Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child

What’s the Story?

HAPPILY EVER AFTER: FAIRY TALES FOR EVERY CHILD is a collection of short animated fairy tales voiced by the very famous, from Wesley Snipes to Henry Kissinger. The stories range from classics like Goldilocks and the Three Bears to the more obscure, like The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

Is It Any Good?

While the language has been modernized, the tales themselves have not. Although billed as "politically correct" fairy tales (and, at the time, mocked and lampooned as such), the tales themselves aren't actually any more PC than they've ever been. The main difference is that the master may be black and the servant white -- in fact, it's almost certain to be that way. Adults know that's groundbreaking. Kids aren't likely to notice -- which is the point.

The animation, which differs from cartoon to cartoon, is generally excellent in the classic sense, although it lacks the polish of the computer-assisted programs your kids may be used to. The adaptations are fun and full of jokes for savvy kids, like the minion named "Toe-day" who objects to being called "toady," and newspaper headlines like "Did They Even Have Newspapers Back Then?" There's a certain level of cartoon violence, like guards bonking each other over the head and princes being dragged to dungeons. It's nothing to kids used to the likes of Power Rangers, but it may be startling to those who haven't yet gone beyond Blue's Clues.