Voices of Demi Lovato, Wilmer Valderrama, Jim Cummings, and Nia Vardalos
Directed by Ross Venokur
Music and Lyrics by various
This was not the first time Vanguard Animation dipped into the fairy tale parody well. Their second production after their debut was Happily N' Ever After from 2006, a spoof of fairy tale conventions that was a huge flop with critics and at the box office. That movie's failure didn't stop them from returning to the fantasy well almost a decade later. This time, they've traded imitating the Shrek films for imitating Disney and their female-oriented action musicals. How does the story of a Prince Charming who can charm anyone but a certain female thief look now? Let's begin with a narrator explaining why Prince Phillipe (Valderrama) is in big trouble and find out...
The Story: Prince Phillipe was cursed with charm as a child by the wicked sorceress Nemeny Neverwish (Vardalos). He attracts every woman who sees him...until his 21st birthday, when all love will vanish from the kingdom. King Charming (Cummings) gets very fed up with his son after he's engaged to Snow White (Avril Lavigne), Cinderella (Ashley Tisdale), and Sleeping Beauty (G.E.M) and forces him to go on the Gauntlet. This terrifying quest up to Fire Mountain will show his son what it's like to be truly brave and help him decide who his true love is once and for all.
Phillipe is joined by what he thinks is his guide Lenny. Her name is really Lenore Quinonez (Lovato), a sly thief who has agreed to lead the prince up the mountain in exchange for money after she's caught robbing the princesses. Phillipe has already fallen for Lenore when she's the first woman who doesn't automatically grovel at his feet, but she's not as impressed with him. He can't do much more than be a cute guy, though he does manage to rescue her from the enormous chief of an Amazon tribe (Tara Strong). Lenore's now thinking he might be her true love, but Nemeny isn't about to let her break that curse. It'll take a "leap of faith" for the two to finally prove that there's a lot more to true love than falling for a pretty face.
The Animation: Vanguard's trademark angular designs are front and center here. That works on characters like Prince Phillipe and Leonore who are supposed to be all arms and legs. It's not so great for others. The princesses look less pretty and rounded and more like all sharp angles. Don't get me started on the dated and ridiculous designs of the Amazon tribe, though the Half-Oracle and her number do come off a bit better. There's even some nifty special effects there.
The Song and Dance: The cast is the thing here. Lovato gives Leonore a certain strength that makes it even harder to digest when her character gets a lot interesting in the second half, after she falls for Phillipe. Tisdale, G.E.M, and Lavigne are hilarious as the three jilted fiancees, especially Lavigne as traumatized Snow White. Cummings gives the king a great deal of gravity as well. Sia also does well in her brief role as the Half-Oracle, who has by far the most memorable segment in a trippy number where she explains how Phillipe could be Leonore's true love. And as annoying as Phillipe can be, at least he's also a genuinely nice guy who really does want to do what's right for the ladies chasing him and his kingdom.
The Numbers: The movie opens with the three princesses telling us about their "Trophy Boy" in a montage depicting him being chased by every woman in the kingdom. "Not Changing" covers Leonore and her cardinal friend escaping the guards with their stolen treasure and fleeing into town. "Balladino" is the Half-Oracle's dreamy, memorably weird number as she shows Lenore who her true love is, and why it's important she find him. Lenore dreams of how "Magical" it'll be to sing and dance with Phillipe in a dream sequence right before their botched date at the inn. Leonore says she'll "Soar" after Phillipe announces what he intends to do to eliminate the curse. We briefly get "Somebody to You" over the montage of Phillipe and Leonore's wedding and honeymoon before the title song plays over the credits.
What I Don't Like: This fairy-tale satire is about fifteen years out of date...and the badly and annoyingly stereotyped Amazon-type native tribe has been out of date for at least sixty. Lenore and the princesses are supposed to be the ones in the wrong for either submitting too quick to Phillipe's charm, or not submitting at all. Phillipe is such an idiot, though, that you end up feeling sorry for the princesses instead. They're all pretty likable, if rather shallow. I have no idea how Phillipe doesn't see through Leonore's ridiculous male disguise. She's about as male as the princesses.
Lenore is a far more interesting character in the start, when she's more annoyed with Phillipe and how useless he is. I wish she could have resisted him a lot longer. Even later, she shouldn't have had to give up what she was for him so quickly. Phillipe isn't so much charming as he is a spoiled daddy's boy who gets by on everyone doing everything for him. He may be nice, but he's so witless and annoying, you wish Leonore would have pushed him harder into gaining a little backbone.
The Big Finale: Vanguard's second attempt at a fairy tale spoof has all the charm of curdled wedding cake icing and is only slightly better than the awful Happily N'Ever After. Only if you're a really, really huge fan of the cast or Shrek-eque fairy tale satire.
Home Media: This is currently a Netflix exclusive.
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