Happily N'Ever After is brought to you 'from a producer of Shrek,' but this satirical twist on fairytale lore has none of the latter's charm or wit. It was slated by critics for being "clunkingly obvious," and for younger viewers the fractured plot would've been hard to follow. Needless to say, there was no happy ending at the box office.

In A Land Far, Far Away...

Sigourney Weaver boasts that she's been offered numerous 'wicked queen' roles, but signed up for this one because the character was "strangely likeable". She assures us too that the script was cleverly written, which begs the question if she read it all. A section of cast and crew interviews also hears from Freddie Prinze Jr who describes his alter ego Rick as both the "anti-hero" and the "Everyman". Film scribe Rob Moreland insists that "we can all find ourselves" in the characters, which is perhaps another way of saying that the writing is completely unfocussed.

In his film commentary director Sean McNamara reveals that the initial draft of the script was dark and "too dour for my taste" so Moreland was brought in to lighten things up. That change is reflected in the visuals too. McNamara explains in Colour, Light And Effects that the initial drawings were inspired by classic art (citing Rembrandt) and had a slightly gloomy feel. Purples, pinks and bright light were introduced later to give the feel of a children's storybook. He also shows us how the look of each character evolved in another featurette, eg giving Rick and Ella (voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar) modern hairstyles to contrast with the olde worlde setting.

Blow The House Down

McNamara pops up again to show us how he acted out the moves for the big action scenes to give the animators something to base their drawings on. Storyboard to final scene comparisons for a few key moments are presented separately, but it's hardly edge-of-your-seat stuff; the most ambitious stunt involves a small cat balancing atop a large ball. The deleted scenes are even more banal. Ella's fairygodmother helps her do the dishes in one sequence, and Rick thinks aloud in the other. An alternate ending sees them pair up and open a burger bar. (That's with extra cheese.)

Five set-top games are as clunky as the plot. One asks you to fit the ending to the fairytale, but the options aren't clearly drawn. Another shows you what would've happened to Little Red Riding Hood if a hunter hadn't been passing by her grandma's house. That's something to give the kids nightmares all right. Ill-judged, insubstantial and underdeveloped; in fairytale terms, this DVD is the little pig's house of straw.

EXTRA FEATURES

Happily N'Ever After DVD is released on Monday 26th November 2007.