Whoopi-Goldberg Movie Reviews

The dancing daughters have relocated from Northern Europe to Spanish- speaking southern climes in this animated HBO Happily Ever After production. El Rey Marti (Hector Elizondo of TV's Chicago Hope) despairs of divining the method by which his dozen daughters escape the palace each night to ruin their perfectly good dancing shoes. So he makes a royal proclamation: Whoever solves the mystery gets a kingship and the daughter of his choice. The offer brings a long line of men to the palace, ranging from a sexist pig of a prince to a humble singing soldier (Latino warbler Jon Secada). The lowly enlistee and one of the royal daughters (TV hostess Daisy Fuentes) fall in love, and one can guess by the series title what happens. This 26-minute retelling of the classic fairy tale is jauntily narrated by Robert Guillaume and further livened up by mariachi music, a conga line, and a big dollop of humor. Ages 3 and older) --Kimberly Heinrichs