In the trailer the movie “The Tale of Despereaux,” misleads the audience in to thinking it is a tale about being brave and courageous, but that’s not really the overall theme.

Instead the movie’s main point is “forgiveness” and why it’s important to forgive others.

Although forgiveness is a good moral, it depends how bad the act was that you are to forgive. In this case, without giving away too much of the movie, some acts are hard to forgive, that’s why there are judicial systems. Attempted murder and kidnapping is hard to forgive.

Another downside to the movie is that there is no character development for Despereaux, his character starts off brave and heroic and pretty much stays the same. Roscuro, the rat, on the other hand starts off sly and headstrong, but after he causes mayhem he is really sorry and full of remorse. The audience feels bad for him, but then he changes to blame the Princess for his problems and seeks revenge. Although at the end he realizes he made a mistake, at that point the audience is already shocked and disappointed in his actions, to feel good about him doing the right thing.

Other flaws in the movie have to do with characters that are never really explained, such as the chefs magical friend, the rat king and his alternative motives, and finally what about the mysterious blind mouse that lead Despereaux to the rat world.

The movie had a nice look, and Despereaux is the only character that one can like throughout the whole movie. Although the moral of the film is a good it is hard to use in the situations portrayed, in the movie and possible the book as well.

Overall I give this movie a C.