Director: Robert StevenhagenCast: Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller's Day Off), Dustin Hoffman (Kung Fu Panda, Rain Man), Emma Watson (Harry Potter), Ciaran Hinds (Rome), Tracey Ullman (The Tracey Ullman Show), Robbie Coltrane (Harry Potter), Sigourney Weaver (Aliens), Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda), William H. Macy (ER, Fargo), Tony Hale (Arrested Development), Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future)
The Deal: Despereaux (Broderick) is an undersized mouse with an oversized thirst for adventure (and some big ears). After reading a story about a brave knight and a princess, he begins to live a life of bravery and nobility. When it is discovered that he had contact with a human, Princess Pea (Watson), his fellow mice cast him to the dungeons to live with the rats. He is saved from certain doom by Roscuro (Hoffman), a rat who once sailed the world and refuses to resort to the filthy rat ways. When Princess Pea is captured, Despereaux sets out to brave the odds and rescue her.
Thoughts: I was not impressed by the animation in the film. It felt outdated compared to other films, even some from a few years ago. When it comes to animation, Disney-Pixar is king, and Dreamworks comes in second. Despereaux is from Universal, and their lack of experience in this style was blatently obvious. Had the story been stronger, this fault could be overlooked, but since it was not, the viewer is forced to resort to the visuals, which were not strong enough to support the film.
The voice acting was pretty standard for animated films these days. Dustin Hoffman was good, but his character was underused and needed more screen time, which could have helped the film. Broderick was alright as Despereaux, though I never really felt the complete range of emotions his character experienced. Watson was not given much to stand out with. She had a few standard conversations, and then a couple of scenes where she was trapped. The rest of the voice actors get lost in the fray, though it was fun picking their voices out throughout the film.
If this film teaches anything, it's that soup is the key to a wonderful life. Seriously, it is essentially the solution to all of the problems in the kingdom of Dor. Everything else the film hopes to teach, such as apologies and forgiveness, is simply thrown in at the end for good measure, despite never really addressing it during the film. This is mostly in part due to the story, which moves to fast for its own good. It seems to just throw a bunch of different fairy tale themes at the viewer and hopes they can piece it all together on their own. It was fairly predictable, though I'm at a complete loss with the point of the "food person." There was no explanation why there was a floating chef made up of food, and his purpose was fairly non-existent. The narration seemed out of place, as it popped up randomly throughout the middle of the film, but was heavily present in the beginning and ending, conveying typical fairy tale commentary.
Verdict: The story is cobbled together with traditional fairy tale elements, and provides little explanation for its purpose. Despite a very solid cast, it is a very disappointing animated film. ☆☆1/2
No comments:
Post a Comment