Penelope

Loved! Loved! Loved this Movie! One of the last movies I caught at the Toronto Film Festival....and by far my FAVORITE!!!!! Penelope is an original and uplifting story that reminds us of life's most fundamental truth -- that our beliefs lock us into a particular reality. It is packed full of excitement, surprises, laughs, heartfelt pangs and soaring joy. Christina Ricci is radiant as Penelope and in the face of daunting circumstances she inspires us to not only persevere but to dare to break free. It is a treat to see Reese Witherspoon portraying an edgier gal than norm and James McAvoy is a heartthrob! Oh, and the performance of Simon Woods is absolutely delightful and unforgettable! This movie is important, but I would give away the ending if I told you why!!

What a lovely creature Christina Ricci is. Even with a pig's snout stuck to her face, I found her to be completely entrancing. She was certainly the only reason I decided to give this modern-day fairy tale a go and, on the whole, I'm fairly glad that I did. It has its weaknesses, for sure, the main one being that it can't seem to settle on a tone or to decide whether it takes place in Britain, America or some mythical amalgam of the two. The tone certainly could have been darker, even if the film is (probably) primarily aimed at teens considering its story (basically an update of Beauty and the Beast with gender roles reversed).

Ricci does a good job of holding everything together. She looks too cute to send men flying through windows in terror, and seems too well-adjusted for a 25-year-old who has never stepped outside the confines of her palatial home, but I suppose these are minor quibbles. After all, how could we root for a truly hideous princess with social interaction issues? Catherine O'Hara also scores as Penelope's overbearing mother who can't see that she is the barrier preventing her daughter from lifting the curse that has left her with a pig's snout for a nose. Other familiar names are more of a distraction than anything else: hedge-haired Russell Brand appears for one scene, an increasingly chubby Lenny Henry in another few. Producer Reese Witherspoon even makes an appearance late on.

One character I liked a lot was that of Lemon, played by Peter Dinklage. Not only does Dinklage provide probably the strongest performance in the film, thanks to a well-written role, the script wisely refrains from spelling out the similarities between his character and Penelope that lead to his pulling back from the pursuit of her. Anyone with a little insight can understand the reason for the casting; it doesn't need to be spelled out, but how many other films would keep hammering home the point until even the thickest viewer caught on?

It was only very recently I actually found out about Penelope, it was also actually yesterday I did a bit of research and realised how long ago Penelope was made, in fact it was made in 2006! When I discovered this I began to worry a bit about seeing it, despite a reasonably decent trailer the fact it had been delayed so long meant something was probably wrong with it. Well I saw it tonight, and while it isn't perfect the film is still a charming and thoroughly entertaining film. In many ways it reminded me slightly of one of my favourite films of all time, Edward Scissorhands. Unfortunately its nowhere near as good, but it does have its moments. I actually kind of wish that Tim Burton had got his hands on this movie as this really is the type of film he could make perfect. The film is a nice, family friendly flick, that while a bit cutesy at times has a genuine heart and some decent performances. Unfortunately the movie does have its problems, the ending comes on a bit sudden and the movie does start to struggle slightly in the middle section. But the film is guaranteed to give you a big smile and I definitely feel you can do a lot worse than see this film this half term.

Okay lets start with the performances, which in my eyes was one of the best aspects of Penelope. Most prominent is Christina Ricci as Penelope, the girl with the face of a pig. Okay that last statement is very much an over statement, despite her prosthetic pig snout she does not look remotely ugly at all. On the contrary I found her better looking than 80% of the average girls you meet, so you never truly believe people will jump out of windows just to get away from her. However Ricci's performance is truly brilliant, she's so sweet and innocent, and the scenes where she speaks to McAvoy via a mirror is just pitch perfect. It truly displays Ricci's talents and makes you realise how she has come a long way since The Addams Family. James McAvoy pops up at the main man in the movie, also displaying an American accent that actually never really suits him. Nevertheless, despite his ever so slightly distracting accent he delivers a great performance, as he always seems to do. He has great chemistry with Ricci and any scene they share together just sees the screen light up. Catherine O'Hara steals the movie as the over the top mother who I suppose does genuinely mean well. She's funny but also brilliant, and O'Hara seems to be having a blast. Simon Wood is the only weak link in the movie, he plays the villain, the one who finds out about Penelope and tries to get a picture taken of her. Unfortunately he just seems irritating and camp, he's not a funny characters and he at times seems more an annoyance than a plot point. Oh and Reese Witherspoon is wasted, she's in the film I think for a grand total of ten minutes.

Penelope also has problems with the middle section, the opening is absolutely brilliant and the ending works in some odd way, but the middle, and second third, is just bland and feels like it is treading water. The introduction of Witherspoon's character just seems like a novelty more than anything else and the lead up to the final third just feels like a waste of an opportunity. Also just before the final ten minutes the movie seems to speed over an important event in mere seconds! Thankfully these faults with the film never make the film a bad film, the film is always watchable and you do genuinely seem to enjoy the film. Also the film never feels over-long, it feels a perfect length, which is nice as I believe if the film got boring in the end then the film would eventually collapse. While I did enjoy the film its also something I doubt I'll ever watch again as it just doesn't have that re-watchability factor. Nevertheless this is a good film for kids and in a time when kids will watch rubbish like Underdog, it would be a lot better for the kids to be taken to see a well made if slightly underachieving film that has a great moral.

Penelope is hardly the disaster I assumed it would be due to its release being pushed back, but neither it a masterpiece. Its a sweet, entertaining little movie that is worth watching.

I saw this movie last year at a screening, but it has taken me awhile to submit a comment on here.

I LOVED THIS MOVIE!!! It is a wonderful story with a great message that needs to be heard in this modern age.

I assume it will be targeted toward teens, but as a 36 year old, I really enjoyed it. It might be one of Ricci's best performances, as good as Black Snake Moan, but completely different roles. James McAvoy is charming. Catherine Ohara, Reese Witherspoon and Peter Dinklage are nice surprises and always funny when they appear. Overall, very enjoyable. It is somewhat predictable, but it has to have a happy ending.

"Penelope" opens with Christina Ricci narrating the story to us of how she, Penelope, was born with a curse - a pig nose. The film may seem childish and too fairy tale-like but Ricci speaks with such a soft pleasing manner that she reminds us of the best kindergarten teachers reading to us so we relax and settle in and comfortably enjoy the film.

Then we meet Penelope's mother (Catherine O'Hara) she is everything that Penelope is not: high-strung, over-bearing, intolerant. Of course she's just being a protective mother but she's painted in such a light so the audience can relate more and laugh with Penelope. Most of the supporting characters are cliché but they are done over the top so they are actually funny. At this point I should make a caveat, I am a James McAvoy votary. Such that I would be glowing about his role and performance no matter what, so I will be conspicuously quiet on McAvoy to not over-colour this review.

Listed as a modern-day fairy tale for the entire family, I actually found the movie much more slanted towards young adults (a few jokes would go over kids' heads). This would probably explain the casting of twenty-something and 30-year-old popular actors. I, for one, am glad that they made a film for me with no violence, vulgarity, action or effects and instead filled it with light-hearted, romantic, feel-good messages about loving yourself. And they somehow did that with out being saccharine or sappy.