It was Shrek, of course, that most colorfully laid low fairy-tale
conventions: now, into the valley between its highly lucrative sequels
steps the like-minded animated offering Happily N’Ever After, ostensibly a satirical
retelling of the Cinderella story. The two films share a producer, and
perhaps that’s why this colorful and clamorous but hardly inspired
effort seems predominantly made up of recycled concepts and jokes from
that franchise. Its story, a stop-and-start farrago of half-baked
ideas, finds lowly servant Rick (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) wooing Ella (Sarah Michelle Gellar) away from a vapid Prince Charming and saving Fairy Tale Land from Ella’s wicked stepmother, Frieda (Sigourney Weaver). For the full review, from CityBeat, click here and scroll down.