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Happily N'Ever After (2007)

Director: Paul J Bolger

Time Out rating

Average user rating

9 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Everyone remembers the story of Cinderella, right? A plain Jane (voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar) who’s perpetually abused by her wicked stepmother (Sigourney Weaver)? She meets a prince and loses a shoe? Apparently, since most five-year-olds are now too busy downloading Pixar films onto their iPods, they don’t have time to watch a straightforward rendition of a fairy tale. And so animated bedtime stories have to be self-conscious and full of contemporary pop-cultural references (thanks a lot, ‘Shrek’). These revisionist toons should also be semi-watchable, however, a modest goal that is way beyond this plasticine product’s grasp. You expect a certain amount of sugar and snark in a modern children’s film, but this tossed-off retelling reeks of folks just out to make a cheap buck.

In Fairytaleland, Cinderella’s stepmother tries to put a stop to all happy endings. It’s up to Ella, a doting servant (Freddie Prinze Jr) and two wisecracking animals (Wallace Shawn and whiny Andy Dick, both phoning it in) to save the day. Quality-controlled this ain’t: The computerised animation is cut-rate; the script keeps piling on clunker jokes that even toddlers will find lame; and Prinze proves he isn’t any better an actor in two dimensions than he is in three. David Fear

Author: David Fear

Time Out London Issue 1928: August 1-7 2007

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User reviews of this film

honeybee said...

Posted on Jan 31 2008 13:48 My grandaughter and I went to see this film not knowing what to expect and both enjoyed and grandaughter said would go again think other folk have been to see different film

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melissa cannon age 13 said...

Posted on Jan 26 2008 13:38 i went with my friend and it was really loud when the book and the wand kept on going on and they had little ones running around when we tried to watch it it was a little bit funny but most of it was crap i just walked out i never saw the last bit of it

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mcflyer said...

Posted on Sep 23 2007 09:04 a dissapointment it wasnt very funny it only had a few gags and 1 or 2 of then made me laugh but all in all in was crap

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Mum Parry said...

Posted on Aug 14 2007 07:59 I took my 5 year old daughter to see this - it was short enough to keep her interested and she seemed to enjoy it. I would say there's not enough 'silly' moments to really appeal to a 5 year old though.

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Jammie said...

Posted on Aug 11 2007 19:54 I dunno. Its probably my taste :)

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Jammie said...

Posted on Aug 11 2007 19:52 I love fairy tales aswell !

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Jammie said...

Posted on Aug 11 2007 19:51 Brilliant I don't see whats wrong with it

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fjfjf said...

Posted on Aug 07 2007 12:54 BORING!!! theres no other words to describe it! oh yes there is .. a COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME!!! and money 2

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:>sexyshorts:> said...

Posted on Aug 06 2007 20:19 i've seen this film its o.k but dont go and see it with your LITTLE sister she'll really annoy you!

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