Happily Never After
Directed by Paul Bolger & Yvette Kaplan.
Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prince Jr.
As in all Fairy Tales there is always a happy ending. The good guys win and the bad guys lose, therefore everyone lives happily ever after. That is how it is meant to go as long as the balance of good and evil is in its rightful place — balanced.
A turn of events for well known fairytale characteresses, Cinderella (Ella — voice of Sarah Michelle Gellar), Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and others occur when the wizard who oversees Fairy Tale Land goes on a much needed holiday playing golf, leaving his two assistants in charge. Needless to say they play with the balance of the scales and see predictable and well known endings to Fairy Tales being altered. Rapunzel has a misfortunate mishap, Sleeping Beauty's prince gives her the kiss of life only to fall into a deep sleep right next to her.
While the majority of the movie is about Cinderella (Ella),who has the Royal Prince's PA (Rick — voice of Freddie Prinze Jnr.) besotted with her and makes numerous attempts to deter her from falling for the Prince, to no avail. Therefore her happily ever after ending is cut short at 10.30 when the wizards assistants spice up the balance of the scales and end up cracking the crystal ball that view each of the stories. Frieda (Ella's wicked Step-mother) enters and gets hold of the wizard's magical staff. All she has in mind is to take over Fairy Tale Land, change the ending of the stories to "Happily N'ever After", and naturally let the bad guys win.
Frieda with her gang of bad guys: witches, giants, The Big Bad Wolf, troll and other scary beings begin to take over Fairy Tale Land. Mild Ella rises to the occasion, with Rick, the seven Dwarves, Fairies and the Wizard's assistants they set out to set things right. They fight against the forces of evil, restore the balance of the scales of good and evil, fix the crystal ball, eradicate Frieda all before the Wizard returns from his Golfing holiday. The only twist to the ending of Cinderella is that the Prince is no longer the man of her dreams. Her true love is Rick and they live Happily Ever After.
Throughout the movie there were moments of humour, although much was predictable about the movie. The animations were good, pity the storyline didn't pay it justice. Unlike other CGI movies this one I wouldn't watch again, Shrek and Shrek 2 are far superior.
2.5/5 Stars
Carine Tang
