Sarah Michelle Gellar

At the end of a year rather jammed with animated movies, “Happy Feet” gave hope that a wave of really fresh entries in the genre might launch 2007.

Oh, well.

“Happily N’Ever After” strives to be a fractured fairy tale in the spirit of “Shrek” or even “Hoodwinked,” and even though there’s the usual interest generated (at least initially) by the “name”-filled voice cast, the ultimate result only leaves one wanting for the next “Shrek” installment that’s due in the spring.

The Cinderella legend takes its shots in “Happily N’Ever After,” with Sarah Michelle Gellar furnishing the voice of the heroine. Ella, as she’s known here, seems destined to become the bride of a not-too-sharp prince (voice of Patrick Warburton) — but complications make it likely that her true love actually will be one of the prince’s minions (voice of Freddie Prinze Jr., who just happens to be Gellar’s husband; gee, go figure).

A lot of those complications are furnished by the requisite evil stepmother (voice of Sigourney Weaver), and despite the familiar trappings retained for this version, it’s probable that most families would rather just settle for the original “Cinderella.” As much fun as it might be for today’s filmmakers to try to jazz up characters and situations that are so well-known, tradition still has its place. At the very least, the result has to be much wittier than “Happily N’Ever After” for the overhaul to be truly justified.

Older humor fans may enjoy hearing the voices of George Carlin and Andy Dick attached to cartoon characters, but those are only relatively minor pleasures. After the overall creative quality of a “Happy Feet” has shown just how inventive the animated-feature category still can be, one might wish a “Happily N’Ever After” might not happen again. But don’t bet on it.

(Rated PG)