Agora part 1 Seemingly

Agora part 1

Seemingly scrapping the very bottom of the Pixar-lite barrel and thats saying a lot is Happily NEver After. A quick perusal of the films Rotten Tomatoes score shows an absolutely abysmal 96 percent! rotten rating, and the user comments over at IMDB are just as awful. Add to that a total worldwide box office take for the movie of about 50, the chances that Happily NEver might be some sort of overlooked sleeper a gem-in-the-rough just waiting to be discovered on Blu-ray seem highly unlikely Still, having not seen the film myself, I wondered how bad could Happily NEver After really be? So, as I popped the disc in the player, I decided to disregard the naysayers and give film the benefit of the doubt. Alas, my optimism lasted for about the first five minutes of the movie. Swiping a page from the trusted its public domain so we can rip it off with impunity playbook, Happily Never After features a score of familiar fairytale characters, including Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and Jack of the Beanstalk fame. Early on, were introduced to The Wizard voiced by George Carlin, the man responsible for happy fairytale endings. When The Wizard goes on vacation, Cinderellas evil stepmother Freida Sigourney Weaver takes the opportunity to disrupt the traditional balance between good and evil in fairytale land, leaving it up to Cinderella, aka Ella Sarah Michelle Gellar, to save the day by taking on her power-hungry stepmother. But this time, Ella will have to do it without her Prince Charming Patrick Warburton, as she joins forces with The Wizards bumbling assistants, Mambo Andy Dick and Munk Wallace Shawn and an unlikely army of dwarves and fairies. Happily NEver After is pretty much as bad as everyone says it is. The box cover touts the flick as coming from a producer of Shrek and Shrek 2, which is true, and goes a long way in explaining why this flick is such a blatant rip-off of that blockbuster franchise. Every plot point, every character, and every post-modern in-joke is a stale regurgitation of all the far better, genuinely clever moments in the Shrek movies. Quite frankly, after watching this disaster of a film, Im really shocked that Happily NEver After didnt just go straight to video. Granted, there is some fine voice talent on display, especially Weavers fanciful take on the classic Disney evil queen archetype, and the underappreciated Warburton, who brings a roguish charisma to the scripts stock interpretation of Prince Charming. But such bright spots are far from enough to elevate Happily NEver After from the absolute lowest rung of recent animated offerings. The story is unoriginal, the characters are uninspiring, and none of the music is catchy or memorable. Even the animation is second-rate, with a bland, paint-by-numbers look that makes South Park look accomplished. Sadly, it seems the only reason Happily NEver After was even made was to con kids out of their lunch money, promising a land of enchantment and Shrek-like delights. Dont fall for it. Well, at least Happily NEver After looks good. Lionsgate has produced a rather spiffy 1080p/MPEG-2 transfer for the film, which quite frankly is more than the films lackluster animation deserves. A direct digital-to-digital telecine, the image is appropriately flawless. The movies color palette is somewhat unique in that it is so on dark side reds are crimson, blues just shy of midnight and that certainly makes for a vivid, eye-popping look. Hues remain rock solid and incredibly rich, almost to the point of being distracting in a positive way. Detail is first-rate, with an often tremendous sense of depth. Happily NEver After almost always looks three dimensional, with excellent sharpness and detail in the shadows superior. Unfortunately, there is a bit of obvious noise in a few shots, usually on flat surfaces that feature intense, solid patches of red or blue. There is also a slight bit of banding on smooth gradients. To be fair, these compression problems are dont occur very often, but they are noticeable enough to prevent Happily NEver After from earning what would have otherwise been a perfect score for video. Happily NEver After also sounds quite swell. Lionsgate has produced a true DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 1 surround track for the film with optional English and Spanish Dolby Digital 1 surround tracks also included, each at 448kbps. Even though current Blu-ray hardware is only capable of extracting the DTS-HD tracks 5mpbs core, the films sound design is still lively enough to make for an engaging experience. The surrounds are frequently active with a variety of discrete sound effects, from the whoosh of a broom to the Wizards many magic spells. Pans between channels are quite effective and near-seamless, while the accuracy of directed sounds is generally excellent. Dynamics hold their own nicely, with strong and tight low bass that never breaks down even at high volume levels. Dialogue is nicely rendered as well, and I never had trouble understanding even the usually indecipherable ramblings of Andy Dick. However, the soundtrack is not truly exceptional.