This movie...is weird.
Now I don't mean weird like surreal or stylized, I mean that it is hard to figure out what on earth they were going for. It feels at times like an archetypal animated fairy tale and at other times like it's some kind of ironic send up of the tropes of that genre, which would be fitting if only you didn't realise a moment later that they're being dead serious here.
it's actually kind of fascinating, both in how little self awareness they have of themselves and in how they try and tell the story they want to tell.
Let's begin with something that needs to be said: this is not "The tale of Despereux". This is "The Tale of Roscuro". Roscuro is the main character or at least he should be for he is by far the most fascinating character in the most interesting circumstances with the most to prove and the most interesting motivations. He is a rat (which some people aren't crazy about), the opening narration is so blatantly racist about his identity (speciesist?) that I though it MUST be building up to something. He genuinely has an interesting emotional journey as a character and although it's all there, it sort of gets back grounded to something else...
That's right: now you're wondering about Despereux himself. He is perhaps one of the most lazily written protagonists I have ever seen in a movie. Now some movies have one dimensional main characters (Spirited Away, Return of the Jedi) but in these cases it's forgivable because some movies aren't really about their main characters, they're just an audience surrogate. But this movie jacks itself off to Despereux and the heavy handed message he represents so hard that it is baffling how this movie could have been made now. I know this movie is 10 years old and that's a lot of time for trends in animated movies to come and go but it feels like it belongs amidst the likes of "A troll in central park" for how by-the-numbers and unedgy it is.
Despereux is a Miyazakian hero. By this I mean he feels like he would be better for a propaganda film rather than an actual example of art for art's sake. From the second he's born he's supposed to be so perfect. No one around him admires him but wow is the narrator pleasuring herself to him: "he may have been short but in his own mind he was tall". Although frequently challenged by other characters, he never reconsiders his own opinion on anything and has zero personal development. He was born this perfect hero in the chivalric (yes, he literally reads a chivalric novel in the movie that inspires him) tradition. He is represented to us how I suspect Don Quixote sees himself. An engaging character needs to have vulnerabilities beyond just everyone else not seeing how wonderful he is. Despereux embodies certain values: all the values your parents dutifully try to endow you with. Other reviewers have fawned over its promotion of "duty", "honor", "chivalry" and most blatantly bravery. Yes, Despereux's whole identity is based on that he is brave and daring in a community where everyone else is fearful. This had the potential to be a great set-up, we can all relate to adults chastizing us for our curiosity and for trying to explore and love the wider world around us but this angle is lost in just becoming Mary-Sueing Despereux to the extreme.
And this is just the main character, the other things in this movie that I could talk about, the things I've forgotten because there is just so much naivety in its writing... let me just list three things that made me want to confront the writers:
1) They stop making soup and it suddenly stops raining. WHY!? At least "Legend of the Titanic" had Dolphins explaining their power of speech with "magic moonbeams.
2) "For every girl dreams of being a princess". ....ahhhhgh... I feel unclean for hearing this sentiment this side of Mulan (yes I know she is a canonical Disney princess but hey she is the feminist heroine that Brave girl wishes she was).
3) There is this food man who is clearly a nod to Arcimboldo but...he doesn't do anything. I dig the reference and he looks great but they just shoe horned him in.
I'm sure I'll re-watch this with someone and remind myself of other stupid stuff but this is just a taster. Now you'll notice that I gave this a 6 out of 10 despite a rather negative review so far. Well sometimes some things have their finger so far away from the pulse of the public that they become sort of fascinating. Is this the reaction against more progressive animated movies like Shrek? A desperate return to when Men were men and women were princesses? I liked watching it because I sort of like anything that gets me thinking even if it's only scratching my head. I'm no high brow so this suits me. I gave a modest score to "Tentacolino" too.
To say this is some kind of propaganda piece wouldn't really be too far from the truth. It's not fair to judge the depiction of female characters on a story set so far in the past but even so, the dainty, perfect princess, the jealous, ugly servant, the wariness of the mice against the callousness of the rats... I know that Despereux and Roscuro sort of defy the stereotype here, but with only a little digging, it's not hard to see the love for a traditional set of values in which those of high birth are just wonderful and one simply does for those in power and where you're place/race of origin is who you are unless you have the right values.
The only thing not quite old fashioned in its values seems to be the curiously erotic undertones between the mouse and the Princess.
Now are there any unironic, positive things I can say about this movie? Yes. The animation is everything you could want. I admire its warm, neutral colors that help invite me into a sensation of a medieval/reconnaissance world and set it apart from some more kitsch stuff (as much as I love kitsch but apples-and-oranges). The animal characters have a good texture and are believable as the animals of our world except with their own little hidden societies in our society.
The human character design has look at once elegant but grotesque, sort of like mannerist paintings, that is perfect in evoking this zeitgeist of old school royal chic, even if it is a bit wasted on a movie so sincere as this.
Also, the music, goodness, even if you don't check out the movie check out the music.
So that's Tale of Despereux for you. It's not one of those unbelievably trashy animated movies like Food Fight or Norm of the North. There is a reason why this sort of came and went without making any lasting impression. I think I saw exactly one trailer for this movie once and heard a promo for it on the radio. I'm almost tempted to say it's forgettable if it weren't so audaciously lost in a backwards facing view animated movie.
The message of "risk taking" is hammered in from the trailer and although I was already 16 at the time, I still watched those movies and I knew that this was not going to be a credit to its genre (whatever that is).
I would suggest watching in a marathon of badly made animated movies, prefaced as the not-so-bad one to ease everyone into the real terrors mentioned above.
Now I don't mean weird like surreal or stylized, I mean that it is hard to figure out what on earth they were going for. It feels at times like an archetypal animated fairy tale and at other times like it's some kind of ironic send up of the tropes of that genre, which would be fitting if only you didn't realise a moment later that they're being dead serious here.
it's actually kind of fascinating, both in how little self awareness they have of themselves and in how they try and tell the story they want to tell.
Let's begin with something that needs to be said: this is not "The tale of Despereux". This is "The Tale of Roscuro". Roscuro is the main character or at least he should be for he is by far the most fascinating character in the most interesting circumstances with the most to prove and the most interesting motivations. He is a rat (which some people aren't crazy about), the opening narration is so blatantly racist about his identity (speciesist?) that I though it MUST be building up to something. He genuinely has an interesting emotional journey as a character and although it's all there, it sort of gets back grounded to something else...
That's right: now you're wondering about Despereux himself. He is perhaps one of the most lazily written protagonists I have ever seen in a movie. Now some movies have one dimensional main characters (Spirited Away, Return of the Jedi) but in these cases it's forgivable because some movies aren't really about their main characters, they're just an audience surrogate. But this movie jacks itself off to Despereux and the heavy handed message he represents so hard that it is baffling how this movie could have been made now. I know this movie is 10 years old and that's a lot of time for trends in animated movies to come and go but it feels like it belongs amidst the likes of "A troll in central park" for how by-the-numbers and unedgy it is.
Despereux is a Miyazakian hero. By this I mean he feels like he would be better for a propaganda film rather than an actual example of art for art's sake. From the second he's born he's supposed to be so perfect. No one around him admires him but wow is the narrator pleasuring herself to him: "he may have been short but in his own mind he was tall". Although frequently challenged by other characters, he never reconsiders his own opinion on anything and has zero personal development. He was born this perfect hero in the chivalric (yes, he literally reads a chivalric novel in the movie that inspires him) tradition. He is represented to us how I suspect Don Quixote sees himself. An engaging character needs to have vulnerabilities beyond just everyone else not seeing how wonderful he is. Despereux embodies certain values: all the values your parents dutifully try to endow you with. Other reviewers have fawned over its promotion of "duty", "honor", "chivalry" and most blatantly bravery. Yes, Despereux's whole identity is based on that he is brave and daring in a community where everyone else is fearful. This had the potential to be a great set-up, we can all relate to adults chastizing us for our curiosity and for trying to explore and love the wider world around us but this angle is lost in just becoming Mary-Sueing Despereux to the extreme.
And this is just the main character, the other things in this movie that I could talk about, the things I've forgotten because there is just so much naivety in its writing... let me just list three things that made me want to confront the writers:
1) They stop making soup and it suddenly stops raining. WHY!? At least "Legend of the Titanic" had Dolphins explaining their power of speech with "magic moonbeams.
2) "For every girl dreams of being a princess". ....ahhhhgh... I feel unclean for hearing this sentiment this side of Mulan (yes I know she is a canonical Disney princess but hey she is the feminist heroine that Brave girl wishes she was).
3) There is this food man who is clearly a nod to Arcimboldo but...he doesn't do anything. I dig the reference and he looks great but they just shoe horned him in.
I'm sure I'll re-watch this with someone and remind myself of other stupid stuff but this is just a taster. Now you'll notice that I gave this a 6 out of 10 despite a rather negative review so far. Well sometimes some things have their finger so far away from the pulse of the public that they become sort of fascinating. Is this the reaction against more progressive animated movies like Shrek? A desperate return to when Men were men and women were princesses? I liked watching it because I sort of like anything that gets me thinking even if it's only scratching my head. I'm no high brow so this suits me. I gave a modest score to "Tentacolino" too.
To say this is some kind of propaganda piece wouldn't really be too far from the truth. It's not fair to judge the depiction of female characters on a story set so far in the past but even so, the dainty, perfect princess, the jealous, ugly servant, the wariness of the mice against the callousness of the rats... I know that Despereux and Roscuro sort of defy the stereotype here, but with only a little digging, it's not hard to see the love for a traditional set of values in which those of high birth are just wonderful and one simply does for those in power and where you're place/race of origin is who you are unless you have the right values.
The only thing not quite old fashioned in its values seems to be the curiously erotic undertones between the mouse and the Princess.
Now are there any unironic, positive things I can say about this movie? Yes. The animation is everything you could want. I admire its warm, neutral colors that help invite me into a sensation of a medieval/reconnaissance world and set it apart from some more kitsch stuff (as much as I love kitsch but apples-and-oranges). The animal characters have a good texture and are believable as the animals of our world except with their own little hidden societies in our society.
The human character design has look at once elegant but grotesque, sort of like mannerist paintings, that is perfect in evoking this zeitgeist of old school royal chic, even if it is a bit wasted on a movie so sincere as this.
Also, the music, goodness, even if you don't check out the movie check out the music.
So that's Tale of Despereux for you. It's not one of those unbelievably trashy animated movies like Food Fight or Norm of the North. There is a reason why this sort of came and went without making any lasting impression. I think I saw exactly one trailer for this movie once and heard a promo for it on the radio. I'm almost tempted to say it's forgettable if it weren't so audaciously lost in a backwards facing view animated movie.
The message of "risk taking" is hammered in from the trailer and although I was already 16 at the time, I still watched those movies and I knew that this was not going to be a credit to its genre (whatever that is).
I would suggest watching in a marathon of badly made animated movies, prefaced as the not-so-bad one to ease everyone into the real terrors mentioned above.