There is a smell of whimsical desperation wafting through this movie:
“I want to be just like Amelie!”
“I want to be just like Amelie!”
this may as well have been the tagline for “Penelope”, a fanciful little film nugget that was slated to come out a year or so a go, got shelved (never a good sign) and now finally released in the dead sea that is the March movie calendar.
Having said that, it is quite darling.
Not fully darling just yet, but on its way.
(translation: while not offensive to your intelligence, you’d still be quite fine just waiting this one out and watching it on DVD)
The story involves a girl (Christina Ricci) born with a pig snout to a very wealthy family, and a curse that can be lifter only after “she is accepted by one of her own”, which sends he mother (the always game Catherine O’Hara) in a tizzy of matchmaking in order to “help” her daughter, a dwarf reporter, a fast butler, and exasperated father, a series of whiny suitors and finally, James McEvoy who makes bloodshot eyes and big noses seem insanely appealing in a man.
In essence it is a cross between “Ugly Duckling”, “Cinderella” and a few movies sprinkled in the middle, and takes place in some Tim Burton goes on a bender with Jeunot city, where we have a forest, some English manors on cobbled streets, a river suspiciously looking like The Seine, curvy little alleys that reminded me of Barcelona and big, bright city lights. Oh, and Reese Witherspoon is in it, though I am not quite sure what the purpose of her is in it.
You will notice that a lot of this review this far is me just naming things.
And that is because, that’s all the movie is: a series of vignettes, in cute settings, featuring cute curses and cute frustrations.
Even Penelope’s pig snout, which is supposed to be SO HIDEOUS it sends suitors jumping out of the window as opposed to running through the door, is, well, cute.
You watch her, and you never quite understand WHY is everyone so mortified.
In all honesty, I’ve seen worse, and without curses.
And they do just fine.
But the cast is charming, and pulls the story even through its most frustrating turns, and considering that Christina spends a good portion of the movie half-hidden in a scarf, she is perfectly cast because her Blythe doll eyes are what makes her so appealing in the first place.
And yes, it all ends well.
And this is not giving aways anything, because what kind of a (wannabe) fairytale would this be if it didn’t all end well.
Get with the program.
bloodshot eyes and big noses ARE insanely appealing in a man!
March 12, 2008 at 10:18 amI’ve heard this movie is just terrible, but McAvoy is just glorious in general.
For a cuter and more lovable romantic comedy starring McAvoy, try Starter for 10.