Cenerentola e gli 007 nani

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.

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

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

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 looked forward to this movie, having been pleasantly surprised by other fractured fairy tales such as "Shrek" and even "Hoodwinked", and I really wanted to like this one a lot, but as it was, I only like it a little.

Here's the lowdown: Cinderella, or Ella, as friends call her (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is taken with the charming but clueless Prince Humperdink (Patrick Warburton), but in the classic fashion of the fairy tale we all know, stepmother Frieda (Sigourney Weaver) has other ideas--when she stumbles upon the lab of a powerful wizard (George Carlin) and runs afoul of his hapless assistants, Mambo and Munk (Andy Dick and Wallace Shawn, respectively) she learns that everyone's fate in Fairy Tale Land is pre-written, can be manipulated, and proceeds to do so. She garners the support of just about every fairy tale villain in a regular coup, Forcing Ella, Mambo, Munk, and cynical palace dishwasher Rick (Freddie Prinze Jr.) to search for the Prince, or some way out of the mess.

This film looks terrific--the visuals of Fairy Tale land are quite stunning, and the character design, along with capable voicing, makes the characters memorable. Even the idea is juicy, and leads to other interesting notions, such as the view of Rumplestiltskin (Michael McShane channeling Gilbert Gottfried) as a concerned guardian. The problem--and it's a big one--is that they all deserve a better executed, better timed story. The plot, while intriguing in concept, drags in too many places, and there just feels like a few too many holes are left here and there. The disjointed use of the talent is somewhat evident as well; I'm somewhat used to guys like Warburton, Shawn, and Andy Dick getting the great lines, and Dick does get some good ones, but most of the good lines are divided between Prinze and Weaver. Oh, they handle them effectively enough, but the uneven feel loses punch for the whole production. So technically, it's excellent, but overall, it's mediocre. You should really wait for DVD on this one...