Like its main character, the movie Penelope had to wait a long time before finally seeing the light of day. After premiering to raves at the Toronto Film Festival in September of 2006, Mark Palansky's modern-day fairy tale sat on the shelf for months, its theatrical release delayed indefinitely by various corporate mishaps. Now, thankfully, American movie fans finally have a chance to see what the Canadians were so excited about.
Christina Ricci stars as Penelope, a young heiress saddled with a peculiar curse: She was born with the nose of a pig. Her socialite parents, fearing for the ridicule their daughter will likely be forced to endure as a result of her unsightly appendage, keep her locked away inside their stately mansion. A lonely existence, to be sure, but one surely preferable to that of a circus freak.
There is hope for Penelope, however: the curse will be lifted and her nose returned to normal if she can manage to secure a marriage proposal from a "high-born" suitor. Unfortunately, the various trust-fund lads brought in to audition for the role invariably flee at the site of Penelope's pig nose. But just when all seems lost, hope arrives in the form of Max (Atonement's James McAvoy), a down-and-out hipster with an appropriately aristocratic background.
Aping Tim Burton, director Palansky successfully replicates the surreal, fairy-tale tone of Edward Scissorhands, throwing in just enough cynicism to avoid overdosing on its saccharine elements. Ricci is superb in the lead (not least because her face seems oddly compatible with the prosthetic nose) and McAvoy, looking a good deal younger than he did in Atonement, provides a fine foil. Reese Witherspoon, who produced the film, is miscast in the role of the street-smart urbanite who befriends Penelope, and Simon Woods' performance as Penelope's obnoxious antagonist is a bit too exaggerated for my tastes.
Those two disappointing performances aside, Penelope is a fun comic fairy tale suitable for the entire family (as long as your family members don't mind a little weirdness here and there).
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