Penelope
Christina Ricci stars as Penelope – the
daughter of celebrity aristocrats who suffers from a curse put on the
family years ago. Because of this hideous curse, Penelope was born with
a pig’s snout for a nose, and her family, out of
embarrassment, and to protect her from a world where she could not be
accepted, has hidden her away for years. To break the curse, they must
find a fellow blueblood to love her, so Penelope’s mother,
Jessica (Catherine O’Hara), has hired a matchmaker to recruit
someone to marry her daughter.
Will anyone want to marry the girl who looks like Porky the Pig?
Writer Leslie Caveny and director Mark Palansky want Penelope to be a
lighthearted fairy tale with the ability to warm your heart, but the
story goes a step too far after achieving the goal. The team hits on
the themes of being true to one’s self and promoting inner
beauty, which always are welcome messages in a world where looks are
more important than what is inside, but Penelope veers away from all of
that about halfway through, as if they ran out of material and needed
to throw in some filler.
Palansky does his best work building up the possible romance between
Penelope and unlikely suitor Max (James McAvoy) as we watch the two
flirt, get to know each other and enjoy each other’s company
via conversations held through a one way mirror. It brings out the best
in Ricci and McAvoy – both of whom are strong actors with a
flair for longing looks. Palansky even has some fun with
Penelope’s campier aspect as we watch suitor after suitor
react to her porcine countenance and a funny subplot about a dirty
paparazzo (Peter Dinklage) trying to score the photo of a lifetime,
while whiny aristocrat Edward Vanderman, Jr. (Simon Woods) tries to
clear his name in a scandal of his own doing.
However, Penelope runs away from this fun part of the movie about 45
minutes in, and only looks back when someone remembers they still have
James McAvoy under contract and need to wrap up his storyline. Also,
while Penelope is being billed as a modern fairy tale, it is not
necessarily for youngsters. The early portion of the movie deals with
some darker material and younger kids might not understand jokes about
paparazzi.
Penelope is rated PG for thematic
elements, some innuendo and language
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