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Books on Screen – The Tale of Despereaux

December 25, 2008 by Lauren

PhotobucketI rarely go to the movie theater, but if there is one type of film that entices me, it is a movie based on a children’s book. Because of this, my six-year-old son and I headed to the local cinema to see The Tale of Despereaux. We recently read the book together, so we were excited to watch the tale unfold on the big screen.

The Tale of Despereaux is a creatively written, exciting book. There are many parts, however, that are quite dark. If I hadn’t entered the theater with this knowledge, I would not have appreciated this movie. Although Despereaux is adorable (and I liked the movie partly because he was just so cute), most of the movie is quite grim. The book was similar in nature, but the book had much more comic relief that did not translate well on film (or was left out). On a positive note, I did think that the conclusion of the movie was well done and it emphasized one of DiCamillo’s major themes from the book. However, I am on the fence about whether or not the ending balanced out the overall feeling of gloom portrayed during most of the movie.

As with any movie based on a book, some things were changed. I expected that, and I didn’t mind some of the changes. For some reason, however, the makers of the movie added a character made of vegetables, perhaps you could call him vegetable man. While I realize that mice and rats did talk in this movie, I found the talking vegetable man was unnecessary, even in a fairy tale. His character added nothing to the story.

My son liked this movie, but he did think that the book was much funnier. Unlike his mother, he liked the vegetable man (perhaps they added him to appeal to children). Although he might not admit it, some of the scenes were scary to him. I know this because he was practically sitting in my lap at times, and he also mentioned that he didn’t think his little sister would have liked it. Several of the crucial scenes in the movie were played out on a much grander scale than in the book, and my son thought this was great. I am sure most six-year-old boys would give a thumbs up for violence and sword fighting.

Overall, we liked the film, but the book is much better. For me, the best part of the movie was the animation of Despereaux. If you don’t see the film, look up some of the pictures. He is a cutie. If you haven’t read Carrie’s review of this book, be sure to check it out as well. By commenting on her post, you could win a copy of the book, and it truly is a book worth reading.

Merry Christmas from the team at 5 Mintues for Books!

Lauren is a wife, a mother of two, and an avid reader. She blogs at Baseballs and Bows.

Filed Under: Books on Screen, Lauren, uncategorized

« Finding Father Christmas & Engaging Father Christmas by Robin Jones Gunn
Quaker Summer, by Lisa Sampson »

Comments

  1. Stephanie'sMommyBrain says

    December 25, 2008 at 12:13 pm

    Thanks for sharing that your guy was a little scared by this movie. If your guy was scared then I’m sure mine would be. I guess we’ll put this one in the “to be watched in a few years” category.

  2. Carrie, Reading to Know says

    December 25, 2008 at 6:13 pm

    So there was a dragon on the movie trailer that I saw and yet there were no dragons in the book. That bummed me out because the book led me to believe it would be a reasonable movie for young kids. THen I saw the dragon and thought my son would be scared out of his wits. I didn’t get the impression from the trailer that it was as tame or calm as the book. Sounds like you thought that was the case?

  3. Jennifer, Snapshot says

    December 26, 2008 at 2:37 pm

    Interesting! I haven’t read the book, but Amanda has, so I’m sure we’ll at least rent it if we don’t get to the theaters, but I think I’d definitely like to read the book myself before deciding whether or not Kyle should watch it.

    Thanks for the review.

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