Same old tale

In the fairy tale land far, far away, where animals talk, knights rescue princesses and everything is adapted from a children’s book, some films find it hard to stand out in a genre that is growing more crowded every year. Unfortunately, “The Tale of Despereaux” fails to rise above the rest.

It’s a shame, too. This movie is an entertaining little gem with an all-star cast that does more than just lend celebrity cred to the credits, and it features a story with more complexity and depth than most projects aimed at the younger age group.

Sigourney Weaver, who also narrated “Planet Earth,” lends her vocal prowess to tell the story of a little mouse named Despereaux (Matthew Broderick). The mouse, with big ears and an even bigger heart who goes on an adventure to save the kingdom he lives in and rescue Princess Pea (“Harry Potter”’s Emma Watson) from the tower she is locked inside.

Along the way he meets a variety of characters, including a gentle rat (Dustin Hoffman), a soup chef (IU alumnus Kevin Kline) and a scullery maid (Tracey Ullman), who dreams of being a princess herself.

Unlike most animated movies, this one has a true ensemble cast. Each character has an interesting motivation and story line, and feels completely three dimensional.

However, this strength is also a downfall of the movie. At times, the story lines don’t mesh together terribly well and seem ill-suited to be in the same movie.

In the end, “The Tale of Despereaux” tells a good story and does it well. It’s slightly bland and unspectacular, but it delivers a pleasing experience as well as a moral tale touching on surprisingly deep universal themes.

Too bad it’s destined to be lost in the legions of movies just like it.

GRADE: B