2008 Woodie Awards
Movie review - "Penelope"
By Ryan Johnston
Issue date: 2/22/08 Section: Opinion
Originally published: 2/18/08 at 11:09 AM CSTLast update: 2/21/08 at 6:18 PM CST
|
Director: Mark Palansky
Producers: Dylan Russell, Jennifer Simpson, Scott Steindorff, Reese Witherspoon
Actors: Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, Catherine O'Hara, Reese Witherspoon
Plot: With a stream of adult fairy tales coming into Hollywood, this movie is well above the rest.
Christina Ricci pulls far back from her usual dark-themed movies and excels as a woman cursed with a pig nose.
With a mother, played by Catherine O'Hara, afraid to let her daughter leave the house, Ricci spends her whole life inside her room, waiting to be accepted by others.
Although Ricci was born into a rich family, to get rid of the curse she must find a suitor, one of her kind, to marry and accept her and all of her flaws. Many young men make their way into the house but at first glance of the pig-faced girl, they run.
However, that is until Ricci meets James McAvoy, the only man who did not run from Ricci, but rather stood and took her for who she is.
After meeting McAvoy, Ricci starts rebeling and leaves the house for the first time in her life, meeting new characters, such as a hippie-punk version of Reese Witherspoon.
After an article comes out about her, she sends pictures of herself to the newspaper, for the world to see, which in turn, horrifies her mother, but is well accepted by the community.
Becoming more of a celebrity freak show than a part of the community, Ricci discovers she does not need to be ashamed of who she is.
The actors do a great job playing in a movie of fairy tale and magic, and a theater full of laughter and teary moments make this a magnificent movie. At the end, it is a great moral story that shows you must love yourself before loving others.
Rating: PG
In theaters: Feb. 29
Rating: 4 stars
This reviewer also enjoyed:
"Enchanted" directed by Kevin Lima, "Ella Enchanted" directed by Tommy O'Haver, "Freaky Friday" directed by Mark Waters
This is an open forum for the readers of TheRanger.org. Abusive, inflammatory, slanderous, obscene and libelous language will not be tolerated. Please be considerate of other readers when posting comments. This is not the place for personal attacks. The staff of The Ranger.org reserves the right to deny publication of any posts. The comments posted here do not reflect the opinions of The Ranger staff, San Antonio College or the Alamo Community College District.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Matt | Download Penelope Movie
posted 2/23/08 @ 1:01 PM CST
Nice Review Ryan,
I also enjoy movies that tell the story that it is really important to love who you are. In an age of superficial looks and fake, plastic people, it's best when you can surround yourself with real people!
ps-I also loved Enchanted. (Continued…)
Post a Comment