The Tale of Despereaux weaves a fanciful storybook adventure, filled with messages of hope, redemption, and forgiveness. With a running time of about an hour and forty minutes, this isn't just another cutesy kid movie; Despereaux entertains all ages with a more mature kind of storytelling and painterly visuals.

The Tale of Despereaux starts on a ship on its way to the kingdom of Dor, for the annual celebration of Soup Day. The kingdom of Dor is famous in all the lands for its delicious soups, and Roscuro (voiced by Dustin Hoffman), a goodhearted rat, is eager to try the wonderful soup he's heard so much about. But before you know it, things go awry, and Roscuro accidentally causes the heartbroken King of Dor to cancel all soup-making forever, and all rats are banished to the underground.

There Roscuro discovers the sewers of Rat World, where all the banished rats must live in dinge and darkness, festering in bitterness and filth, away from the human world above. Roscuro must stay there, under the watchful eye of the dictatorial rat king. Roscuro, however, is a rat who is used to the sea and fresh air, sunlight, and adventure; he sits in the darkness of Rat World, longing for the light.

Meanwhile, in the above-ground Mouse World, where the rules for all mice are "to fear and cower", a little funny-looking mouse is born—Despereaux. His huge ears, eyes, and nose—as the narrator (Sigourney Weaver) tells us—mean that he can hear more, smell more, and see more than the other mice. He causes quite a stir in the community because he doesn't take to the mice rules. He was born without fear. Despereaux never tries to be something other than a mouse; he just isn't like the other mice. He doesn't fear everything, and doesn't find reason to cower all the time.

Throughout his life, Despereaux learns of great stories of old, filled with bravery, courage, honor, and truth. Instead of chewing on the books in the royal library like a good mouse, Despereaux instead literarily devours the stories of brave knights fighting dragons and saving princesses. He models his life after the code of the great heroes, and vows to fight with courage and honor.

But the Mouse Council doesn't like this, and sadly, Despereaux is banished from the community to the depths of Rat World, where of course he meets Roscuro. Both strive to fight for a release from the darkness into the world above, where soup can be made again one day.

Along the way, The Tale of Despereaux portrays some relatively heavy issues for children. Early on, we see the heartbroken King of Dor go into a permanent state of somber lamentation for his dead Queen. He sits in his royal chambers, endlessly and tearfully playing a song on his lute in memory of her, and the soup that gave his kingdom so much joy. Even the sun no longer shines in Dor, and the inhabitants all long for the soup, and the light it brings.

In addition to the kid-friendly depictions of death and depression, chivalry, bravery, and courage make a comeback in this tale. In the face of evil and danger, Despereaux and Roscuro take on the rat minions and even the royal guard in order to save some princesses and prod the creation of Dor's infamous soup.

And threaded throughout the film, we see the theme of reconciliation and restoration by way of forgiveness of sins. A few of the characters in the film live with a self-realization that they have so-called ugliness—sin baggage, in a sense. And only a restoration of the once-perfect state can bring peace.

While there is such pain in the King's song, the message is that despair does not last always. Grief is one of the strongest feelings a human can have, as the narrator tells us. Weeping may endure for the night, but the sun, and the joy it brings, will come in the morning.

And quite explicitly, we see that forgiving and being forgiven is something far deeper, far greater than even grief and despair. As the baggage of ugliness is rolled away from several of the characters, we're reminded that we are all royalty in King's eyes—princes and princesses made righteous in our Father's court.

And when the peace of God is restored in our hearts—or in the land of Dor —the clouds roll away, the people rejoice, basking in the sunlight of a brand new day. We, the people of Dor, enjoy the benefits of that brave "Despereaux" who fought for us all so long ago, that we might enjoy life as He intended.