Penelope (PG)

"Penelope" is a hard film to pin down. A somewhat modern-day fairy tale, it is an entertaining story with time-honored fairy tale morality. It is a decent family film based on the classic "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" theme. The movie has good production values and very good performances. However, the end result is deeply flawed. For one thing, the film's main concept of a girl born with a pig face letting her inner beauty shine through is hurt by the fact that, despite the pig nose, Penelope (Christina Ricci) is actually pretty! This destroys the plausibility of the scenes when she is meeting potential suitors and they run screaming in horror. Sure, the pig nose would be a surprise, and they may opt out of any relationship, but they just would not be horrified by her appearance (you want horrific, take a look at "Nanny McPhee"! ). While this is somewhat modern day, you also wonder why not have plastic surgery? There is a scene with a plastic surgeon to explain why not, but the reasoning is sort of forced. One thing that stood out when I was watching this movie was Peter Dinklage, who plays an unscrupulous reporter determined to expose Penelope to the world. You see, Dinklage is a dwarf, but it occurred to me that he has managed to put that fact aside and just act. While he does occassionally take a role that accentuates his height (he was brilliant in "Elf"), he often plays just a character, where his, uh, condition is never addressed. That speaks volumes of his skills as an actor and it is very apparent here. Another issue, although this is often an element of fairy tales, is that Penelope is basically an abused child. When the family is ashamed of her look, she is literally locked away in a secret room and raised there her entire life. While this is not portrayed as abusive, what else do you call it? Of course, without this crucial element, you do not have the story of Penelope breaking away and going into the world to find the man she has fallen in love with. When all is said and done, it is an entertaining film and is not a bad time spent with the family.

Grade: C

Trailer: