Based on the commercials, I was expecting a whimsical story about a non-conformist mouse, but the story went much deeper than that. The story was called "Despereaux," which is the name of the mouse... however, the story, strictly speaking, didn't actually revolve solely around the mouse. It was more of an "ensemble" animated movie.
While it had a few funny moments, for the most part it was much more of a serious story for kids, and then you get beat over the head with the "lesson" at the end.
Still, my two kids (7 and 9) both enjoyed it, although it obviously wasn't their favorite animated movie. My wife and I also enjoyed it. I was not disappointed that it wasn't what I expected; I don't see how you can mark a movie down just because it wasn't what *you* expected.
The animation was not terrible; I don't know what people expect these days. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised at the variety of styles that were used for different aspects of the movie; the animation they show when they visualize what a character is reading in a storybook, for example. The animation is not the greatest, but I don't think they were trying for "the greatest," they were trying for their own style, and their own style worked just fine. The humans in the film are not realistic, but they are not supposed to be (nor should they be... it's ANIMATED, after all, not live action).
I will agree with some reviewers about the voices; some of the characters were voiced quite well. Mathew Broderick as Despereaux, and Frank Langella as the Mayor were quite good. Most of the voicing was terrible, though, it just didn't seem to fit.
So, 7 out of 10 overall... this is not the Incredibles or Cars or Toy Story or Shrek, but there's a lot worse kids movies you could go to and the lesson is a pretty good one.
While it had a few funny moments, for the most part it was much more of a serious story for kids, and then you get beat over the head with the "lesson" at the end.
Still, my two kids (7 and 9) both enjoyed it, although it obviously wasn't their favorite animated movie. My wife and I also enjoyed it. I was not disappointed that it wasn't what I expected; I don't see how you can mark a movie down just because it wasn't what *you* expected.
The animation was not terrible; I don't know what people expect these days. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised at the variety of styles that were used for different aspects of the movie; the animation they show when they visualize what a character is reading in a storybook, for example. The animation is not the greatest, but I don't think they were trying for "the greatest," they were trying for their own style, and their own style worked just fine. The humans in the film are not realistic, but they are not supposed to be (nor should they be... it's ANIMATED, after all, not live action).
I will agree with some reviewers about the voices; some of the characters were voiced quite well. Mathew Broderick as Despereaux, and Frank Langella as the Mayor were quite good. Most of the voicing was terrible, though, it just didn't seem to fit.
So, 7 out of 10 overall... this is not the Incredibles or Cars or Toy Story or Shrek, but there's a lot worse kids movies you could go to and the lesson is a pretty good one.