I could have sworn that I saw in our newspaper that "The Tale of Despereaux " was rated PG-13, so I didn't even approach the idea of seeing it with my two kids. We have not read the book, so I was scratching my head wondering why an innocent mouse story would be rated PG-13. I guess, now I know.
I think that's something many people will assume. Its not an innocent mouse story--this is no
Stuart Little or Beverly Cleary's
Mouse & Motorcyle.
SPOILER ALERT:
The Tale of Despereaux definitley has dark aspects; despair, betrayal, violence, greed, envy, abuse and big ideas like destiny & perfidy.
To set the stage, the story begins with the mouse's French mother naming him "despair" when all his litter siblings die and she has little hope for him either. His father assumes he wil be dead soon.
I don't think the content of the novel is appropriate for most early elementary school kids. There are layers of moral dilemmas and ideas most wouldn't want young readers/listeners to be aware of. For example, in the novel, Migery Sow (the wanna-be princess) was sold as a baby by her father Gregory the Jailer. Mig is also repeatly beaten after being sold and that is why she is nearly deaf. The umbrella theme is dark/light & good over evil; love & hate. In the novel, there is much more of a sense of betrayal and abandonment of Despereaux by his family when he is sentenced to the dungeon. The red thread in the novel is the "red thread of death".
I assumed the filmmakers would change some things with an animated film & to make it more appealing/appropriate for younger viewers. I was surprised that some violence was actually
added in making the movie version. Why the filmmakers left out the fact that Despereaux's mother was French--I don't understand. I found the soup thing in the movie a little strange--in the book it was more of a symbol. The novel is not chronologically linear--it jumps back and forth in time--something most readers/listeners are not ready for until 4th grade and up. Obviously they changed this timeline for the young viewers in the movie audience and I felt like it took away from the story.
Having read the book in a teacher's Master's degree class & read it aloud to kids, I was happily surprised to hear a film was being made. Having just come off of the wonderful cinematography & true-to-text work of the two Narnia films, I had forgotten that sometimes novels-turned-movies can be very disappointing.
I was disappointed with the film Despereaux. My mature 9yr old could appreciate it as a movie though he noticed the many differences from the book. If you're wondering whether its appropriate for your family--I'd recommend reading the book first yourself or perhaps wait for children to be 7/8yrs old & up.
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...was ridiculous and doesnt follow true to the story. Charlie and the Choc. factory movie 1...followed the book pretty closely ....Johnny Depp's version....ridiculous! Cat n the Hat with mike Myers (ugh!) and now as some say Tale of Desp. (I havent seen this one yet).
