The Tale of Despereaux

Director: Sam Fell and Robert Stevenhagen
Year Released: 2008
Rating: 2.0

A mouse born small but very brave and honorable, Despereaux (voiced by Matthew Broderick), is thrown out of the Mouseworld for being a 'freak' and sent to live with the rats, but rises to the occasion when a Princess (Emma Watson) requires some Old Fashioned Rescuing. Doesn't do a particularly efficient job at weaving together the various storylines of Kate DiCamillo's book and more often than not lacks ... well, desperation: it's stiffly presented and lacking a certain spark (it doesn't help that many elements of this bring to mind the far superior and nuanced Ratatouille). The ending, too, is all too abrupt, but you wouldn't expect anything less from an animated feature that tries to accomplish so little.