- Released: December 19, 2008
- Directed by: Sam Fell, Robert Stevenhagen
- Running time: 1 h 33 min
- Rating 3.5/5
Synopsis
My Thoughts
As a kid I really remember seeing the trailers of this movie but literally nothing else. Never saw it in cinemas or even any posters for them, never saw the DVD in stores that I could remember. But it did always kinda linger in the back of my mind because of the cool medieval aesthetics. And wouldn't you know it, now it's on the Dutch version of Netflix, so I can finally watch it!
We meet Despereaux, a young mouse who, unlike the rest of his kind, is brave and fascinated by tales of knights and chivalry. When the kingdom he inhabits falls into a depressive slump after the death of the queen, Despereaux takes it upon himself to cheer up the princess and mend the rift between the humans, mice and rats that has since formed. That doesn't prove to be easy, however, as the rats intend on kidnapping the princess for their devious plans. Despereaux and his new rat friend Roscuro must now save the day.
A basic story of heroism, it kind of reads like a fairy tale if you ask me, and I like it. It doesn't feel big or epic, but it still has a sense of scale to it, especially since it's shown from the perspective of an unusually small mouse. It's not a large-scale adventure and all of it takes place in the kingdom itself (heck, most of it just in various levels of the royal palace) but it never feels "small" and has a sense of charm to it.
The characters aren't amazingly written or anything, but they still get the job done. I like Despereaux's fascination for tales of knights and his sense of bravery. I like the princess who just longs for the days of happiness again since her mother passed. And the character I like the most and who is the most well-written is Roscuro the rat. He is actually the one who caused the kingdom to fall into disrepair and depression by accidentally causing the queen's death, which caused the rats (among other things) to be outlawed. Which then prompted the species to hide deep and become vengeful towards humans.
Roscuro himself is a bit of a morally gray character; he's far from perfect but he's got a good heart. He does genuinely feel awful for what happened to the queen, but when him trying to make amends with the princess goes wrong he does have a brief arc where he becomes the antagonist. However, he soon realizes that this just isn't the way and ultimately steps up against the rat leader. He also forms a pretty wholesome friendship with Despereaux along the way. Easily the best-written character. Despereaux is neat and all, but he doesn't have a real arc or anything; he just starts out brave and chivalrous and is still brave and chivalrous by the end of the story. But Roscuro goes through actual ups and downs of having to deal with the consequences of his actions and it's just very well-written.
As for the visuals, the movie doesn't look half-bad either. Yes, of course, with it coming out in 2008 it is a slight bit dated-looking. The animation is fantastic but some textures wouldn't hold up today. I also think that some of the character designs (most notably the humans, the rodents look fine) can look a bit hit or miss. I do like the style they're going for, being kind of this storybook illustration-esque style, but in motion on a 3D model not all of them work perfectly. Not bad or anything, they just could've used a little bit more polish when compared to the great-looking mice and rats. I also really gotta applaud the character design of the villain rat in this movie. Just imagine the critic guy from Ratatouille redesigned as a rat. He looks like that, killer (in a positive way) character design for a villain.
So overall while this movie isn't the most large-scale, fantastic-looking or epic ever, it still has a lot of good elements. A neat visual style and animation. Really good character writing on Roscuro. A fairy-tale-like feel to it. It's not perfect but I had a good time watching it and I do recommend it if it interests you.
No comments:
Post a Comment