MOVIE
REVIEW: PENELOPE
02/28/08
SYNOPSIS: In this modern day romantic tale, Penelope is about a
young girl’s inspiring journey, a mysterious family secret
and the power of love. With all odds against her, in order
for Penelope to break the family curse, she must find true
love with “one of her own kind.” The warm and funny
adventure leads her to realize the most important life
lesson, “I like myself the way I am.”
Penelope Wilhern (Christina Ricci), born to wealthy
socialites (Catherine O’Hara and Robert E. Grant), is
afflicted by the Wilhern spell that can only be broken when
she finds love. Hidden away in her family’s estate, the
lonely girl meets a string of suitors in her parent’s futile
attempt to break the curse. Each eligible bachelor is
enamored with Penelope and her sizable dowry … until her
curse is revealed.
REVIEW: Annie: So
what are you hiding from the law or is it just a bad nose
job?
Penelope: Mhm, bad nose
job.
Bad nose job indeed. Poor
Penelope (Christina Ricci) is born with a curse that was
carried down through her lineage. Rich and educated, men are
drawn to her charm but run from the sight of her nose, her
pig nose. With a life full of pain from rejection and
isolation, she tries hard to stay upbeat and persevere. This
fairy tale (to continue to use my favorite word of the year
so far) is really charming. No really it is. It’s one of
those “awww, how cute” movies. It is amusingly funny with a
hint of fantasy and a dab of romance and it will touch your
heart. One of the overall themes of the film is acceptance
which is what Penelope truly desires and needs. But this
acceptance is not just from those around her, it is also
from within. This darling movie is pretty much what I
expected going in. It’s not the best movie ever, but it is a
sweet, simple, well-presented story that is worth watching
if you are in the mood for something like that.
Watching Christina Ricci in this movie took me back to her
days as Wednesday Adams. She was very cute in a quirky,
twisted kind of way back then and she gives a similar effect
in this role plus a heavy dose of sympathy that you feel
toward her character. Christina does a wonderful job playing
Penelope. You can’t help but fall in love with this
character. She has an appropriate look for the part too with
her actual little button nose on top of which the pig nose
fit well. For her scenes with the scarf, her big, round,
expressively penetrating eyes were just what the doctor
ordered. I was almost thrown off guard by her performance
due to it being quite the opposite extreme of her recent
role in Black Snake Moan. Another honorable mention is James
McAvoy who plays Max, who really isn’t Max, a would-be
suitor to Penelope. James has been pretty busy lately. The
first time I really noticed him was in Narnia as Mr. Tumnus
and to be honest with you, I did not see this coming. He
has, however, proven his talent and he deserves his recent
demand and success. Remember that little guy in the movie
Elf, the one that was a famous children’s book writer who
beat up on Will Ferrell? Well, his name is Peter Dinklage
and he’s in this movie too as Lemon, a feisty and determined
reporter looking to uncover Penelope’s secrets. I was
impressed by his genuine performance. There is a bit of hype
regarding Reese Witherspoon’s presence in this picture which
is uncalled for. Her role as Annie, someone who befriends
Penelope, is way too small and thus her impact is not felt.
Her role as one of the leading producers of this project, on
the other hand, is noteworthy.
The story line for this film is really simple but sufficient
as you would expect it to be for a fairy tale. The script
was just the same with some clever use of pig related lines
and humor. The sets and cinematography were also simple but
borderline cheap. The meat of the movie is found in Penelope
and Max. Even though Penelope is a little disturbing to look
at, you long to see her again whenever she is not on the
screen. How Mark Palansky was able to pull that off in his
feature film directorial debut is magical . . . and so is
this movie.
Movie
Review By Cine Marcos
cinemarcos@smartcine.com
MORE MOVIE REVIEWS
>>>
Submit Your Movie Review
