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Happily N'Ever After, 2006
In a fairytale kingdom, the lives of the various citizens are controlled by a wizard who makes sure that their stories have happy endings. Ella (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is destined to end up with a Prince (Patrick Warburton), despite the fact that her friend (and lowly dishwasher) Rick (Freddie Prinze Jr) is in love with her. But when Ella's evil stepmother (Sigourney Weaver) gets access to the wizard's tower while he is away on vacation, she begins to change the balance of the stories.
This film was so bad. Just so, so bad. It doesn't look good--the animation is like the quality you'd expect in a TV ad. The humor seems to be aiming for the tone of The Emperor's New Groove or the fractured fairy tale camp of Shrek, but it really misfires in terms of the cynical, self-aware vibe. I couldn't tell you a singe joke from the film. I know that a few line readings put a smile on my face, but that's purely due to the presence of a WAY overqualified cast. George Carlin, Wallace Shawn, John DiMaggio, and others all know how to deliver a line, but even they can't give the film the lift it needs.
I always look for the positive in movies. But aside from some (wasted) voice talent, there was nothing about this film that sparked joy in me. It feels like something an AI machine would create after being asked to design a box office hit. It lacks soul and it suffers by comparison with other films that have pulled off the same narrative trick with much more aplomb. How and why they made a second one is beyond me.
Happily N'Ever After, 2006
In a fairytale kingdom, the lives of the various citizens are controlled by a wizard who makes sure that their stories have happy endings. Ella (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is destined to end up with a Prince (Patrick Warburton), despite the fact that her friend (and lowly dishwasher) Rick (Freddie Prinze Jr) is in love with her. But when Ella's evil stepmother (Sigourney Weaver) gets access to the wizard's tower while he is away on vacation, she begins to change the balance of the stories.
This film was so bad. Just so, so bad. It doesn't look good--the animation is like the quality you'd expect in a TV ad. The humor seems to be aiming for the tone of The Emperor's New Groove or the fractured fairy tale camp of Shrek, but it really misfires in terms of the cynical, self-aware vibe. I couldn't tell you a singe joke from the film. I know that a few line readings put a smile on my face, but that's purely due to the presence of a WAY overqualified cast. George Carlin, Wallace Shawn, John DiMaggio, and others all know how to deliver a line, but even they can't give the film the lift it needs.
I always look for the positive in movies. But aside from some (wasted) voice talent, there was nothing about this film that sparked joy in me. It feels like something an AI machine would create after being asked to design a box office hit. It lacks soul and it suffers by comparison with other films that have pulled off the same narrative trick with much more aplomb. How and why they made a second one is beyond me.