In Fairytale Land, the Wizard has a scale that keeps the balance between good and evil. The Wizard goes off on vacation leaving his assistants Munk (Wallace Shawn) and Mambo (Andy Dick) in charge. Rick the servant (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) is secretly in love with Cinderella 'Ella' (Sarah Michelle Gellar) but she follows the story dreaming of the idiot Prince (Patrick Warburton). Her evil stepmother Frieda (Sigourney Weaver) tips the scale and vows to have a Happily N'Ever After.

This has no chance against the best of animations from Pixar and Disney. It's weak and doesn't look that good. The story is a mess. The irreverent take on fairy tales could work but it doesn't work here. The worst sin of all is that it's not fun. It's a lot of sound and fury without any joy.

I will start by saying this is not the worst animated movie I have ever seen, far from it. Doogal, Secret of NIMH 2 and Titanic:The Animated Movie are much worse than this. That said though, while not a terrible movie, Happily N'ever After isn't particularly good either. Good things first, I loved the idea of the film, an ironic take on Cinderella, coincidentally one of my all time favourite fairy tales. Then there is a good voice cast, standouts being Sigourney Weaver, Patrick Warburton and Wallace Shawn. Personally I felt Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jnr were on the bland side, but so were their characters strictly speaking. Plus some funny moments come from the supporting characters such as the gangster wolves and biker witches on motorised broomsticks. And of course Mambo and Munk. However, despite these good things, the film at the end of the day felt forgettable and bland. My thoughts on the animation were mixed, while I liked how audacious some of the backgrounds looked, I thought the character movements were awkward and forced. It is pretty much the same with the music score as well, too exaggerated and overdone for my liking. A great idea for a story, but the jokes were on the whole very derivative and the pace uneven consequently the film lacked sparkle and felt predictable. But the worst offender was the script, it seemed rather lazy for some reason, with more polish and irreverence it could have breathed more life into the film. All in all, not terrible, but not great. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Villains gang up to assure that no one will live happily ever after (including the audience).

Made in the wake of the surprise success of Hoodwinked, Happily N'ever After is a perfectly awful animated film that is easily one of the worst written in the last five years (which is saying a great deal since there have been some real stinkers). You can feel the committee crafting jokes that should be funny (come on really I tell you five year olds will eat this up) and the lack of enthusiasm for the job the actors have for the job thats giving them a fast paycheck (if you want emotion you'll have to pay me more). Nothing in this movie is funny or liable to put even a half a grin on your face. Its beyond awful. To be honest the only thing I've seen worse recently is Doogal-the American re-dubbed version of the wonderful Magic Roundabout.