The Tale of Despereaux
Universal Pictures | Release Date: December 19, 2008
6.5
USER SCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 69 Ratings
USER RATING DISTRIBUTION
Positive:
33
Mixed:
22
Negative:
14
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User Reviews

User scoreBy dateMost helpful
3
AgroteraApr 4, 2012
This film was a mess. The plot was like three very crappy early-morning children's TV shows stripped of all personality and quirk and rolled into an hour and a half of extremely dull, artsy-fartsy, fragmented storylines. They obviously pushedThis film was a mess. The plot was like three very crappy early-morning children's TV shows stripped of all personality and quirk and rolled into an hour and a half of extremely dull, artsy-fartsy, fragmented storylines. They obviously pushed the 'morbid' theme as far as they could while still advertising as G-rated.
I thought the voice acting was pretty bad despite all the big names that worked on this movie. Every time Sigourney Weaver jumped in to preach at us through the narration, I couldn't help groaning a little ... it was that bad.
I haven't read the book, but I have a feeling that most of the parts I really loathed were invented for the film.… Expand
3 of 3 users found this helpful30
All this user's reviews
3
MichaelF.Dec 30, 2008
This tale is long in duration but short in plot, action, humor, character development, and everything else that makes an animated movie good. The bad guy, a rat, is recycled, part and parcel, from the critic in Ratatouille - I think they This tale is long in duration but short in plot, action, humor, character development, and everything else that makes an animated movie good. The bad guy, a rat, is recycled, part and parcel, from the critic in Ratatouille - I think they took the same CGI model and made it a rat. I was so disappointed - the premise had so much potential, but the follow-through was flat and utterly uninspiring.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
1
ConnieM.Dec 31, 2008
This was a dark, scary movie to take kids from 8 & under to... my grandkids said they wanted to go home less than halfway through it ! ( I wanted to leave too !) We did leave .... sorry to have wasted money... wish we had read the reviews This was a dark, scary movie to take kids from 8 & under to... my grandkids said they wanted to go home less than halfway through it ! ( I wanted to leave too !) We did leave .... sorry to have wasted money... wish we had read the reviews before we went !… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
2
GordonM.Dec 25, 2008
Terrible. I saw this with the family prior to christmas day, and even the 7 year old kids didn't like this. The story was filled with more holes and cracks then the wartorn streets of Baghdad. The annoying voice over of Sigonry Weaver Terrible. I saw this with the family prior to christmas day, and even the 7 year old kids didn't like this. The story was filled with more holes and cracks then the wartorn streets of Baghdad. The annoying voice over of Sigonry Weaver constantly manages to detach the audience from any illusion of disbelief, she also manages to confuse the audience by saying that mice and rats can't talk, then having a movie about Mice and Rats constantly arguing and lamenting over the loss of soup. The worst thing about this movie though, the one thing that managed to beat the horrible animation, disgusting shrek looking peasents, unlikeable characters, the drawn out plot, the over sensual voice acting from emma watson(even through voice acting she was suggestive) and the horrible, horrible cliched dialouge was the morals it might spread to children. The morals this movie manages to be preach might actually be the opposite of what Mufasa was trying to teach in "The Lion King". Desperaux goes out of his way to get into trouble to prove he is brave, I only hope children realize this movie is as terrible as I know it is and ignore it all together. It gets two points because It has a lot famous voice actors and that should give it SOME points. right?… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
0
DaliS.Dec 28, 2008
i don't usually bother rating movies online but this atrocious mess prompted me to try and save someone from making the same mistake i did. do not go see this movie. there are no redeeming factors to be considered here, this is an utter i don't usually bother rating movies online but this atrocious mess prompted me to try and save someone from making the same mistake i did. do not go see this movie. there are no redeeming factors to be considered here, this is an utter stinker, not for kids not for adults. peeeeyouuuuuuu.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
2
TeresaB.Dec 28, 2008
Nice animation, but my husband, myself and our 9 year old daughter quickly became lost in the plot. We also found it to be somewhat dark and violent for a rated "G" movie.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
2
LeventeS.Jun 22, 2009
A boring pseudo-legend with unconvincing characters, phoned-in voice acting, a completely unnecessary narrator, mediocre visuals, poor dialogue, a bad plot, and, despite the potential for comic brilliance, was completely unfunny after the A boring pseudo-legend with unconvincing characters, phoned-in voice acting, a completely unnecessary narrator, mediocre visuals, poor dialogue, a bad plot, and, despite the potential for comic brilliance, was completely unfunny after the first half hour, and would only be funny if you hadn't seen the trailer in which they threw away all the good jokes. This is strictly a kids' movie, and not a very good one, at that. Definitely not worth the first viewing, much less a second.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
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