Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr, Sigourney Weaver, George Carlin

Having re-watched ''Robots'' the other day (the 2005 CGI flick from the folks behind ''Ice Age''), I came to the realisation that while many CGI flicks don't hold a candle to ''Finding Nemo'' or ''Toy Story'', each one still possessed some redeeming factor that made it inherently likable.

That was until I popped ''Happily N'Ever After'' into the DVD player...

This flick may be the spawn of ''Shrek'' & ''Shrek 2'' (one gets the feeling that the so called 'producer' had very little involvement besides agreeing to have his name used on the promotional posters) but it is without doubt the Black Sheep of the family. The slightly 'slower' child of the CGI bunch.

Set in Fairy Tale Land, the latest whizzbang CGI comedy features all your favourite heroes and villains of stories from your childhood - everyone from Rumpelstiltskin to Sleeping Beauty. The job of the castle's wizard (George Carlin) is to ensure everyone has happy endings, but when he leaves on vacation he entrusts his tasks to his inept assistants (a rather feeble attempt at a "Timon and Pumba" for the new generation).

With the Wizard away, Cinderella’s evil stepmother (the surprisingly sexy Sigourney Weaver) begins to wreak havoc on the endings of all the fairy tales. With all hope lost, it is up to Ella (Sarah Michelle Gellar as a short haired, funky version of Cinderella) to find Prince Charming and save the day with the help from The King's servant, Rick (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) who is in love with Ella himself.

There are sadly to many things that go against ''Happily N'Ever After'' to stop it from being a half decent enjoyable kids flick. Now, let's face it, all to often animated or children's movies get blasted by 60 year old critics for not having enough "plot and pathos" - which I always get quite annoyed by. Had you found a 5 year old to review the same film, they may very well be claiming it to be the greatest thing since the Rainbow Billabong.

So I like to go into watching these sort of flicks with an open mind. But the biggest problem here, for mine, is that Happily is trying desperately to appeal to the parents (much like Shrek) as well as the kiddies - and fails miserably. Which is a real problem, because many of the jokes will go over the heads of the kids - and will be greeted with barely a chuckle from an accompanying guardian. It's wasted script time.

And that's a shame, because when the movie does target in on the Under 10's, it works a treat.

Admittedly, the animation (which varies from fantastic to woeful) and voice dubbing (it's one of the main drawbacks of the film, simply terrible syncing and the delivery is stunted and patronising) degrades the film quickly to the level of a CGI-Straight-To-DVD-Barbie movie.

It's the look of the main characters that let the film down at the end of the day, as they control the majority of the screen time - and really seem quite cheap and rushed when compared not only to the likes of ''Shrek'' - but some of the other characters in the actual film.

It's not all bad news though. Some of the character animation looks superb (in particular the Seven Dwarves and the castle's 3 French Chefs) and will easily get a smile out of the littlies - but more importantly, sell some merchandise!

Weaver does a great job as the evil Step Mother (who gives the character a self depreciating human touch) as does the often forgotten Freddie Prinze Jnr (who has now been replaced in Hollywood by Shia LaBeouff).

By no means a classic, but good enough to distract the kids for at least one afternoon.

Plenty of extras on offer, although, not the sort that are going to keep the kids entertained for to long. Again, it's a strange case of the creators trying too hard at winning over the adult audience and not concentrating enough on the kiddie audience.

There's several interesting behind the scenes featurettes which cover everything from the conception drawings of characters to the voicing of the cast, as well as some interesting storyboard comparisons.

Theres also a select few completed deleted scenes, which is a rariety (normally, deleted scenes in animated films never get fully finished and end up being displayed through storyboards), so it's good to see an alternate ending the way it was intended.

Rating :
Reviewer : Sean Lynch