page_title: The Tale of Despereaux (film)
section_title: Critical response
hierarchical_section_title: The Tale of Despereaux (film) / Reception / Critical response
caption_attribution_description: English: Matthew Broderick at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival for the premiere of Wonderful World. Photographer's blog post about these photos.
context_page_description: The Tale of Despereaux is a 2008 British-American computer-animated adventure fantasy family film directed by Sam Fell and Rob Stevenhagen loosely based on the 2003 book of the same name by Kate DiCamillo. The film is narrated by Sigourney Weaver and stars Matthew Broderick, Robbie Coltrane, Frances Conroy, Tony Hale, Ciarán Hinds, Dustin Hoffman, Richard Jenkins, Kevin Kline, Frank Langella, William H. Macy, Charles Shaughnessy, Stanley Tucci, Tracey Ullman, and Emma Watson. The animation was provided by Framestore.
  It was released in the United States on December 19, 2008, by Universal Pictures. The movie is the second theatrically-released computer-animated film distributed by Universal Pictures, following The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie. The film grossed $86.9 million on a $60 million budget and received mixed reviews, where many critics praised the film for its animation, voice acting, and the title character but complained that it had an unoriginal and scrambled story.
context_section_description: Rotten Tomatoes reported that 57% of critics gave positive reviews based on 109 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's consensus reads, "Despite its striking visuals, The Tale of Despereaux as a story feels familiar and unimaginative." Metacritic, gave the film a 53/100 approval rating based on 25 reviews.
  Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times awarded three stars and wrote in his review that "The Tale of Despereaux is one of the most beautifully drawn animated films I've seen", but also wrote, "I am not quite so thrilled by the story".Christy Lemire of Associated Press was more critical, writing that the film "feels obvious, preachy and heavy-handed."
caption: Matthew Broderick was praised for his performance in the film
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