An alliance of evil-doers, led by Frieda, looks to take over Fairy Tale Land. But when Ella realizes her stepmother is out to ruin her storybook existence, she takes a dramatic turn and blos... Read allAn alliance of evil-doers, led by Frieda, looks to take over Fairy Tale Land. But when Ella realizes her stepmother is out to ruin her storybook existence, she takes a dramatic turn and blossoms into the leader of the resistance effort.An alliance of evil-doers, led by Frieda, looks to take over Fairy Tale Land. But when Ella realizes her stepmother is out to ruin her storybook existence, she takes a dramatic turn and blossoms into the leader of the resistance effort.
- Awards
- 1 nomination total
- Frieda
- (voice)
- Ella
- (voice)
- The Wizard
- (voice)
- Dwarf 1
- (voice)
- (as John De Maggio)
- …
- Fairy Godmother
- (voice)
- Stepsister 2
- (voice)
- (as Jill Talley Kenny)
- …
- Witch 1
- (voice)
- (as Tress Mac Neille)
- Amigo 2
- (voice)
- (as Robert F. Paulsen III)
- Wolf 1
- (voice)
- (as John Polito)
- Rick
- (voice)
- Amigo 1
- (voice)
- (as Philip G. Proctor)
- Munk
- (voice)
- Stepsister 1
- (voice)
- (as Kath E. Soucie)
- …
- Additional Voices
- (voice)
- (as Lee Arenburg)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis is Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr.'s fifth film together. They recorded many of their scenes in the same studio, which is rare for a full-length animated film.
- GoofsAt 23:56, Jack is smaller than the giant's foot and gets stuck to his heel but then at 28:33 and 28:41, he's as big as the sole and is under the arch.
- Quotes
Munk: Are you sure about this?
Rick: No. Act cool.
Rick: [to Troll guards] Hey I'm just tryin' to put money in your pocket playa. Yo.
Munk: Umm... Yo?
Mambo: Yo! We're cool. We're low. We're on the down low. The DL. Down low. Way down we're slowly rolly polly oly.
Mambo: [after Munk pulls him away from the guards] Hey! What's wrong with you? I'm down!
- Crazy creditsSomewhere in the final credits we find out that "Step Mother" gets new friends in a very cold place.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Cartoon Corner: Happily N'Ever After (2014)
- SoundtracksHappy Doesn't Have to Have an Ending
Written by They Might Be Giants
Performed by They Might Be Giants
Published by TMBG Music
Courtesy of Idlewild Recordings
The storyline here takes a peek into what can actually go wrong, if "happily ever after" gets traded for "happily never after". Fate as it seems, in Fairy Tale Land, is managed in a castle top by a caretaker wizard (George Carlin) and his two bumbling helpers Mambo (Andy Dick) and Monk (Wallace Shawn). In their lair, there's the book of fairy tales which dictates the lives of everyone in the land, a remote controlled looking glass for that big-brother peep into their lives, and a set of scales, which can be tipped into Good or Bad directions to influence the proceedings of the fairytale.
Central to the plot, despite a host of other familiar and identifiable tales like Sleeping Beauty and Little Red Riding Hood, is that of Cinderella's. Ella (as she is known here, voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar) as usual is being bullied by her wicked stepmother (aren't they always), voiced by Sigourney Weaver, and ugly stepsisters (Kath Soucie and Jill Talley), and we encounter the same scenario about going to the Prince's (Patrick Warburton) ball, fairy godmother, pumpkin coach, glass slippers and all. Only that this time, the spotlight is put on the Prince's kitchen helper Rick (Freddie Prinze Jr), the chief protagonist and narrator of the story.
Rick secretly loves Ella, and cannot fathom why the entire kingdom is smitten with the buffoon of a prince charming - Prince Humperdink. It seems to copy the formula set out by Shrek, that if you have a prince, making him a less than perfect specimen character-wise, to draw out the laughs. In the presence of his incompetence, Rick and Ella gotta combine forces to save their land and restore order when Ella's stepmother gains control over the wizard's staff and lair. That about sums up the plot.
Delivery wise, the animation looked rather uninspiring. 3D animated movies have reached a certain threshold, and no longer commands the wows. It's not that it isn't gorgeous, just not fantastically so. The voice talents are relatively unknowns, except for the leads, and seemed to have gone the opposite direction to the mantra of filling the movie with as many recognizable stars as possible, in order to put attention to the story and dialogue. Sadly, the story's rather plain, with an expected ending, and the dialogue, lacking in wit and spunk. There are scenes which try to be funny, but just fall flat.
In an animated movie where fairy tale characters run amok, the movie coasts along without much madness infused. But definitely easy enough for its intended target audience - the children - to understand and enjoy.
- DICK STEEL
- Mar 9, 2007
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Нові пригоди Попелюшки
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $47,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $15,589,393
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $6,608,244
- Jan 7, 2007
- Gross worldwide
- $38,085,778
- Runtime1 hour 27 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1