Trivia

For the scene in which Andre and Boldo threw things at each other, Kevin Kline and Stanley Tucci threw things at each other, reading the lines and improvising them based on what transpires in the scene. While they acted the scene out, a cameraman was walking around filming the action. Producer Gary Ross wanted to have them act it out entirely. They tried a variety of different things, different degrees of insanity and intensity.

Justin Long was originally slated to voice Despereaux.

Sylvain Chomet was originally set to direct before being dismissed by the production company, to be replaced with Sam Fell. Chomet stated his ideas were too dark for them and that marketing would question his character designs with future merchandising in mind.

A couple of characters have names that are artistic references. "Roscuro" refers to the "Chiaroscuro Movement," Botticelli is a reference to the artist Sandro Botticelli of "The Birth of Venus," and Boldo is named after Giuseppe Arcimboldo, a famous surrealistic painter who composed faces and figures out of various objects in the way that Boldo himself is made out of fruit, vegetables, and kitchen utensils.

The latest-released Universal animated film to be rated G.