"Penelope": Suprisingly Cute

Courtesy of Summit Entertainment

By Lauren Brown
VOX Staff

Penelope” (PG) is one of the few fairytale/romances I wanted to see. Usually, I cannot stand romances, but I had faith in this movie because stars Christina Ricci and James McAvoy. I like them both, but my true interest in the movie was its quirkiness and rebellion. I could tell it ground against the grain of typical fairytales. It makes me happy to see the heroine be a heroine instead of a crying damsel in distress who makes a wish and gets saved by an infatuated prince. Though I brought these biases to the theater, thankfully, they did not apply to this movie.

Penelope Wilhern is cursed with a pig’s nose, and the curse can only be broken by “the love from one of her own kind” (a rich socialite). Penelope’s snout, which is frankly more adorable than repulsive, disgusts her parents, especially her mother Jessica. They lock her away from the speculation of the world until she is 18. That’s when Jessica expends an enormous amount of energy searching for an eligible upper-class bachelor to marry her in order to break the curse. However, the eligible bachelors have a tendency to jump out of windows at the sight of Penelope’s face.

The story’s villain is Lemon, a sleazy reporter with an eye for revenge (you’ll get the pun when you see the movie). He joins forces with Max, a socialite with a gambling problem, to get the scoop on Penelope.

When Max unintentionally breaks Penelope’s heart, she runs away, fed up with her imprisonment, and finally discovers… (go see the movie!)

The overall cast is just perfect. Christina Ricci is adorable as soft-spoken, self-conscious Penelope, and James McAvoy is very natural playing opposite her as the charismatic but flawed Max. They are great together, so much so that their kissing scene only made me squirmy, not full-out nauseated as usual.

The most brilliant performance in “Penelope” come from Catherine O’Hara and Peter Dinklage. Even though his appearance is similar to that of the other actors, Dinklage is a scene stealer as the angry, one–eyed paparazzi reporter Lemon, who plots to get Penelope’s picture.
Catherine O’Hara plays Penelope’s nearly-neurotic mother Jessica who just barely hides her disgust with Penelope.Jessica’s one goal in life is to break the curse because Penelope’s marriage would be a personal triumph and a relief. However, Jessica does try to love Penelope and O’ Hara is hilarious in the part. In fact, most of the laughs are conjured by her and Dinklage, with help from Reese Witherspoon, who produces the movie and has a brief role as Penelope’s new friend.

Of course, “Penelope” has flaws. O’Hara looks too old at the time of Penelope’s birth, and 25 years later, she looks the same. I know the powers of make-up, but I’ve never heard of it covering 25 years. Occasionally, a corny line pops up here and there like a nasty weed. Also, many of the aspects of the curse are obscure. But all of this is overshadowed by the film’s spirit. Not often does a clean, happy fairytale come along and impress me. Nevertheless like a pig nose on a girl’s face, “Penelope,” is a unique and surprisingly cute occurrence.