ONCE UPON A TIME... in the faraway kingdom of Dor, there was magic in the air, laughter aplenty and gallons of mouth watering soup. But an accident left the King broken-hearted, the Princess filled with longing and the townsfolk without their soup. Sunlight disappeared. The world became gray. All hope was lost in this land until Desperaux Tilling was born.

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The critically acclaimed and best selling children’s book The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo is being brought to the big screen as a 3D CG animated adventure from Universal Pictures, set for US release for Holiday 2008. Directed by Sam Fell (Flushed Away), Gary Ross and Robert Stevenhagen, The Tale of Desperaux will feature an all-star cast of voice talent including Sigourney Weaver, Matthew Broderick, Dustin Hoffman, William H. Macy, Emma Watson, Tracy Ullman and Kevin Kline. Accomplished musicians Glen Ballard (five-time Grammy Award winner) and Dave Stewart are collaborating on the soundtrack.

The original book The Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo was released in August 2003 and spent 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Two million copies have been sold worldwide with translations into 27 languages, including Bulgarian (forthcoming), Croatian, Danish, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian (forthcoming), Serbian, Slovenian and Swedish (forthcoming). The Tale of Desperaux was also one of the most critically acclaimed books of 2004, winning the Newbery Medal for most distinguished offering in children’s literature and honored as an American Library Association Notable Children’s Book, a National Council of Teachers of English Notable Children’s Book in Language Arts, a Publisher’s Weekly Best Children’s Book of the Year, a Booklist Editors’ Choice, and more.

A modern fairy tale, The Tale of Desperaux tells the story of several unlikely heroes: Desperaux (Matthew Broderick), a brave mouse banished to the dungeon for speaking with a human; Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman), a good-hearted rat who loves light and soup, but is exiled to darkness; Pea (Emma Watson), a Princess in a gloomy castle who is prisoner to her father's grief; and Mig (Tracey Ullman), a servant girl who longs to be a Princess, but is forced to serve the jailer (Robbie Coltrane).

Tiny and grazed with oversized ears, Desperaux is born too big for his little world. Refusing to live his life cowering, he befriends a Princess named Pea and learns to read (rather than eat) books, revealing in stories of knights, dragons and fair maidens. Banished from Mouseworld for being more man than mouse, Desperaux is rescued by another outcast, Roscuro, who also wants to hear the tales. But when the Princess dismisses Roscuro's friendship, he becomes the ultimate rat and plots revenge with fellow outsider Mig.

After Pea is kidnapped, Desperaux discovers he is the only one who can rescue her and that even the tiniest mouse can find the courage of a knight in shining armor. In this tale of bravery, forgiveness and redemption, one small creature will teach a kingdom that it takes only a little light to show the truth: what you look like doesn't equal what you are.

Plus Licens represents Universal for merchandising, promotional and publishing rights to the film The Tale of Desperaux in the Nordic countries and Eastern Europe.