Lionsgate theatrically released Happily N'Ever After in the United States on January 5, 2007. The film was panned by critics and grossed $38 million worldwide against a production budget of $47 million, becoming a box-office bomb. Despite its negative reviews and poor performance, it was followed by a direct-to-video sequel in 2009 called Happily N'Ever After 2: Snow White—Another Bite @ the Apple.
Plot
The story begins with the idea that the Wizard controls all of the fairy tales and governs the Scales of Good and Evil, an artifact that maintains the balance of all good and evil in Fairy Tale Land. With the help of his assistants, the uptight Munk and the rascally Mambo, the Wizard checks to make sure that all the fairy tales under his care are "on track" to have their traditional happy endings. However, the Wizard announces his leave for Scotland for a little vacation, so he leaves the kingdom and its stories in the hands of Munk and Mambo. Though Munk intends to have the stories go by their traditional endings, Mambo desires for the characters to break free of their pre-destined fates and choose different endings.
Right after the Wizard's leave, both Mambo and Munk fulfill their duties by watching over the story of Cinderella taking place. As per tradition, known as Ella, the character lives as a servant to her haughty stepmother, Frieda, and her equally mean stepsisters. Too fearful to stand up for herself, Ella often dreams of the Prince who will rescue her from her life and sweep her off her feet. However, unknown to Ella, she is pined after by her best friend Rick, a servant of the Prince, and the Prince in question is buffoonish and chauvinistic. As a result of Rick's efforts, Ella is invited alongside her stepfamily to the ball, but Frieda refuses to let the girl go. Fortunately, the Fairy Godmother arrives and grants Ella a gorgeous dress, as well as glass slippers to wear, on the condition she returns home before midnight.
However, the fairy tale suddenly falls off-track during the ball when Munk and Mambo’s shenanigans attract Freida to the Wizard's lair, leading to her stealing his Staff and discover his book of fairy tales. Once she realizes what will happen to her if Ella succeeds in marrying the Prince, she unbalances the Scales, causing multiple fairy tales to go wrong and have unhappy endings, including Ella’s. She summons an army of Trolls, evil witches, three Big Bad Wolves, the Giant, and Rumpelstiltskin to her castle. Ella finds out and tries to enlist Rick's help, but Rick, frustrated with her affection for the Prince, refuses, so she escapes to the woods where she meets the exiled Munk and Mambo. They both explain the situation to her and decide to find the Prince (who, unaware of Ella's identity, is searching for his "mystery maiden"), in hopes that he will defeat Frieda. Meanwhile, Frieda sets her villainous army out to capture Ella, causing Rick to have a change of heart and go rescue her.
The trio find the Seven Dwarfs' home, only to discover Frieda's army waiting there for an attack. The Seven Dwarfs help the trio defend themselves from the attackers, and they successfully escape with the help of Rick. Unfortunately, after the battle, Rick and Ella have another falling-out over the Prince, with Rick insisting the Prince is not the hero they need. Ella refuses to believe his claims and leaves him so she can find the Prince herself, but after listening to Munk and Mambo's retelling of her original story, Ella grows uncertain if that is what she wants in life, suddenly realizing Rick’s feelings for her. With some encouragement from Mambo, Ella decides to go after Rick. However, Frieda, angered by her army's inability to capture Ella, decides to go after her herself. Frieda succeeds in kidnapping Ella, but Rick, Mambo, and Munk manage to sneak into the castle to rescue Ella, and together the foursome enter a battle with Frieda over the staff.
During the struggle, Frieda knocks Rick out with a blast from the staff, but she accidentally creates a portal and loses the staff as she struggles to fight against Ella. Ella, finally fed up with Frieda's treatment of her, punches her in the rift, banishing her from Fairy Tale Land forever and setting the stories back in place. After Rick wakes up, he and Ella both confess their feelings for each other, while the imprisoned fairy tale characters (including the Prince) drive out the villains.
With the Scales tipped back into balance and the kingdom regained, Ella and Rick decide to choose their own destinies in a world of happy endings and get married, while a few other fairy tale characters (including the reformed Rumplestiltskin) start to follow suit. Finally, the Wizard returns from vacation, and both Munk and Mambo agree not to tell him about the events that occurred.
In the mid-credits, Frieda is shown trapped in the Arctic surrounded by love-struck elephant seals.
Cast
Sarah Michelle Gellar as Ella, a beautiful, humble and sweet girl and the scullery maid from the tale "Cinderella" and the protagonist of the film. She was formerly in love with the Prince but later realized that her true love is her friend Rick.
Freddie Prinze, Jr. as Rick, a handsome and stressed-out servant who works for the prince and finds him as a grand annoyance. He dreams of marrying Ella, enchanted by her beauty but wonders what she sees in the prince at all.
Wallace Shawn as Munk, an uptight and smart orange pig who also works for the Wizard. Unlike Mambo, he avoids causing trouble in the fairy tales'. He helps Ella stop Frieda from taking over fairy tale land. Although he and Mambo bicker, they're best friends.
Patrick Warburton as The Prince, the prince of the Cinderella story. Unlike the original prince, he is somewhat lazy and ignorant, but is determined to find his "maiden", Cinderella. He follows steps in a tiny booklet he carries around. The Prince's name is revealed to be Humperdink which is only mentioned in a deleted scene on the DVD release.
George Carlin as the Wizard, an unnamed ancient wizard who watches over the fairy tales of Fairy Tale Land making sure they go by the book and balances the Scales of Good and Evil to make sure they go well. He leaves his assistants in charge while he goes on vacation in Scotland.
Sigourney Weaver as Frieda, Cinderella's power-hungry stepmother and the main antagonist. She takes over Fairy Tale Land by rigging the Scales of Good and Evil and takes the Wizard's staff for more power.
Michael McShane as Rumpelstiltskin, the titular character from the tale "Rumpelstiltskin". He takes the baby from the miller's daughter after Frieda tampers with the Scales of Good and Evil on the scales and assists her.
Tom Kenny and Jon Polito as two out of the three Big Bad Wolves. The Fat Wolf that is voiced by Polito is based on the Big Bad Wolf from "The Three Little Pigs", the Tough Wolf that is voiced by Kenny is based on the Big Bad Wolf from "Little Red Riding Hood", and the Crazy Wolf is the runt of the litter and doesn't speak.
The film had a premiere in Westwood, California on December 16, 2006, followed by its North American release on January 5, 2007.[6] The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on May 1, 2007. The film was theatrically released in Australia on March 29, 2007.
Reception
Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 6% based on reviews from 81 critics. The site's critical consensus is: "Happily N'Ever After has none of the moxy, edge or postmodern wit of the other fairy-tales-gone-haywire CG movie it so blatantly rips off."[7] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 28 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[8] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.[citation needed]
Many critics have also unfavorably compared the film to the Shrek series. Matt Zoller Seitz of The New York Times wrote that "Anyone who dismisses the 'Shrek' movies as lowbrow junk should see Happily N'Ever After, a cartoon feature that apes those films' visuals, soundtrack choices and rude jokes, while throwing away their sweetness and conviction[...] the filmmakers are content to repeat fairy-tale tropes in a smug directorial voice."[9] Writing for Empire, Simon Braund felt that "[The film] comes up severely wanting, a perfectly workable premise[...] hamstrung by lazy plotting and limp dialogue that ill-serves a solid voice cast. It looks good, but lacks the essential wit, sophistication and invention to make it fly."[10]
Variety's Peter Debruge was more mixed on the feature, praising the film's voice acting and dialogue, but criticized "...its insincere love story" and "over-sexualized character design".[11] Writing for Los Angeles Times, Alex Ching found that a few of the vocal performances were enjoyable, but criticized the romance between the two main characters and felt the celebrity voice cast was "[...] not nearly enough to shake the feeling that 'Happily N'Ever After' is the last hangover from the animation glut that was 2006."[12]
Box office
The film opened #6 behind Dreamgirls, Freedom Writers, Children of Men, The Pursuit of Happyness, and Night at the Museum, which was at its third week at the #1 position. The film made $6,608,244 during its opening weekend. The film made a total of $15,589,393 at the North America box office. On a $47 million budget, the movie grossed $38.1 million worldwide.[3] It made $16.7 million in DVD sales in the United States.[3]
Accolades
Ruth Lambert was nominated for Best Animated Voice-Over Feature Casting at the 23rd Artios Awards for her work on this movie.[13]
"Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world. The protagonist is a young girl living in forsaken circumstances who is suddenly blessed by remarkable fortune, with her ascension to the throne via marriage. The story of Rhodopis, recounted by the Greek geographer Strabo sometime between 7 BC and AD 23, about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt, is usually considered to be the earliest known variant of the Cinderella story.
"Rumpelstiltskin" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in the 1812 edition of Children's and Household Tales. The story is about an imp who spins straw into gold in exchange for a woman's firstborn child.
"Rapunzel" is a German fairy tale most notably recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales. The Brothers Grimm's story was developed from the French literary fairy tale of Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force (1698), which itself is an alternative version of the Italian fairy tale Petrosinella by Giambattista Basile (1634).
The Evil Queen, also called the Wicked Queen or the Queen, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of "Snow White", a German fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm. The most popular adaptation of the Evil Queen is from Disney's SnowWhite. The character has also become an archetype that has inspired unrelated works.
In fairy tales, a fairy godmother is a fairy with magical powers who acts as a mentor or parent to someone, in the role that an actual godparent was expected to play in many societies. In Perrault's "Cinderella", he concludes the tale with the moral that no personal advantages will suffice without proper connections.
The 10th Kingdom is an American fairytale fantasy miniseries written by Simon Moore and produced by Britain's Carnival Films, Germany's Babelsberg Film und Fernsehen, and the US's Hallmark Entertainment. It depicts the adventures of a young woman and her father after they are transported from New York City, through a magical mirror, into a parallel world of fairy tales.
Prince Charming is a fairy tale stock character who comes to the rescue of a damsel in distress and must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell. This classification suits most heroes of a number of traditional folk tales, including "Snow White", "Sleeping Beauty", "Rapunzel" and "Cinderella", even if in the original story they were given another name, or no name at all.
Lady Tremaine is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Productions' animated film Cinderella (1950) and its direct-to-video sequels Cinderella II: Dreams Come True (2002) and Cinderella III: A Twist in Time (2007). In the original film, Lady Tremaine is voiced by American actress Eleanor Audley, who would later voice Maleficent, the evil fairy, in Sleeping Beauty (1959) and Madame Leota in The Haunted Mansion. For the sequels and subsequent film and television appearances, Audley was succeeded by American actress Susanne Blakeslee who also currently voices Maleficent, Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians, and the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. She is given the title of Lady in the original film.
Cinderella II: Dreams Come True is a 2002 American animated direct-to-video fantasy anthology film. It is a sequel to the 1950 film Cinderella. Directed by John Kafka from a screenplay written by Jill E. Blotevogel, Tom Rogers and Julie Selbo, it is the first in the series to use digital ink and paint. It stars the voices of Jennifer Hale, Russi Taylor, Corey Burton, and Rob Paulsen.
Politically Correct Bedtime Stories: Modern Tales for Our Life and Times is a 1994 book written by American writer James Finn Garner, in which Garner satirizes the trend toward political correctness and censorship of children's literature, with an emphasis on humour and parody. The bulk of the book consists of fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood, the Three Little Pigs and Snow White, rewritten so that they represent what a politically correct adult would consider a good and moral tale for children.
Ella Enchanted is a 2004 jukebox musical fantasy comedy film directed by Tommy O'Haver and written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, loosely based on Gail Carson Levine's 1997 novel of the same name. Starring Anne Hathaway and Hugh Dancy, the film is a satire of the fairy tale genre.
Happily N'Ever After 2: Snow White—Another Bite @ the Apple is a 2009 animated direct-to-video film and the sequel to Happily N'Ever After (2007).
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The Magic Mirror is a mystical object that is featured in the story of Snow White, depicted as either a hand mirror or a wall-mounted mirror.
Cinderella is a 2015 American romantic fantasy film directed by Kenneth Branagh from a screenplay by Chris Weitz. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, Allison Shearmur Productions, Beagle Pug Films, and Kinberg Genre, it is a live-action remake of Disney's 1950 animated film Cinderella, itself an adaptation of Charles Perrault's 1697 fairy tale "Cinderella". Starring Lily James as the titular character, the film features a supporting ensemble cast including Cate Blanchett, Richard Madden, Stellan Skarsgård, Holliday Grainger, Derek Jacobi, and Helena Bonham Carter.
Cinderella is a Disney franchise that commenced in 1950 with the theatrical release of the 1950 film Cinderella. The franchise's protagonist is the titular character Cinderella, who was based on the character of the same name from the Cinderella fairy tale.
Avengers Grimm is a 2015 American superhero film written, co-edited, and directed by Jeremy M. Inman. The film, produced by B-movie film company The Asylum, stars Casper Van Dien, Lou Ferrigno, Kimo Leopoldo, Lauren Parkinson, Milynn Sarley, Marah Fairclough, Rileah Vanderbilt, and Elizabeth Peterson.
Cinderella is a 2021 romantic musical film based on the fairy tale of the same name by Charles Perrault. Written and directed by Kay Cannon, it stars singer Camila Cabello as the title character in her acting debut, alongside Nicholas Galitzine, Idina Menzel, Minnie Driver, Billy Porter and Pierce Brosnan. It is a jukebox musical, featuring pop and rock hits, in addition to several original songs.
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