The Tale of Despereaux with Matthew Broderick Arrives on DVD and BluRay on April 7

The Tale of Despereaux is an intriguing, high-caliber animated movie about an unlikely hero - in this case, an undersized mouse with over-sized ears voiced by Matthew Broderick. Although the movie is animated and based upon a 2003 Newbery Medal winning children's fantasy book The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread, the movie's story line will appeal to adults.

The Despereaux books are quite deep and even dark in places. The movie version waters down both the depth and darkness of the books to make it more of a children's film, but much of the essence of Despereaux survives the Hollywoodization.

The Tale of Despereaux is the story of four principal characters. Although Despereaux is the main character in the move, the film begins with the tale of Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman), a gentle rat who learns to love the light and talk to humans. Through his desire to smell the famous soup of Dor, he climbs a chandelier and falls into the Queen's soup bowl, causing her to have a fatal heart attack and die. Roscuro is heart sick at what he has done and tries to apologize, but no one listens as he is chased through the castle by people who want to kill him. Roscuro falls down a grate into the castle dungeon, where he is found by Botticelli (Ciaran Hinds), the ruler of Ratworld. Botticelli is the villain of The Tale of Despereaux, and he desires to turn Roscuro into a lover of darkness like the other rats.

Princess Pea (Emma Watson) is the heroine of The Tale of Despereaux. She is a kind-hearted girl who is terribly lonely after the death of her mother and subsequent inconsolable grief of her father. Once Despereaux sees her, he falls in love with the human princess and speaks to her. Princess Pea finds Despereaux adorable and becomes fond of him. However, some of her actions born of fear, misunderstanding, and thoughtlessness trigger some of the tragic elements of the story.

Miggery Sow (Tracey Ullman) is the fourth character to play a major role in The Tale of Despereaux. Miggory is given away be her father as an infant and raised by an uncle who treats her as a servant. Her fate in the books is even more cruel. Miggory works on her uncle's farm, caring for the pigs, but she dreams of being a princess in the castle. When her uncle sells her, she is taken to the castle to work. Miggory is a bit dim-witted, as well as caught between admiring the princess and being jealous of her. When the princess is inadvertently cruel to both Roscuro and Miggory, both Roscuro and Miggory give in to their baser instincts and plot the death of the princess by taking her to the dungeons where she is destined to become a feast for the rats.

While The Tale of Despereaux is a charming and fun-filled story for children, it is also a deep morality play about the choices we make and how they influence others. The Tale of Despereaux is a keen and complex look at darkness and light and the emotions that drive us: fear and courage, despair and hope, revenge and forgiveness.

The Tale of Despereaux features the voices of Matthew Broderick, Emma Watson, Dustin Hoffman, Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Kline, William H. Macy, Tracy Ullman, Christopher Lloyd, and Stanley Tucci. The Tale of Despereaux movie is interesting and entertaining for adults and kids alike and will leave older viewers with food for thought. For people of all ages, the film is a timeless story not only about finding one's place in the world, but about how we create our place in the world.

The Tale of Despereaux was released in theaters on December 19, 2008 by Universal Studios. The Tale of Despereaux releases on DVD and BluRay on April 7, 2009 on Universal Studios Home Entertainment. For more movie details, visit The Tale of Despereaux.

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The Tale of Despereaux