Headscratchers / The Tale of Despereaux

• I'm still trying to figure out how the mouse community is viewed as the 'good' race of rodents when they send LITTLE BOYS down dark holes to be eaten by rats if they...well, are different. What the heck is this doing in a kid's movie?
  • I don't think they are. They're viewed as a flawed society that's only hurting itself by refusing to accept anything new or different. Isn't that a major theme in both the movie and the book?
  • Basically the difference is that the mice are a highly oppressive, stale society that refuses to accept anyone different, while the rats are an evil, cynical society. From a certain point of view, the rats could even be considered "less evil" because they, at least, are honest.
  • Actually, when you stop to think about it, they're not so different in that regard... both are headed by oppressive authority figures (the council and Botticelli, respectively), who keep the populace in check by playing to basic, primal emotions (the council being fearmongers and Botticelli running things almost entirely with Bread and Circuses), as well as callous rejection of anything different... the council throws people like Despereaux to the dungeons, while Botticelli is something of a Fantastic Misanthrope, arguing that all rats are really monstrous deep down and rejecting the idea of them being different instead of the individuals themselves.
  • To put it in D&D terms, the rats are chaotic evil and the mice are more or less Lawful Evil, even if its only for self preservation.
• Why exactly does the Queen of Dor die? It's commonly assumed that she suffered a heart attack because of Roscuro's ugly appearance and presence in her soup, but others argue that she drowned due to faceplanting on her soup after fainting. However, in case of the latter, why doesn't the King think of lifting up his wife's head from the soup?
  • It's a heart attack. She clutches her chest and makes a gagging sound before she collapses. And in the original book, she doesn't even faceplant in the soup: she falls backwards, making her chair topple to the floor.
• How is Miggery Sow able to kidnap Princes Pea without getting caught by anyone? Yeah, the King was depressed in his room and didn't do anything due to his wife's death, but what about the other knights or castle servants? No one saw or heard Princess Pea screaming for help?
• How does Roscuro manage to lock up Miggery Sow in a dungeon? He's just a rat and she is a human woman capable of running away from him. Or did he somehow knock her into the cell and close the door?
• Why isn't Miggery Sow arrested at the end for kidnapping and locking up Princess Pea in the castle's dungeons? Taking the princess hostage is a serious crime like treason, after all...

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