Happily N’ever After

(voices)
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Andy Dick
George Carlin
Freddie Prinze Jr.

Waiting for the release of a computer animated film used to be a real treat. Months before its release you knew you were in for something special, something new that hadn’t been done in animation before. Not so long ago computer animated films were special occasions and the box office receipts were proof. In the last few years though these films have been mass produced until you really don’t know what you are going to get when you walk into the theater. Happily N’ever After is the worst example of this trend.

In fairy tale land, each of our favorite fairy tale characters follow through with all of the stories we are familiar with, complete with happy endings. As long as the wizard watching over everyone makes sure that a magical scale keeps everything in balance. When the wizard decides to go on vacation, he leaves the scale in the hands of his less than capable sidekicks. Cinderella’s stepmother takes the opportunity to tip the scales towards evil. Cinderella has to gather the forces of good to make everything right.

Generic, generic, generic. Happily N’ever After is a bland and dull photocopy of better animated films and never really cares to be anything better. The animation is weak and without texture, there is nothing attractive and beautiful about it at all. It seems like the creators actually glossed over the idea of trying to actually do something interesting with the medium. The characters were all one dimensional caricatures of stereotypes found in dozens of Disney films, complete with the hapless sidekicks meant simply for comic relief. All of the characters could have died a horrible death in the third act and the emotional investment would have been about the same. This script seems to have been written by that guy that we all know that thinks he is funny but no one has the heart to tell him to shut up. Nothing about this movie was funny or even amusing. The intentional jokes in the film just fell flat one after the other and many actually seem to be added to the end of a scene to try and keep the audience’s attention.

There aren’t many other ways to say that this film is just horrible. It would have been best left on the cutting room floor or hidden away so that no one could ever possibly compare it to other films of its genre. Quite possibly the worst animated film to hit theaters in years, it actually lends credence to the complaint from many that studios are just throwing together these computer animated films to make a quick buck. In the process they are disgusting people to the point that they are not willing to pay to see the next computer animated cartoon, regardless of its quality.


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