PUC Chronicle

Issue date: 1/16/07 Section: Entertainment

"Happily N'ever After" makes many attempts to add wit to the original Cinderilla story

Predictable but cute, Director Paul J. Bolger's animated feature "Happily N'ever After" attempts to add sly wit to the Cinderella story and instead nearly succeeds as a shallow comedy of errors.
In Fairytale Land, stories - each running simultaneously - are overseen, on a crystal ball with a remote control, by a wizard (voiced by George Carlin) to assure that nothing gets in the way of the expected happy endings. Unfortunately, the wizard's assistants - Mambo (Andy Dick) and Munk (Wallace Shawn) - are bumbling idiots who are completely incapable of holding down the fort while the wizard takes a vacation just as Cinderella (Sarah Michelle Gellar) - now with short hair and called Ella - prepares for the ball.
In preparing to host the ball, the prince (Patrick Warburton) spends most of his time bumbling as well. This is hilarious at first - especially as we first see he's carrying an instruction book on how to be a prince - but boring long before the film is over. The hero of the film - and narrator - is Rick (Freddie Prinze Jr.), the prince's servant, who has a royal crush on Ella.
"Happily N'ever After" is the tale of what happens when Cinderella's evil stepmother, Frieda (Sigourney Weaver), tries to take over Fairytale Land - apparently in hopes of gaining power and scoring one for the "other side." Of course, she rallies all of Fairytale Land's bad guys for this task - including Rumplestiltskin (Michael McShane), three witches, a couple of Big Bad Wolves and a giant.
The film takes every conventional turn, delivering no surprises but some humorous (if forgettable) lines. Rated PG for some mild action and rude humor, "Happily N'ever After" is actually quite child-friendly and should give more than a few chuckles to the accompanying adults. The banter between Mambo and Munk is funny, and the Seven Dwarves have a few new quirks actually rather amusing.
"Happily N'ever After" neglects to do anything spectacularly, but it isn't outright bad - it's just not great. Save some money, and rent it when it's released to DVD.

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