, I was confused by comparisons to Ratatouille, but after seeing the first twenty minutes of this movie, I understood it, and perhaps they have something in that comparison. I can't think of a good reason for some of the additions that came out of the blue into the movie adaptation.