‘THE Tale of Despereaux” is an old-fashioned animated fable that teaches kids about the importance of courage, loyalty and soup.
Despereaux, voiced by Matthew Broderick, is a little mouse (he’s half the size of other mice) who grows up with Dumbo-size ears. He longs for feats of derring-do, even as his elders advise him of the superior strategic option of derring-don’t. “He never cowers!” say his peers. “We showed him how, but . . . ” Turns out he’s also a failure at cringing.
When sent to the library with instructions to gobble up, literally, the great books, Despereaux reads them instead. He also discovers he wants to be a sort of 2-inch Errol Flynn. Lucky for him, he lives in a fairy-tale town (half-timbered houses, a king, a princess and, er, a magical man made of vegetables who has the best soup recipes).
But things in the village have been bleak lately. How bleak? Gray clouds block the sun. Food has no taste, and the people are relentlessly downbeat. Things have turned positively Scottish.
Several other misfits are also around. For the first time since “Midnight Cowboy,” Dustin Hoffman plays a rat, one whose reputation has suffered even for a rat after an accident he caused that resulted in the death of the queen. The king has taken to sitting by himself and playing sad songs on his lute, leaving an effect on the kingdom equivalent to Jimmy Carter’s speech about malaise.
There’s also a serving wench, a porcine young girl called Mig (Tracey Ullman) who is losing her enthusiasm for fawning over the princess (Emma Watson). Dark thoughts start to steal into the minds of both the rat and the servant girl.
Despereaux’s tale stands out among recent animated features for its lack of jokiness (even “Wall-E” had more shtick), its stately air, its timelessness, its bruised souls and damaged hopes. A lot of the movie takes place in a dungeon. The sadness that envelops the kingdom isn’t a method for the writers to open up a discussion of current events, but the result of a miserable series of accidents and misunderstandings among otherwise well-meaning folk.
Although the movie, based on Kate DiCamillo’s book and adapted by “Big” writer Gary Ross, is simple enough for little kids (there’s also some peril that makes its G rating questionable), adults will get caught up in the movie’s sweet sincerity. (Teens, on the other hand, may be bored.) Even Disney seldom makes movies like this one anymore, without pop-culture gags or hit songs.
“The Tale of Despereaux” is more like Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty,” somber, slow and elegant instead of frantic and dazzling. It works like a beloved fairy tale. Despereaux’s world is enchanting as well as enchanted. What’s not to like about a fantasyland where the biggest holiday of the year is soup day?
THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX Mighty mouse. Running time: 87 minutes. Rated G. At the 84th Street, the Orpheum, the Kips Bay, others.