Penelope

"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.

I didn't know what the heck Penelope was, I only saw the trailer once and it looked very strange, I only saw the poster more than a few times and it again, didn't really catch my interest. But my friends and I decided to check it out and I'm actually glad that I saw it. As silly story that it is and a bit predictable, it's a good movie. Most romantic comedies tick me off because they are so predictable and the it's the same formula each time, Penelope is close to the same formula, but instead adds a fairy tale twist. It has the same moral of the story as most films of having to accept yourself, but Christina Ricci made it more charming and lovable. The cast was perfect and all did a great job, the looked like they had such a good time bringing this story to life.

Penelope seems like the girl that should be living the high life, a wealthy family, part of royalty, but her life isn't perfect. Due to a shallow mistake her ancestor made, a witch cursed a face of a pig onto the next born daughter, that happens to be Penelope who apparently has to marry a man of royal blood to break the curse. But since she's not the prettiest face on the planet, every man runs from her, but Max, a spy sent by a photographer, Max learns that Penelope is a beautiful soul. Penelope runs away though to find her freedom and instead finds herself and how wonderful she truly is.

Penelope is a very cute film, I was very impressed with the story, there were some things I was a little disappointed in, like how they just abandoned some characters for no reason. But I think it's hard to fit it in a short film, still I think it could have been edited better. But Christina Ricci was a great choice for Penelope, even though she's still oddly enough not the ugliest woman I've ever seen with the nose, she did a good job and held her own well. Reese Witherspoon, small role, but she was so charming. I would recommend Penelope, it's a cute film and was a lot of fun to watch.

7/10

I saw "Penelope" at the US premiere at CineVegas last week. It has a very sweet message about self-acceptance that we could all use a little more of these days. I loved the hyper- real, brightly colored, Tim Burtonesque look of the film, it helped to accentuate the fairy tale aspect.

I also thought all of the performances, especially Christina Ricci and Katherine O'Hara, were excellent. Reese Witherspoon as a leather wearing, gum chewing, scooter riding messenger girl seemed a bit miscast, but she was actually good and had one of the funnier lines of the film.

While there's nothing laugh out loud funny, this sweet story makes you smile again and again.

I would recommend this film for audiences of all ages because I don't think you're ever too old for it's message and it doesn't talk down to an adult audience.

Fairy tales are wide spread, with witches and curses they have, they are all too familiar with their poor damsel in need of rescue by the Charming Prince. The same can be said for poor Penelope, played by the essence of beauty and intelligence that is Christina Ricci. Famed for her roles as Wednesday Addams in the Addams Family movies, then "Kat" Harvey in Casper and during an Ice Strom she was Wendy Hood, hey, she's even dated a lesbian Monster and been chained up in Black Snake Moan. This, too, is the second in a row movie that consists of her taking a curse, the previous being John Carpenter's light horror werewolf flick Cursed (2005). You name it she has done it, and with perfection. Now all grown up she is playing the titular role of her 2006 movie Penelope.

Filmed in London, and with a high level of English actors too, and cast as an American fairy tale, this is the unlucky story of a witches curse on the first-born daughter of the Blue Blood (aristocrat) family, the Wilhern's. The only way to break said curse is to find her Charming Prince who shall love her for all her worth, pig nose and all. Yep, her curse is to be born with the nose and ears of a pig, poor girl. Kept away from others for all her childhood and youth by her grieving parents, played with relish by Richard E. Grant and the lovely Catherine O'Hara adding a touch of very hyper stressed and neurotic motherly love. Who could ask for more? Well, more is what we get here, more fun, more sad reflection and more diversity from the standard tale of woe. With its witty players from said Grant and O'Hara, we also get the very talented James McAvoy and the nemesis that is Lemon, the evil News Reporter, Peter Dinklage, hot on her tail for revenge. Having done "Lassie" (2005), "Death at a Funeral" (2007) and in the pipeline "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian". Excellent actor.

Funny in parts, and poignant in others, not an epic but not a waste of time either. A story of self believe and how one can learn to love oneself and then be loved in return, in any way, shape or form. Simple I know, but in this case, it works, with all the surrounding American accents sometimes rubbing the wrong way, we can easily dismiss the poor adaptations.

This ugly duckling fable will warm to your hearts and tingle you with delight, with a charming narrative and distinctive feel good factor, and if Disney had gotten their hands on the project, it just might have come across as over sappy, over benevolent and over too soon. And it's a good job they didn't, wasn't it?

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?