Sarah Michelle Gellar

"Happily N’Ever After" is a what-if spin on the Brothers Grimm that gives the bad guys and gals the upper hand — at least until the movie finds its own happy ending. Like many animated features of late, it’s often frenetic and overly talky. But the talented voice cast, led by Sigourney Weaver’s deliciously hissable wicked stepmother, is a key strength. At the film’s weekend premiere in Los Angeles, producer John H. Williams pointed out that the project was conceived before the first of his "Shrek" films. It’s not mere timing that gives this movie the disadvantage, however; less splashy and less entertaining than that famous franchise, "Happily" isn’t destined for a similar fairy-tale ending at the boxoffice.

Initially envisioned as a 2-D project, the CGI film sets its characters against storybook backdrops that are frequently lovely but lack the oomph audiences expect on the big screen. In the early going, first-time director Paul J. Bolger struggles to corral the story elements, with Rob Moreland’s script trying way too hard. Postmodern touches strain, and the voiceover narration by palace servant Rick (Freddie Prinze Jr.) is too much of a so-so thing, the adult-aimed patter falling flat.

Prinze, however, has some nice romantic chemistry with his real-life spouse, Sarah Michelle Gellar, who plays Ella (aka Cinderella), the object of Rick’s unrequited affection. She, like all silly storybook girls, has set her sites on the wrong Prince Charming, a dashing doofus with an unearthly blond forelock who is played by a terrifically funny Patrick Warburton.

Atop the Prince’s castle, Ella’s wasp-waisted, ultra-evil stepmother, Frieda (Weaver), gets her scheming hands on the controls for Fairy Tale Land’s Department of Security while the Wizard (George Carlin) is off golfing. On a crystal ball with remote control she can watch and tamper with the progress of fairy tales, taking a particular interest, of course, in Ella, her glass slipper and the Prince. In her first feature animation work, Weaver — who played the villainous stepmother in Showtime’s 1997 "Snow White: A Tale of Terror" — relishes every wicked word of dialogue. Another cast standout is Andy Dick as Mambo, the mischievous varmint — meerkat, maybe? — who serves as assistant to the Wizard along with the more obedient Munk, a cuddly boar (Wallace Shawn). They join forces with Ella while trolls, witches, wolves and other no-goodniks descend on the castle to revel in the tipping of the good/evil scales.

The voice sessions preceded the animation, which at its infrequent best matches the expressiveness of the acting. Once it settles down to its simple, solid premise, the film offers a few comic and visual sparks amid the mild lessons in selfhood and the importance of not living according to someone else’s rule book. Perspectives on Fairy Tale Land’s division of labor and management/staff relations are woven into the story surprisingly well, and among the especially original touches is the depiction of the Seven Dwarves as good ol’ Southern boy survivalists.