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Film: Happily Ever After

Looks like Snow White got a tan and hair extension.

Happily Ever After was an unofficial sequel to Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, produced in 1988 and released in 1993 by Filmation. As the studio had actually gone under in 1989, the movie was also Filmation's last project. As with most Filmation productions, it featured low budget animation and a typical high fantasy/adventure setting, though to get away from the Disney setting, it took some serious plot detours.

The movie opens literally as the previous story ends with Snow White and The Prince are off to go get married after the death of the wicked Queen. Unfortunately, just as this is taking place, the Wicked Queen's brother Lord Maliss pays a visit at his sister's home and gets caught up on the state of events. Naturally, he vows revenge on Snow White. He kidnaps the Prince but loses Snow White. She ends up back at the house of the seven Dwarfs, who are actually absent for the film as instead their cousins, the seven elementally powered dwarfelles have moved in. This leads to one big girl posse chasing down Lord Maliss to rescue The Prince. Along the way, they are followed by a hooded individual named the Shadow Man.

As you might be able to tell from the plot summary, the film takes more than a few liberties with the fairy tale's setting.

The movie was critically panned upon its release due to its rather cliche story and the low quality of the animation. Despite bombing hard at the box office, the film did manage to develop a cult following on VHS.

Tropes included:

Action Girl: This Snow White has quite a bit more spine than other incarnations; many people regard this as one of the few good qualities of the movie.
- Ultimately Thunderella too, in the climax, when Thunderella throws a lightning bolt at Lord Maliss and distracts him long enough for Snow White to finish him off.
An Aesop: Smoking is evil, mmm'kay?
Artistic License - Biology: Scowl, who's male, lays an egg.
Avenging the Villain: Maliss's motive.
Beware the Nice Ones: The mousy Thunderella finally learns to control her powers at the film's climax and pretty much torches Maliss herself.
Big Damn Heroes: The dwarvelles near the climax of the film. Especially Thunderella.
Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Scowl and Batso.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Mother Nature, despite a tendency to blunder her experiments badly (and dancing like a hippie chick), is the most Badass character around.
Snow White: THAT'S Mother Nature?!
Butt Monkey: Scowl. Sunburn to a lesser extent.
Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": Snow White calling Maliss' dragon form a 'bird'.
The Cassandra: Shadow Man, at first.
Catch Phrase: Sunburn's "X burns me up!"
Color Wash: This movie just abuses the color blue. For example, the Realm of Doom is completely painted in blue.
Covers Always Lie: The dwarfelles are way bigger than the cover suggests. Plus, they made Shadow Man appear to be the Big Bad of the movie.
Darker and Edgier: Tried, at least.
Dark Is Not Evil: Shadow Man?
Disney Death: Shadow Man and six dwarfelles.
Distressed Dude: The thrust of the film's plot is the heroes storming Lord Maliss' castle to rescue the Prince. Of course, since he's been turned into the Shadow Man, he's actually loose for most of the film.
Doomy Dooms of Doom: Lord Maliss rules the Realm of DOOM—oom—oom—oom—oommmm....
Earn Your Happy Ending
Elemental Powers: Five of the dwarfelles; the other two are more unorthodox. You can guess their powers just by looking at their names: Sunburn, Muddy, Blossom, Marina, Thunderella. Then there is Critterina, who can command animals, and Moonbeam, who, well, controls the moon.
Everyone Calls Him Barkeep: The Prince.
Expy: The Shadow Man looks like an older version of Orko.
- The Prince also looks a bit like a less buff version of Prince Adam. Ironically, they're both the same guy.
  - A lesser known example, but Batso looks and acts almost exactly like Belfry from Filmation's Ghostbusters.
  - Scowl is the cigar-smoking animal minion of the main villain that's meant to show the harmful effects of smoking, just like Outlaw Scuzz from Bravestarr.
Eye Beams: Again, Maliss.
The Fashionista: Blossom.
Thunderella: He was sooo terrible!
Blossom: Unbelievable, my dear! He was wearing last year's cape!
Five-Man Band: The Dwarfelles can fall into this:
- The Hero - Sunburn
- The Lancer - Muddy
- The Big Guy - Critterina
- The Smart Guy - Blossom
- The Chick - Marina and Moonbeam
- Tagalong Kid - Thunderella, though ultimately The Hero.
- Team Mom - Snow White
- Mentor Archetype - Mother Nature
- Mysterious Protector - The Shadow Man (a.k.a. The Prince)
Four Temperament Ensemble: Snow White and the dwarfelles with tangible personalities. Snow White is melancholic, Thunderella is phlegmatic, Sunburn is choleric and Muddy is sanguine.
Heel Face Turn: Scowl and Batso, because Mother Nature helps him learn to "smell again" after clearing up the harmful effects of smoking, and Batso was only evil because Scowl was, so Batso heel face turns because Scowl does.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Lord Maliss and his cloak.
"I Want" Song: "Get It Right".
Incoming Ham: "WWWWWWWWWWWHAAAT'S GOING ON HEEEEEERE?!!"
Large Ham: Maliss. Malcolm McDowell, people.
Limited Animation: Hoho, of course.
Loving a Shadow: Snow White ends up falling for Shadow Man hard. Aaaawkward...
Minion with an F in Evil: Batso and his inability to grasp the concept of "being bad".
Mix-and-Match Creatures: Rhino-wolves! And the creatures spawned by Mother Nature.
Mythology Gag: Igor from Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night appears very briefly in Mother Nature's garden.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Scowl gets in the way of Maliss chasing Snow White, thus letting her escape. The prince still gets screwed.
- Then there's the scene near the end. Let's just say they unintentionally help the dwarfelles storm the castle.
- Lord Maliss himself isn't immune, because he's only defeated in the end because instead of just killing Snow White outright when he has the chance, he insists on petrifying Snow White with a cloak, which gave Snow White an opportunity to beat him...with a little help from Thunderella of course.
No Indoor Voice: Maliss, a lot.
Owl Be Damned: Scowl the owl. Although for all his boasting about how "bad" he is, he's pretty incompetent.
Pan Up To The Sky Ending
Panty Shot: Done a lot with Thunderella, for some unknown reason.
Power Incontinence: Thunderella's main gripe. She manages to overcome this in the climax.
Rage Against The Reflection: The Shadowman sees himself in a puddle of water and angrily kicks it with his foot. Gee, I wonder if it has anything to do with the missing Prince Charming?
Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Snow White.
Scaled Up: Maliss' favored mode of transportation and attack is to turn into a red dragon, and unlike most examples, it was actually pretty effective up until Scowl interfered.
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Mother Nature is prone to this.
Shapeshifter Swan Song: What happens when Maliss dies. First he turns into his dragon form and then, before he turns into stone underneath the cloak's effects, turns into a dragon with his human face.
Shoo Out the Clowns: Scowl and Batso have no involvement whatsoever in the climax of the film. Unless you count letting the Dwarfelles in accidentally as being involved.
Spiritual Successor: Filmation previously did a sequel to Snow White in 1980 - only it was a ChristmasSpecial, and only lasted 50 minutes. That one also much more obviously ripped off Disney - by the time this film was made, the Mouse had gotten wiser.
Storming the Castle
Surrounded by Idiots: The goons that the Wicked Queen has left to Lord Maliss (who seem, by the way, suspiciously similar to the ones who worked for Maleficent) are even more bumbling than the dwarfelles — particularly Scowl.
Taken for Granite: Maliss' terror-inducing cloak at the climax of the film.
Talking to Himself: Critterina and Marina, Moonbeam and Thunderella.
True Blue Femininity: Snow White.
Tsundere: Sunburn.
Villain Song: "Bad". More like Mook song, though.
Walk Into Mordor: Averted. One DOES simply walk into the dark, dreary, dangerous Realm of Doom.
You Monster!: Spoken by Snow White to Maliss after the latter turns the dwarfelles to stone and kills The Shadow Man.