I confess: I watched the movie on dvd just a couple hours ago.
It was great!
And yeah… I was counting off obstacles, trait use, skill use, GM’s Turn, Player’s Turn, and check usage while watching. blush
Hahaha! Yeah, I watched it on Saturday, I think. Good movie. I thought it’d be quite straightforward, but I liked all the various character inclusions and how the plot seemed to digress without actually doing so.
The classroom scene made me think “Despereaux has a Nature of 2!” He’s definitely Deep Ear (3), Brave (2) and Calm (2). 
The book is fantastic.
Yeah the movie is great and entertaining but it is definitely nothing like the book. Pick it up and give it a read.
On a related note, MG could easily be used to run games set in Brian Jacques’ Redwall series without any modification atall.
On an equally related note, I’m currently reading Jack Vance’s Lyonesse and, like you, now that I’m reading the MG rules at the same time, finding myself dissecting the story in terms of terrain obstacles, weather obstacles, argument conflicts, fighting conflicts, What’s the mission?, what are the goals? etc etc etc…
Just awesome.
Must see Desperaux. It looks great.
Crow
the book is SO much better than the movie, and the movie is great, that bok is deep, i read it one night and i cried for like three hours… i dont even know why…