ketutar
I forgot I hated Happily N'Ever After I. I forgot I hated the stupid creatures, Mambo and Munk. I forgot how bad the animation is. (Compared to other contemporary animations. Barbie is better... and that's much said.)But I'm glad I did, because "Another Bite @ the Apple" was better than the first one. In this, Snow White is a spoiled, vain, egocentric brat. She lost her good and kind mother when she was just a kid, and now her life is all party, fun and looks. Her father decides she needs a woman's touch, so he decides to remarry. There is this ugly girl who was told that the Queen was loved by everyone because she was beautiful, so she tried to be as beautiful as the queen had been. The Magic Mirror makes her that. She looks exactly like the Queen, and the King wants to marry her.Snow White isn't happy about it, and mopes, so Lady Vain gets an enchanted apple from the Mirror. She gets Snow White to eat the apple. The apple doesn't kill her, it makes her share her innermost thoughts. This Snow White has something nasty to say about everyone living in the town, and Lady Vain lets everyone know what Snow White thinks about them, and they get angry and Snow White flees from the town. (Remember, the apple didn't twist her mind, she really, truly thought that way.)She finds her way to the Seven Dwarfs, who remember well the Queen, and because of her they decide to teach Snow White a lesson, and they manage to make her change her shallow ways to being as good and kind as her mother had been. So she goes back to the town just in time to interrupt the wedding, and her father decides he doesn't need to marry anymore, now that Snow White has changed. Lady Vain gets ballistic and uses the mirror as a weapon.Earlier Snow White had met "Sir Peter", an orphan who grew up in one of Queen's orphanages, and who adores the Queen, and doesn't much appreciate Snow White. Now, that Snow White has changed her ways, Peter notices that he likes her after all. When Lady Vain starts shooting magic around, he jumps in to rescue Snow White, and is knocked out of the way. (and he stays knocked out!) Her father joins the battle but he is old, and is just about to fall, when Snow White joins him and steadies his hand. Together - even Mommy Queen gets to be part of the family union, as they use her picture to guide the magic flare - they break the mirror and Lady Vain is ugly again. They are just about to hang her, when Snow White interferes and tells her outer beauty is not worth much, it's only inner beauty that matters, and the dwarfs agree to teach her the same lesson they taught Snow White. Happy End.Now, it wasn't anything one will regret missing... it's more the other way around. One might regret seeing it... Especially if one paid to see it.It has a nice message - helping others is what makes you beautiful, not clothes and make-up and hairdo.Also, the villain, even though she tried to kill Snow White, is not evil, just misguided, and there's hope for her.Animation, as said, was pretty bad.The king is a poor version of the king in Disney's Sleeping Beauty, and he wears Burger King crown...The wedding is accompanied with Wagner's wedding march, the bride is wearing a white dress, and the priest reads the Christian wedding ceremony... I suppose people wouldn't know otherwise that it's a question of a wedding. And even though the prince... er... Sir Peter, the orphan, I meant, had to fetch Snow White to the wedding, and found her in the middle of the forest fixing Humpty Dumpty, and then they galloped back to the castle and had to get over hurdles to get to the church in time, Humpty Dumpty, and everyone else was in the church already... just in time to witness in favor of Snow White, when Lady Vain claimed she hadn't changed.But if you can ignore such small details, it's not a bad movie. It's not good either.
TheLittleSongbird
I didn't like Happily N'ever After. I didn't hate it as some did, but it was very bland and lacklustre with the voice work the only real thing to salvage it plus I loved its idea. Happily N'ever After 2 isn't really a sequel I guess, despite the title. Other than Munk and Mambo, there isn't really a connection to Happily N'ever After. I will say I liked the idea, an ironic take on Snow White was a cute and clever idea, and children will like its message which is quite a strong and positive one.It is in the execution though where Happily N'ever After 2 really falls down, just like Happily N'ever After. The animation is very lazy, the colours are plentiful and pleasing but some of the backgrounds are rather plastic-looking and the characters look very forced and move around aimlessly. The music is overdone too and feels out of place, while the film lacks punch and pizazz when it comes to the pace. None of the characters are particularly likable or are given enough time to shine, Munk and Mambo are okay I guess but they are overused a bit and their material doesn't make them very funny in my view. The story is predictable and weak with few surprises, while the jokes and dialogue are pretty much wretched, very derivative and as for those terribly unfunny and obnoxious Hoolla Girls, don't get me started. This time around, even the voice work made little impression, either being bland or having voices that don't suit the character with exception of Lady Vain, her voice actress is quite good.So overall, awful. To be honest, I wasn't expecting otherwise, but I saw it out of curiosity being a lifelong fan of animation and my low expectations weren't dashed. Not the worst animated movie, sequel or movie I've seen, but other than the idea and message not one I'd recommend. 2/10 Bethany Cox
