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Year One
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Happily N'Ever After

Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 22 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 26 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Animation | Comedy | Family/Kids
Written by: Robert Moreland
Directed by: Paul J. Bolger
Release Date:
Theatrical: January 5, 2007
DVD: May 1, 2007
Running Time: 87 minutes, Color
Origin: USA / Germany
Summary
RATING: PG for some mild action and rude humor
Starring Sigourney Weaver, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., Patrick Warburton, Andy Dick, and George Carlin
In this animated comedy an alliance of evil-doers attempts to take over Fairly Tale Land, let the bad guys win and turn the ending of all the stories to "Happily N’Ever After." (Lionsgate)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Happily was begun as an old-fashioned 2-D "flat" cartoon and then switched by producer John Williams (of "Shrek") and director Paul J. Bolger to 3-D during production. The style finally is an uncomfortable amalgam of both.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Alex Chun
Putting a spin on classic fairy tales is nothing new, and unfortunately that's just what the "Shrek"-lite animated feature Happily N'Ever After brings to the big screen.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
In all, it's a peculiar mishmash, simultaneously bland and suggestive.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
While the cast members, Dick and Prinze in particular, have fun with Robert Moreland's sassy script, the exaggerated, unappealing animation seems to belong to another movie altogether.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
After the first hour or so of strained puns and wisecracks, you start feeling that the sooner the ending comes, the happier it will be.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
This movie is the worst kind of offender: it thinks its funny and clever, but it is neither. The filmmakers have mistaken banality for wit and silliness for humor, and that doesn't begin to address how visually clunky this motion picture is.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson
Even Eddie Murphy's endless hyper "Shrek" vamping is more entertaining.
Read Full Review >Empire Staff (Not credited)
Shrek this ain't. A lacklustre effort hampered by limp dialogue and lazy plotting.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Who would have thought an animated comedy satirizing the predictable nature of fairy tales could be so grim?
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
N'ever was an apostrophe so misplaced, n'ever was the prospect of good cheer so perversely defeated.
The New York Times Matt Zoller Seitz
This is another tired kidsploitation product.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
The rationale behind this unattractive animated comedy, a U.S.-German coproduction, seems to be that since it can't create a fairy-tale world of its own, it might as well riffle through many of the more familiar ones, with particular emphasis on Cinderella's, pretending to deconstruct them with postmodernist glosses, adolescent wisecracks, and a few high-tech anachronisms.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
Winds up answering the question of what "Shrek" hath wrought, and between its plastic-looking visuals and cynical attitude, the news isn't good. Lacking the genuine wit and humanism of that film and any number of forebears, this one deserves its dumpin'.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
As stiff and slogging as animated films come.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Happily N'Ever After carjacks "Cinderella" and puts her wicked stepmother behind the wheel.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
A pallidly "hip" revision of classic fairy tales that would be better told straight up if anyone had the nerve. It will divert small children, but so will a brightly colored object if you twirl it.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
The best that can be said of this charmless animated picture is that whether or not it ends happily -- an outcome you're unlikely to give a hoot about -- it does, happily, end.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Ella Taylor
Director Paul J. Bolger and screenwriter Rob Moreland have drained the affectionate wit out of the Shrek franchise's satire, giving us instead a barely sketched out story line and quantities of unimaginative CGI.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirschling
Stuffed with stock characters -- the vain prince, the critter sidekicks -- who adamantly stay stock.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
If you really want the kids to see a colorfully cryptic meta fairy tale, be subversive and go rent 'em some Alejandro Jodorowsky. No child deserves Happily N'Ever After.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 3.6 (out of 10) based on 26 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Christina R. gave it a7:
Saw this movie with my little sister. Cute and yes childish, BUT IT WAS MADE FOR KIDS! Enjoyable and cute.
D Li gave it a1:
I can't believe how bad this movie was. Its one of those movies you just want to end. The animation wasn't too bad, it was the corny plot.. unimaginative and unoriginal. Don't waste your time! There are so many better animated flicks out there.
guy ! gave it a0:
Poor acting, bad animation, utterly stupid, 'nuff said.
Denise M. gave it a3:
This is a crap movie. The storyline wasn't creative and the technology was bad. I mean come on, even the fiirst CG movie ever made (Toy Story) had better graphics than this. But more imortantly, the characters and pretty much everything else stunk. But the thing that shocks me the most is the fact that it was made in "these days". Did they really think they could compete with modern movies with this nonsense? I give it a 3 because they tried.
PnArdy PnArdy gave it a7:
Not so impressing, but cute 3d animation. Funny storyline, alternative fairy tale style. Loved it.
Anna B. gave it a4:
Childish garbage that a few kids might love for its semi-intresting jokes and followable plot and jokes.
Linda P. gave it a2:
A piece of sh!t. Do not waste your money.
