Movie Review: Penelope
What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this fairy-tale-like film has a
lot of heart. There's not much iffy content (a bit of drinking
and innuendo is the bulk of it), and the main character is
devoted to discovering her own identity and making peace with
her circumstances, though it's sometimes hard for her to
overcome her shame. Her parents -- especially her mother --
can't seem to accept her as she is, which could be upsetting
for some younger viewers. But in the end (naturally),
everything wraps up nicely.
Families can talk about how this movie is like a fairy tale.
What does it have in common with more traditional "once upon a
time" stories? How is it different? What lesson do Penelope and
her family learn from their curse? Are the men's reactions to
Penelope understandable or reprehensible? What shapes their
expectations of how a woman ought to look?
Born to a privileged family burdened by a curse, pig-nosed Penelope (Christina Ricci) will only get a human snout when she finds true love with one of her "own kind." Mindful of a scandal, her parents (Richard E. Grant and Catherine O'Hara) fake her death and lock her away until she's grown up, at which point they begin hunting for a suitable -- and, more important, willing -- mate. The "auditions" for a hex-breaking aristocrat begin straight away, but every time Penelope reveals herself, the men run off. One, disgraced after no one believes his tales of a monster on the loose, hires a muckraker named Lemon (Peter Dinklage), who hatches a plan to hire Max Campion (James McAvoy) -- a down-on-his-luck blueblood with a gambling problem -- to snag a picture that will sell lots of tabloids. But Lemon didn't bet on Max having a heart (not to mention a soul); soon, Penelope is unmasked, Max rejects her, and she's left to figure out what how to live happily ever after -- with and without the boy.
Brimming with style and whimsy, PENELOPE is a traditional fable set in a too-exquisite, retro metropolis. It's genuinely lovely to look at -- even that nose, which doesn't actually seem so bad. But although it's amiable -- aided in part by an appealingly rakish McAvoy and a game, though disconcertingly tame, Ricci -- it's a half-baked soufflé that collapses midway. Despite all of its fairy-tale trappings, it's not really any less predictable than any other mainstream romantic comedy.
The supporting cast is generally strong -- O'Hara is delightfully caustic -- though Reese Witherspoon's cameo turn as an "edgy" messenger Penelope befriends doesn't work because, well, she doesn't believably have an edge. As for the film's central question -- can a sweet girl with a pig's snout find true love with one of "her own"? -- the answer is this: What exactly does "one of her own" really mean?
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Member Comments On...
Movie Review: Penelope
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I so love that this movie is actually rated PG, although that will keep some of the older teens (ok, most of them) away. Nevertheless, at least one of my teen daughters wants to see this, so I'm sure I'll get a chance to see it at some point, and I'm looking forward to it, whether it crumbles half-way through or not.
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