Happily N’Ever After
By Cory Peynado, Blockbuster.co.uk

Munk's the guy who looks at the glass as half-empty. Mambo's the guy who... Probably peed in the glass.

Happily N'Ever After presents a post-modern twist on the world of fairy tales. It’s a way of looking at the perfect bedtime stories and then imagining what would happen if they didn’t have such a happy ending. Much like Shrek, it’s still a fun and humorous adventure story but cleverly, it steps out of the whole by-the-book formula and pokes fun at the predictable endings.

It’s pretty undisputed that the Shrek movies, as well as being hugely successful have set a pretty high standard, specifically in animation and characters, and this new movie tries hard to stay close to that standard. Visually its quite impressive but I think the real standout quality here comes from the vocal talent.

In Fairy Tale Land, the beautiful Ella (Sarah Michelle Gellar) works as a maid for her wicked stepmother Frieda (Sigourney Weaver) and her stepsisters. She is desperate to meet the handsome but stupid Prince Humperdink (Patrick Warburton) to make her fairy tale come true.

However, Rick (Freddie Prinze Jr.), the Prince's servant, has his eye on Ella. Meanwhile, Frieda has stolen the magical staff that gives its bearer the power to control fairy tales, and decides to use it for evil.

The Wizard (George Carlin) is in charge of making sure there is balance between good and evil. If there is, all of the classic fairy tale stories (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Rumplestiltskin, Snow White...) finish happily. He does this with the help of a huge scale. If the scale tilts too far in one direction, the stories end the wrong way.

I always have to be in a particular frame of mind to enjoy these types of movies and despite maybe being aimed at a younger audience I did actually enjoy it. It didn’t take itself too seriously which is always good and as I mentioned earlier the voices were brilliant, particularly Sigourney Weaver as the wicked stepmother.

Fans of the Shrek series can enjoy Happily N’Ever After on many levels as it almost feels like a clever little spin off. The narration throughout also adds a little comedy and the bundles of cute characters is enough to make it an enjoyable watch. I’d definitely say its one for a younger audience though.

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