Sarah Michelle Gellar

’Happily’ hindered by bland script

The revitalization of animation over the past decade has been a welcome thing.

However, it’s a little discouraging that so many of the films fall into two increasingly tired categories - talking animals that must cope outside of their environment or revisionist fractured fairytales.

All the CGI technique in the world isn’t worth much without imagination and originality.

This came to mind while watching "Happily N’Ever After," a blandly illustrated U.S.-German co-production that decidedly falls into the latter category.

"Happily" offers a comically warped variation of Cinderella, with the lead character voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar.

In this case, the classic tale (and a few others) is skewered when Ella’s evil stepmother (Sigourney Weaver) takes charge. The wizard who normally monitors all fairytales ("so they go by the book") is on vacation. The stepmother wants to change the outcome in this version.

Will Cinderella end up with the handsome prince (even though he’s a dolt), or will she realize she’d be better off with the far more caring palace servant (Freddie Prinze Jr.)?

Or will she end up a slave to her step-mom’s evil schemes?

Inexperienced youngsters will be content with "Happily N’Ever After," but their parents will probably recognize a film that is - at best - a pale, B-movie variation of the far-superior "Shrek" films.