[Ansteorra] "You're a strange little mouse" "Thank you"

[Michelle Dodd]

Check your local listings. For myself, I found it at the $1 theater. If it has already left your town, watch for the DVD. Do that anyway. I will. It is every bit as good as he says.
Gabriele
The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are allowed to remain children all our lives. (Albert Einstein)> From: peterschorn at pdq.net> To: ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org> Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2009 01:12:10 -0600> Subject: [Ansteorra] "You're a strange little mouse" "Thank you"> > If you haven't seen "The Tale of Despereaux," you're missing something you> really shouldn't. > > Not just because it's got a cute mouse who thinks he's Errol Flynn> ("Reepicheep Unbound?"). Not just because it's a rousing tribute to the old> three-reel swashbucklers of yore. Not because it's got a fine script, based> on a fine book, or because it contains gem-like performances by the likes of> Tracy Ullman, Emma Watson, Frank Langella and Dustin Hoffman. Though these> would be reasons enough.> > But because it is a movie about Truth, Honor and Courage. About absorbing> these ideals from old and fantastical legends in old and fantastical books> that no one else seems to value. About those who remain true to these ideals> through exile and peril. About those who betray their ideals, and how they> may be redeemed.> > Because although it is a children's movie, it is anything but a childish> movie. Because it deals with true and weighty things in mature and graceful> fashion.> > Because it is a cultured work that honors its theme with ornaments of> stunning craftsmanship, research and detail, just as Medieval monks would> illuminate the lives of saints. Because its visual aesthetic is not Ye Olde> Genyric Medieval Tymes but inspired by fine works of Medieval and> Renaissance art which you may see referenced either directly, as in the> Chief Cook's rather surprising assistant, or indirectly, in the Heironymous> Bosch panorama of the rats' benighted metropolis.> > Because it is the first film I've seen to correctly depict the gold-leaf> glow of an illuminated manuscript initial, seen from an inch away, by> candle-light. You and I may have seen that, how the gold seems to catch the> fire and gleam like a live coal. We know it from a glimpse of someone's> peerage scroll when they were elevated by torchlight at War Court. But how> did the people who made this movie come by that knowledge? I doubt they> were all SCA folk!> > Well then, they came to it the way anyone comes to any worthy thing, no> matter how small. By scholarship, which is a form of Truth. By hard work,> which is a form of Courage. And by uncompromising artistry, which is a form> of Honor.> > It seems they've heard the same trumpets as we have, and like us, followed> them. How well they have, may readily be seen.> > And should, before it leaves town.> > _______________________________________________> Ansteorra mailing list> Ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org> http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/ansteorra-ansteorra.org