I took my kids to see "The Tale of Despereaux" earlier this evening. It's rated G, which always makes my life easier, since there are no worries about language, or super-scary scenes for our kiddos.
The title character is a small mouse with giant ears, who is essentially fearless. In fact, his teachers and parents are concerned about him, because he doesn't cower or scurry like the other mice. Instead, he 
seems to possess an inborn calm. The setting appears to be during medieval times.
The opening scene involves a rat that causes someone to die (by fright perhaps?), which leads the king to make a series of proclamations that steal the joy from the kingdom, along with the very sunlight itself. Dreariness covers all during this time. As with many movies of this genre, our intrepid hero is placed in a tough position, and has a chance to save the day. I won't give away any key plot points beyond that.
I mentioned to my wife that the animation was fantastic, much like a lushly illustrated storybook. Clearly, over the past decade, they have made huge strides with animation, so I guess that's not as surprising anymore. What made this movie unique was the fact that they used multiple types of animation, some for the primary story and some for Despereaux's daydreams, which look more like they were created with actual paper.
I would highly recommend this movie for the whole family, especially if you have kids aged 5-10. The story is engaging and entertaining, and it wasn't terribly long, clocking in at around 85-90 minutes.
My seven-year-old daughter loved the movie so much that she proclaimed, "That was a GREAT movie!!" as the closing credits began to roll. We are going to buy the book so that she can enjoy that, too.
Thanks for reading!
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Hi Jason
We took two of our grandkids to see The Tale of Despereaux and they loved the movie
Good luck and success.
Lou Ludwig
Sounds like a fun flick (even for 6'+ kids). I've gotta admit I'm really behind the times in my movie watching...last time I went to the theater, I watched "Sin City!"
Jason thanks I was wondering about that movie.
The previews looked really cute - and your right ... the animation has come a long way. One of my favorites was Madagascar. And you can't beat Shrek - but that's a little above some of the kiddies.
This looks like a great movie! The mouse reminds me of someone!
Jason,
I would watch this movie if it contained the details of one Meme that is long overdue......(will I ever give up?)
Nice to see a review about a "family " film that families do not have to worry about.
Ok J...my wife wanted to see this and after taking your advice on a few previous movies and being pleasantly satisified with your reccomendations, I will add this one to the list!
We are definitely looking forward to seeing this movie!
Jason, I am going to have watch this. I love kids movies.
Hi Jason. Thank you for the update looks like a good movie.
-Peg