Érase una vez... un cuento al revés

I remember wanting to see this in the theater when it was first released, it seemed like a guaranteed hit. But unfortunately, I never got the opportunity to see it, when I saw that it was available for rent, I didn't hesitate, I also never looked at the IMDb rating, so I thought that this would have been a fun family movie that had a few good laughs. OK, I admit this really wasn't what I expected, it was kinda lame, but I think a 3.0 is a little too harsh. This wasn't the most original computer animated film, but it had a few good laughs here and there. It's just a fun and wacky family film that I think some people might get a kick out of.

We all know how fairy tales go, the happily ever after ending, but did you ever wonder if there was some sort of monitoring going on to make sure that everyone had a happy story? Well, that's what this story is about, only Cinderella has another man in her life that wants her heart, a slave, Rick, who wants a happy ending of his own. But when Cinderella's step mom finds out about the monitoring, she takes over and wants the villains for once to win the day.

Happily N'ever After is a silly film, but it was all in good fun, you have got to admit that the prince character was pretty funny, when he was admitting all his failures and started crying. There were some fun moments also, I think people were a little too harsh on the film, just give it a look for yourself, it's not unique, but it's just a fun little animated film that I think just got over looked.

5/10

Once upon a time, twelve years ago to be exact, a Canadian film studio by the name of Lionsgate was created. At the start their films went pretty much unnoticed. Starting in 2000 a wave of change came about. First was 'American Psycho', then 'Monster's Ball' in 2001, followed by 'Saw', 'Fahrenheit 9/11', 'The Devil's Rejects', & 'Crash' in the years after. All those films became notable favorites of many. The year is now 2007, and Lionsgate has assembled a rather interesting collection of people to take part in their latest release. Animation designer of 1997's 'Pippi Longstocking', Paul Boger is directing. 'The Return of Jafar's story creator Doug Langdale and 'Ground Control's writer Rob Moreland have been chosen to write. To bring the characters created to life, on board is 'The Grudge's Sarah Michelle Gellar, 'Scooby-Doo's Freddy Prinze Jr., & once alien obliterating, Sigourney Weaver. Together with numerous others, they have created the atrocity of a film with the truthful title 'Happily N'Ever'.

The Wizard of Fairy Tale Land, played by George Carlin, is going on vacation. That leaves his assistants Mambo and Munk, played by Andy Dick and Wallace Shawn in charge. It's now their duty to keep the balance of good and evil. This means making sure all stories go according to planned; each getting their happy ending. Everything is okay until Sigourney Weaver's character, Frieda, Cinderella's evil step-mother, finds out about the Wizard's absence and easily takes over. The kingdom is now in shambles with evil now holding power. Cinderella, played by Sarah Michelle sets out with Mambo and Monk in search of Prince Charming hoping that he'll be able to save the day. Rick, the dishwasher of the Prince, feels this is a waste of time. His plan is for him, Cinderella, Mambo, & Monk to take out Frieda themselves, which the others disagree with. Either way, the fact remains that she must be stopped, and soon.

If this had been released in 2001, the idea of it might be more appealing. Unfortunately, since it didn't, it's almost impossible not to compare with 'Shrek'. Once again fairy tale icons have been synced together for a CGI film. Only this time, they're aren't as much fun to watch. I'll confess, the introduction fooled me. It made me think that it would end up being okay. Thirty-one minutes in, I was completely frustrated. I wanted it to end right then and there. This is actually fitting though considering a line Will gives at the end of the intro. He states, "I'm sorry to tell you, but it only gets worse from here." How sad it is that I didn't pay any attention to his warning.

The kinks in the characters really make the difference here. Cinderella isn't able to stray from believing the Prince is her one true love. She doesn't end up opening her eyes to what is right in front of her until the very end. This ends up making her seem dimwitted, and as a result, makes us never really care about her. Then Rumpelstiltskin, played by Michael McShane, ends up slowly turning good once evil is in favor and lets him to get the baby he sought after. This change ends up affecting his fairy tale. Instead of being dragged into the earth by rage, he ends up staying and helps care for the child. This was only done for the film because he becomes somewhat likable. So of course in the end, they can't simply dispose of him like in the actual story. I guess anyone can now re-write one of the Brother's Grimm's classic tales.

Above all other imperfections displayed, repetitiveness is honestly the worst of them all. Over and over and over and over and over mostly from Frieda, is the idea that nothing is going to end happy said. Sometimes it's re-worded, sometimes it's not. I would think that title of the film gave that away. Even having Frieda shout it once would be okay, but no. They had to have her say it until it almost loses its meaning. It does succeed in making you want the happy ending to happen even more though. If that's even important at all at that point… It does try, I'll give it that, but it's nowhere near as clever as 'Shrek'. I must say though, I did like the seven dwarfs. The twist on them is nice. With that I must also say, they single-handedly can't save 'Happily N'Ever After'. I urge you, avoid seeing it. Don't even rent it when it becomes available on DVD. Just walk away and never turn back.

Happily N'ever After is a play on the usual and expected ending of all fairy tales, where the guy will get the girl, defeat the evil queen/king, and ride off into the sunset. What happens after that, frankly, nobody cares, as it's as perfect an ending as it can possibly be.

The storyline here takes a peek into what can actually go wrong, if "happily ever after" gets traded for "happily never after". Fate as it seems, in Fairy Tale Land, is managed in a castle top by a caretaker wizard (George Carlin) and his two bumbling helpers Mambo (Andy Dick) and Monk (Wallace Shawn). In their lair, there's the book of fairy tales which dictates the lives of everyone in the land, a remote controlled looking glass for that big-brother peep into their lives, and a set of scales, which can be tipped into Good or Bad directions to influence the proceedings of the fairytale.

Central to the plot, despite a host of other familiar and identifiable tales like Sleeping Beauty and Little Red Riding Hood, is that of Cinderella's. Ella (as she is known here, voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar) as usual is being bullied by her wicked stepmother (aren't they always), voiced by Sigourney Weaver, and ugly stepsisters (Kath Soucie and Jill Talley), and we encounter the same scenario about going to the Prince's (Patrick Warburton) ball, fairy godmother, pumpkin coach, glass slippers and all. Only that this time, the spotlight is put on the Prince's kitchen helper Rick (Freddie Prinze Jr), the chief protagonist and narrator of the story.

Rick secretly loves Ella, and cannot fathom why the entire kingdom is smitten with the buffoon of a prince charming - Prince Humperdink. It seems to copy the formula set out by Shrek, that if you have a prince, making him a less than perfect specimen character-wise, to draw out the laughs. In the presence of his incompetence, Rick and Ella gotta combine forces to save their land and restore order when Ella's stepmother gains control over the wizard's staff and lair. That about sums up the plot.

Delivery wise, the animation looked rather uninspiring. 3D animated movies have reached a certain threshold, and no longer commands the wows. It's not that it isn't gorgeous, just not fantastically so. The voice talents are relatively unknowns, except for the leads, and seemed to have gone the opposite direction to the mantra of filling the movie with as many recognizable stars as possible, in order to put attention to the story and dialogue. Sadly, the story's rather plain, with an expected ending, and the dialogue, lacking in wit and spunk. There are scenes which try to be funny, but just fall flat.

In an animated movie where fairy tale characters run amok, the movie coasts along without much madness infused. But definitely easy enough for its intended target audience - the children - to understand and enjoy.

If you can compartmentalize your movie viewing, you will be able to negotiate through this.

The thing to ignore is the thing we are supposed to place foremost, all the dialog, acting, story and pacing. Its just dreadful. Enough said about that.

But. It has two things that interested me.

One is simply the idea. It is a movie of a fairy tale inside a movie about manipulating fairy tales, inside a movie narrated by someone who seems to be outside both movies (he actually gets to stop the film physically) but at the same time trapped in the innermost movie. There's magic to explain some of this, but only a part. Its a very clever concoction.

But the other thing was some of the characters. Well, they vary so; I guess I really mean the two women in front, Ella (Cinderella) and her redhaired stepmother. Its how they are rendered. Ella seems to be the only character whose face seems outside the cartoon world she inhabits. She's clearly a version of Audrey Hepburn with each of her attractive feature made a little more so. Its really quite good.

The bodies are another thing. Not since Betty Boop's boobs were stilled by the censors, have we seen a young body as naturally sexy as this. There's nothing seductive or intended or cheap or erotic about it. Its just that all the parts move as they should, under modest clothes. I really was amazed, especially at the attention paid to her rear end.

The step mother is something else. She moves with exaggerated erotic intent. She has huge bosoms and a nearly invisible waist. And then again huge thighs. Where the younger just walks, this puffy dominatrix swings. There's clearly some intent by the filmmaker here to get some sort of message across about the undesirability of overt sexuality. It zoomed right past me just in my astonishment at Ella's motion.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

I will start by saying this is not the worst animated movie I have ever seen, far from it. Doogal, Secret of NIMH 2 and Titanic:The Animated Movie are much worse than this. That said though, while not a terrible movie, Happily N'ever After isn't particularly good either. Good things first, I loved the idea of the film, an ironic take on Cinderella, coincidentally one of my all time favourite fairy tales. Then there is a good voice cast, standouts being Sigourney Weaver, Patrick Warburton and Wallace Shawn. Personally I felt Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jnr were on the bland side, but so were their characters strictly speaking. Plus some funny moments come from the supporting characters such as the gangster wolves and biker witches on motorised broomsticks. And of course Mambo and Munk. However, despite these good things, the film at the end of the day felt forgettable and bland. My thoughts on the animation were mixed, while I liked how audacious some of the backgrounds looked, I thought the character movements were awkward and forced. It is pretty much the same with the music score as well, too exaggerated and overdone for my liking. A great idea for a story, but the jokes were on the whole very derivative and the pace uneven consequently the film lacked sparkle and felt predictable. But the worst offender was the script, it seemed rather lazy for some reason, with more polish and irreverence it could have breathed more life into the film. All in all, not terrible, but not great. 4/10 Bethany Cox