Penelope (PG)

Released: 29 February 2008, Summit Entertainment, Stone Village Pictures
Starring: Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, Reese Witherspoon
Directed by: Mark Palansky

3.5 stars (out of 4)

Christina Ricci (Speed Racer) stars as Penelope, a lonely heiress who has spent her entire life trying to break a strange family curse that left her with the nose of a pig.  When she meets a charming aristocrat, James McAvoy (Wanted, Atonement), who seems to see beyond her physical appearance, Penelope begins to learn that loving herself is more important than breaking the curse.  (from the DVD)

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This inspiring modern-day fairy tale is the story of one girl’s journey to find love with “one of her own kind” and break the family curse that has left her with the nose of a pig.

Lonely heiress Penelope (Ricci) has been locked away from society by her mother (Catherine O’Hara) and father (Richard E. Grant) in an attempt to protect her from society’s slights.  After a string of blue-blooded suitors have failed to win her heart (and run from her in terror) Penelope meets Max (McAvoy), a down-on-his-luck aristocrat who has been hired by an eager reporter named Lemon (Peter Dinklage) to go undercover as a suitor for Penelope and to get a picture of her for his tabloid.  Max ends up falling for Penelope, but when she begs him to marry her he refuses in an attempt to protect her from a secret of his own.  Broken-hearted, Penelope runs away from the family estate and finds herself on her own for the first time in her sheltered life.  Befriended by a delivery girl named Annie (Witherspoon), Penelope learns how to survive in the world.  After her features are accidentally revealed to the world, Penelope is surprised to find herself welcomed by society with no need to hide her face ever again.  But when a former suitor proposes to Penelope to please his family and redeem his image, she faces a difficult choice – break the curse, or remain pig-nosed forever. (more…)