It’s ‘Penelope’ by a nose!

At the Movies
By Senitra Horbrook

The story about an ugly duckling turning into a beautiful swan is fairly well-known and often adapted to movie plots.
Well, Christina Ricci is supposed to be the duckling as the title character in Penelope, but even with a pig snout she’s far from ugly.
Penelope, a contemporary fairy tale about self-acceptance, has both the "once upon a time" and the "happily ever after." The film, which was made about two years ago, had some trouble getting to the big screen. It was dropped by two major studios before being picked up by Summit Entertainment, a small studio.
That usually means bad news, but other than being a little uneven, Penelope is interesting and engaging. The uneven feel to the movie may be due to first-time director Mark Palansky and screenwriter Leslie Caveney. It’s unclear when and where the movie is taking place. At times it feels like a modern-day story (especially when Penelope is chased by the paparazzi). At other times it feels like this took place a long time ago. The movie was filmed in London, but most of the cast has American accents, even the Scottish-born James McAvoy.
The main problem is the idea that the pig snout makes Penelope a hideous freak. Even though potential suitors jump out of second-story windows upon seeing her for the first time, Penelope’s snout is not as revolting as the movie wants it to be. Her ears are oddly curved, but most of the time they are hidden by her hair. The rest of her face and body are quite normal.
The pig snout is the result of a centuries’-old curse on the Wilhern family, which resulted in the next female child born to have the unfortunate appendage. After learning that plastic surgery can’t fix the snout, Penelope’s parents (Catherine O’Hara and Richard E. Grant) fake her death and keep her locked in the house so she won’t face ridicule from the outside world.
It is thought that marrying a blue-blooded male (someone with the same social status and wealth) will rid Penelope of the snout, so her family goes to great lengths to find a suitor.
All the attempts have been fruitless until Max (McAvoy) comes along; however, Max’s initial intentions are not very honorable. Once Penelope realizes she has been misled by Max, she decides to leave the home where she has been locked up for 25 years. This is when her journey of self-acceptance begins.
Reese Witherspoon has a small role as Annie, a leather jacket-wearing, Vespa-riding woman whom Penelope meets when she strikes out on her own for the first time. Witherspoon, who also served as a producer of the movie, adds some star power and brightens up the proceedings when she is on screen.
Ricci is a diverse actress who played a nymphomaniac chained to a radiator in Black Snake Moan last year. She brings just the right charm and sensibility to Penelope, and even made me believe that she had never been out in public before.
The movie’s message of self-acceptance is drummed in pretty hard toward the end of the film. I won’t fault that misstep too much. There are a few laughs and you’ll walk away smiling about Penelope’s realization of how great she truly is — with or without a snout. ••
Movie Grade: B