The Tale of Despereaux Movie Trailer

Posted on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta

Universal has released a trailer for their pcoming computer animated film The Tale of Despereaux. I always find it fascinating when similar films are released close together: Armageddon and Deep Impact, Ants and A Bug’s Life, and now Ratatouille and The Tale of Despereaux - two computer animated films with European settings, about rodents who aren’t afraid of the human world which they are trained to be afraid of. And I’m not saying that Universal copied Pixar, or Pixar copied Universal. It’s just interesting that similar ideas are realized at the same time. The Tale of Despereaux is actually based on a book which was published in 2003, and the film was announced a year later. Pixar began developing Ratatouille in 2000. But it also doesn’t help that the teaser begins with a Chef in a kitchen.

Official Plot Synopsis: Once upon a time, in the faraway kingdom of Dor, there was magic in the air, laughter aplenty and gallons of mouthwatering soup.  But an accident left the King broken-hearted, the Princess filled with longing and the townsfolk without their soup.  Sunlight disappeared.  The world became gray.  All hope was lost in this land…until Despereaux Tilling (Matthew Broderick) was born.

A modern fairy tale, The Tale of Despereaux tells the story of four unlikely heroes: Despereaux , a brave mouse banished to the dungeon for speaking with a human; Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman), a good-hearted rat who loves light and soup, but is exiled to darkness; Pea (Emma Watson), a Princess in a gloomy castle who is prisoner to her father’s grief; and Mig (Tracey Ullman), a servant girl who longs to be a Princess, but is forced to serve the jailer.

Tiny and graced with oversized ears, Despereaux was born too big for his little world.  Refusing to live his life cowering, he befriends a Princess named Pea and learns to read (rather than eat) books—reveling in stories of knights, dragons and fair maidens.  Banished from Mouseworld for being more man than mouse, Despereaux is rescued by another outcast, Roscuro, who also wants to hear the tales.  But when the Princess dismisses Roscuro’s friendship, he becomes the ultimate rat and plots revenge with fellow outsider Mig.

After Pea is kidnapped, Despereaux discovers he is the only one who can rescue her…and that even the tiniest mouse can find the courage of a knight in shining armor.  In this tale of bravery, forgiveness and redemption, one small creature will teach a kingdom that it takes only a little light to show the truth: what you look like doesn’t equal what you are.

Watch the trailer in High Definition on Yahoo. The Tale of Despereaux is scheduled to hit theaters on December 19th 2008.

Comments 

 

Related Posts

Tags

Adaptation, Family Films, Fantasy, Movie Trailers, , , , , ,

  • JackDurden
    Yes they have similar plots

    No they aren't released close to each other.

    Ratatouille came out in June 2007, Desperaux in December 2008, that's an 18 month difference.
  • mkpmedia
    While Antz was a blatant rip-off of A Bug's Life, this is different enough and farther along to be totally cool with me - it actually looks pretty interesting, not the usual style of computer animated film...
  • Christopher Marc
    @Peter

    I understand you're affection with Pixar, and I think what they do is great....but can you tone down the amount of coverage of children's films...the flood of Wall-E features is one thing, reporting on every CGI animated Pixar knock off is another...
  • w smith
    Well, it has a much different look than Ratatouille, that helps. Could be interesting.
  • Matt
    Not to step on Peter's toes but in case you've forgotten Christopher this is a movie news/info site. Peter's not just going to stop covering stuff because there's an abundance of it. I rather like his opinions included with most of the posts, anyway.
    This is a stretch but will this be attached to Wanted?
  • Christopher Marc
    Whatever happened to hand drawn/painted traditional animation...I think we have to blame Disney for cheaply using and relying on computers to come up with these films...I remember the high concept artwork that Disney was known for..why kill off a high-end form of artistry...I know there is a lot effort put into these new animated movies, but the cartoons and movies these days seem to rely way too much on computers....I know these movies look good when they first come out, but all CGI effects look dated after a couple of years....Something about the classic Disney films have a timeless feel...it's just my opinion but I wish the studios would bring back this tradition..

    Lady & The Tramp (1955)
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=LZmVm6qv1Lk
  • Hayden
    I read and loved the book. They didn't capture the tone of it at all. It was like the Pulp Fiction of children's books. And they really took the be afraid thing way too far.
  • Christopher Marc
    @Matt

    I'm just voicing my opinion, Peter can do as he likes I know how much he enjoys all film and shares as much as he can. I'm just sort of fed up with these CGI created cash machines, that I know wouldn't have entertained me as a child. Some of them are just plain uncreative and dull. Others I believe are great steps forward...The majority of them like most movies are to milk children and parents out of money, without giving a great film rather looking at the toy marketing instead.
  • w smith
    Traditional hand drawn animation is never coming back in any mainstream major film - it is far too expensive and labor intensive. 2D computer animation that emulates a traditional look may come back into style again, but they don't make them like they used to...
  • Can't say I'm too impressed with this.
  • Meli
    Personally, I'm glad for this bit of news my daughter will be
    excited. She read the book (twice) a few years ago and it has remained one of her favorite books.
  • Don't forget Volcano/Dante's Peak amongst the "Movies Come in Twosies" trend.
  • Joe
    I don't like the animation at all.

    Oh well, just means I'll skip it.
  • Colin
    w_smith

    You are incorrect sir. Since Disney bought our PIXAR and put John Lassiter in charge of all things animated, he's revived Disney's 2D division and they have one or two traditionally animated movies coming out in a few years. Hand drawn of course. 2D is no more or less labour intensive than 3D (trust me, I've done both professionally for Disney). in fact, it's a lot easier to do certain things in 2D. If it were too labour intensive, then how do shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy exist. They're not done in Flash, they're hand drawn and then scanned into the computer.
  • andy
    "Whatever happened to hand drawn/painted traditional animation…I think we have to blame Disney for cheaply using and relying on computers to come up with these films…"

    Well, that's really a pretty big question, and as Colin said, it isn't about price or labor -- CG animation is often expensive as heck (the production of Wall-e has cost something along the lines of $15o million, I think). Mostly, after the success of the early Pixar films, and a string of poor and under-performing traditionally animated films, the powers that be deemed computer animation the way of the future. Of course, CG imagery is just a tool, and doesn't make bad movies good.

    Anyway, The Princess and the Frog will mark Disney's return to 2D in 2009.

    oh, also, good animated films are not "children's movies." They're just plain good movies :)
  • Tendrillar
    The thing with the notebook and the horror on the faces of the parents, and with the mouse closing the fat kids mouth. That awkward pause bullshit. I'm so sick of it. The animation looks great, but the writing looks horrible. I'm not familiar with the book, but I dare say that liberties were taken with this one.
  • Looks good.
  • Aaron
    I'm sure that when scripts/treatments are being shopped around, that more than a few pieces are picked up and reshaped into a new movie (hence the proximity of releases).

    Either way, it doesn't look like this will get much attention. It reminds me more of Fievel (sp?) than Ratatouille.
  • MR Y
    Dont judge the film by this trailer. It doesnt give a good representation of what the film is like. It is slightly different thatn the book, but basically the same. The film is a lot different than others out there, and it is also quite dark, so may not suit really young kids. In this trailer it only really shows the mice, yet they only appear for about 25% of the story, so there is so much more to see, and a great story.
    Maybe there will be a 2nd trailer out in sept/oct showing a different angle on this film.
  • waltponce
    Seriously guys, IT'S A KIDS MOVIE!

    The TALE of Despereaux is a NEWBERRY AWARD WINNING KIDS BOOK! The story is phenomenal. What we just saw in the trailer is probably the first 15 minutes of the movie.

    Despereaux is exiled from the mouse village, sent to the dungeaons, escapes again, saves a princess, foils an evil rats plans and helps a poor servant girl with mild retardation to believe that she IS a princess.

    So, calm the mess down, and just see it for what it is...KIDS FODDER!
  • danielle and chi chi
    despereaux is a wonderful book. we loved it.



    WE LOVE DESPEREAUX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Nina
    i read the book and i just loooved it!!! i can't wait to see the movie!!
  • devon
    i am doing a project on this and i found this and i am kind of excited
  • BUBBLES
    i luvvvvvvvvvvvvvv the tale of desperaux book it 's so heart breaking. but desperzux is so hotttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!2 CUTE 2 B TRUE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
blog comments powered by Disqus
gorilla nation

/Film

Copyright © 2009 /Film. Web design by Pro Blog Design. Logo Concept by: Illumination Ink

All names, trademarks and images are copyright their respective owners.