Well Deserved Praise

Dreadfully Boring

Absolutely Fantastic

Blistering performances.

The story begins with the idea that the Wizard (George Carlin) controls all of the fairy tales and maintains the balance of good and evil in Fairy Tale Land. With the help of his assistants the uptight Munk (Wallace Shawn) and the decidedly goofy Mambo (Andy Dick), the Wizard is checking to make sure that all the fairy tales under his care are "on track" to have their traditional happy endings. As we meet him however, the Wizard is leaving for Scotland for a long-overdue vacation. He leaves the kingdom in the hands of Munk and Mambo. Ella is a girl who is better known as Cinderella (Sarah Michelle Gellar). She lives as a servant to her step family, dreams of the Prince (Patrick Warburton) who will sweep her off her feet. Her best friend at the palace is Rick (Freddie Prinze, Jr.), the palace dishwasher. Rick takes it upon himself to deliver the invitations to the royal ball to Ella. Ella sees Rick only as a friend, but Rick secretly loves Ella, although he is too cool and proud to admit it. Rick can't really understand what Ella likes about the Prince. Rick's Three Amigos, the comic chefs (all voiced by Phil Proctor, Rob Paulsen and Tom Kenny) in the palace kitchen, believe that Rick has a bad case of "Prince envy". The Prince does everything by the book, and plans to meet his maiden at the ball. However, things don't go as planned at the ball. Thanks to the assistants, Ella's evil stepmother, Frieda (Sigourney Weaver) gains access to the Wizard's lair during the Prince's ball. She manages to chase off Munk and Mambo and tip the scales of good and evil, causing a series of fairy tales to go wrong and have unhappy endings, including Jack getting stepped on by the Giant (John DiMaggio) yet surviving, Rumpelstiltskin (Michael McShane) winning his bet with the miller's daughter (Jill Talley) and taking her baby, and the unseen demise of Little Red Riding Hood. She summons an army of Trolls, witches (Tress MacNeille and Jill Talley), three Big Bad Wolves (Jon Polito and Tom Kenny), the Giant (John DiMaggio), and Rumpelstiltskin to her castle. Ella finds out and escapes to the woods where she meets Munk and Mambo. The trio set out to find the prince who has goes looking for his maiden (not knowing it was actually Ella) in hopes that he will defeat Frieda and save the day. Together, they flee to the Seven Dwarfs (all played by Tom Kenny and John DiMaggio) home. Witches and trolls led by The Ice Queen attack them. The Seven Dwarfs hold off the trolls, while they flee with the help of Rick who had stolen a flying broom. Frieda decides to go after Ella herself. She succeeds in capturing her and returns to the palace, with Rick, Munk and Mambo in pursuit. Frieda tortures Ella because if the story had run its course she would have married the prince while Frieda would never get anywhere in life. Rick, Munk, and Mambo slip into the castle and attack Frieda. During the fight, Frieda generates a pit in the floor. Mambo knocks her in, but she uses her staff to fly back up again. After a short battle, in which Rick takes a blast meant for Ella and falls into a deep sleep, Frieda creates a portal by accident. Ella knocks Frieda back and punches her into the portal. Rick awakes from the spell and he and Ella kiss, finally admitting their feelings for each other. Ella and her true love Rick decide to choose their destinies in a world of happy endings and get married. Rumpelstiltskin has shown throughout the movie that he has come to care for the baby and the miller's daughter lets him stay in the castle as the baby's nanny. The Wizard returns from vacation where he wasn't told about what happened while he was away. In the final scene, Frieda is shown trapped in the Arctic surrounded by elephant seals.

This is below the bottom of the barrel. Happily N'Ever After is that kind of movie you watch once and never want to revisit EVER again. This happens with GOOD movies when you want to watch that movie a second time and it's even better than the first time, but this is the exact opposite!! Who honestly thought that plagiarizing the Shrek premise was a good idea? Who with the right mind set think that way?! Nobody! Shrek was classic but this was and still is Shrek's crap! This makes other horrors like Shark Tale look like masterpieces and believe me, that's not saying enough. The movie has to be seen to be believed.Horrible CGI, horrible acting, horrible characters, horrible script, horrible humor that's not even funny AT ALL, and most of all A HORRIBLE movie experience!!!! This is the worst cartoon I've ever seen in my life!!! It'd take some real effort to make me hate a movie even more than this one.

(may contain minor spoiler).i wasn't exactly impressed with this animated film,although the idea(that the scales of good and evil in fairytale land become unbalanced and the fairly tales don't work out the way they're supposed to)was interesting.however,it falls apart somewhere in the execution.i came dangerously close to being bored.there were only three reasons i didn't fall asleep.the voice talents of Andy Dick as Mambo,Wallace Shawn as Munk,and especially Sigourney Weaver as the Evil Stepmother.there were a few amusing moments with Mambo and Munk,and Weaver was perfectly cast.otherwise,the movie was pretty tedious.for me,Happily N'Ever After is a 4/10

Villains gang up to assure that no one will live happily ever after (including the audience).Made in the wake of the surprise success of Hoodwinked, Happily N'ever After is a perfectly awful animated film that is easily one of the worst written in the last five years (which is saying a great deal since there have been some real stinkers). You can feel the committee crafting jokes that should be funny (come on really I tell you five year olds will eat this up) and the lack of enthusiasm for the job the actors have for the job thats giving them a fast paycheck (if you want emotion you'll have to pay me more). Nothing in this movie is funny or liable to put even a half a grin on your face. Its beyond awful. To be honest the only thing I've seen worse recently is Doogal-the American re-dubbed version of the wonderful Magic Roundabout.