‘Happily N’Ever After’ Gives Fun Twists to Classic Fairy Tales
So you think you know your fairy tales? Happily N’Ever After, the 2006 animated movie airing in November on HDNet Movies kidScene, will teest your ability to keep them straight as it twists them into unexpected new relationships among the characters. Explains KIDS FIRST! youth film critic Cheyenne Nguyen, age 8, “My favorite part of the movie is how the endings for each of the fairy tales could have changed. The twists and turns of each event could be different if the wizard [who watches over the fairy tales] is not there to monitor Fairy Tale Land.” While questioning whether the fairy tales will “ever have another happy ending again,” Morgan Bertsch, age 7, says, “From beginning to end, this is very funny.” Brianna Hope Beaton, age 13, gives the film four out of five stars “because of its humor and fantasy.”
Happily N’Ever After
Reviewed by Morgan Bertsch
(See her full review on video.)
So the real question is: Are you cheering for the villains or the princess? Who do you want to win?
Now is your big chance. This movie is about Cinderella, who has an evil stepmother and two evil stepsisters. So you think you know this story and all the fairy tales? Well, guess again. This is not your ordinary Cinderella story. All the fairy tales are watched and taken care of by a wizard. But everyone needs a vacation, and when the wizard leaves, the fiasco begins.
Munk (Wallace Shawn) and Mombo (Andy Dick), his assistants, are left in charge. Mombo is bored of the same old fairy tale endings and wants to shake things up a bit. He gets his wish when the evil stepmother steals the wizard’s wand.
Cinderella’s evil stepmother Frieda wants to be Queen. She is taking over. She wants to give evil a fighting chance. All your fairy tales begin to fade and the villains start winning. Rumpelstiltskin gets to keep the baby. Sleeping beauty doesn’t wake up with a kiss. Jack gets stepped on by the giant. Rapunzel is not saved by her Prince Charming and Cinderella doesn’t last till midnight. The villains from all the fairy tales are running wild.
Cinderella (Sarah Michelle Gellar), now known as Ella, goes on a search for Prince Charming (Patrick Warburton), hoping that he can fight her evil stepmother and get the wizard’s wand back. Of course, she has help from Mombo and Munk, who also want to find it before their boss returns home. Rick (Freddie Prinze Jr.), the servant for the prince, is jealous and tries to help Ella. They meet the seven dwarves, witches, all the big bad wolves, goblins, giants and more.
How will they save the day and will the fairy tales ever have another happy ending again?
When Ella and Rick find the seven dwarves, this is my favorite part. From beginning to end, this is very funny. I also enjoyed the Monster Mash dance.
The graphics are great and they do a super job with the fast-action scenes. There are new characters, and the old ones are all different from the original versions.
Will she get what she wants? Will she want what she gets? This was my favorite song in the movie.
Be careful what you wish for. Keep your eyes open because happiness could be right in front of you. You can change your destiny.
Sarah Michelle Gellar (Cinderella) and Freddie Prinze Jr. are really married and they have a daughter and last month added a new baby boy to their family. See, fairy tales do come true.
I give this movie five ***** because it is cute, funny, original and has all my favorites in it.
Happily N’Ever After
Reviewed by Cheyenne Nguyen
(See her full review on video.)
Today, I am reviewing Happily N’Ever After. This movie combines a lot of fairy tales in one movie with a twisted ending.
This movie is about the wizard (George Carlin) who manages Fairy Tale Land. He has two helpers, Mambo (Andy Dick) and Munk (Wallace Shawn). There’s a book of fairy tales, and the wizard has to watch and see through the crystal ball to make sure the endings are exactly the same as the fairy tale stories. The wizard constantly has to check with the crystal ball to make sure the good and the bad are in balance so the stories will get their happy endings.
In Happily N’Ever After, all the characters are different from the fairy tales. Ella (voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar) is like Cinderella, being bullied by her stepmother (Sigourney Weaver) and her ugly stepsisters. However, in this movie there is a kitchen helper name Rick. He secretly loves Ella.
My favorite part of movie is how the endings for each of the fairy tales could have changed. The twists and turns of each event could be different if the wizard is not there to monitor Fairy Tale Land.
I am confused at times because there are so many different fairy tales going on. It’s hard for kids my age keep up with the jokes that go with the different fairy tales. The adults seem to enjoy the jokes a lot more than the kids.
The message in this movie is happy endings come in many different forms.
The Fairy Tale Land visuals are above average. The characters’ design and the voice over make the characters come alive. The music is average; most of the songs are not very catchy.
The only part I did not like is there are too many stories going on in one movie.
My favorite character is Fairy Godmother. She is so forgetful but very funny. She reminds me of my grandmother.
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I rank this movie four out of five stars
I give this an age range of 5 and up.
Happily N’Ever After
Reviewed by Brianna Hope Beaton
(See her full review on video.)
Happily N’Ever After is a good family film that I enjoyed watching.
Ella (voice of Sarah Gellar) figures out that her stepmother (voice of Sigourney Weaver) wants to take over Fairy Tale Land and is out to crush her storybook existence. She is now fighting to get Fairy Tale Land back, and [get] who she thinks is supposed to be her true love, the prince.
I like this film because it’s a twist from the classic Cinderella story. The story plot is easy to understand and enjoyable. The animation is good. My favorite part is when the narrator pauses the film to give you information on a specific character and how he feels about the character. This is really cool.
I recommend this film for ages 6 to 13. If you like Cinderella and fairy tales, you’ll love this film.
Overall, I give Happily N’Ever After four out of five stars because of its humor and fantasy.
Tune in to see Happily N’Ever After as it plays all month on HDNet Movies kidScene.
