During these screwy mid-season television reruns and during my last free week before technical rehearsals for The Producers at the Grand Rapids Civic Theater fire up, I trolled my Netflix queue for something light and frothy and simple again and happened upon Penelope, newly available instantly. I was interested in this film because it's a fantasy, a modern fairy tale of sorts, and because it boasted an appealing ensemble cast, including Christina Ricci, James McAvoy (hello Mr. Tumnus), Catherine O'Hara, Peter Dinklage, and Reese Witherspoon. I don't think the film received much press or garnered huge box office receipts, so I watched the film with more curiosity and fewer expectations. I hoped for a good yarn, which I think I saw...for the most part. Of course, I'd seen it, or a version of it, before.
Penelope (Ricci) was born under a witch's curse. Her father's family ancestors were cruel to the witch, so she cursed the first daughter born in the lineage with an unsightly birth defect: a pig snout for a nose. When a tabloid reporter (Dinklage) publishes a less-than-favorable story about the remarkable baby Penelope, her parents (O'Hara and Richard E. Grant) sequester her away in their mansion. Penelope is given everything but her freedom, and her mother becomes obsessed with finding Penelope a husband, for the curse will only be broken if a man of her status will take her hand in marriage. Though Penelope's mother tries everything, including the services of a professional matchmaker, every man runs (fast) upon their first look at Penelope's unusual face, except one. Max (McAvoy) agrees, on behalf of Dinklage's reporter, to pose as a would-be suitor with a hidden camera in exchange for money to pay his mounting gambling debts. Max, however, does not expect to be taken with Penelope's sprightly personality and intelligent charms, and he runs before his financial plans come to fruition, not at the sight of the infamous nose but in an effort to stave Penelope's eventual broken heart. Since he fails to explain himself, his actions result in the very effect he hoped to avoid, and broken hearted as she is with Max being her last hope, Penelope throws caution to the wind and runs away from home, prepared to strike it out on her own and to declare her independence, pig-snout nose and all. She finds and befriends delivery girl Annie (Witherspoon), who agrees to help Penelope find herself, while Penelope's parents frantically search for their elusive daughter, and the media dissects Penelope's famous looks and life-changing exploits.
Penelope is a story to which anyone familiar with fairy tales has already been exposed. In this case, the title character, simply, is not a duckling. She's not a pig either, but the thrust of the story follows through to the same type of Ugly Duckling-turned-swan conclusion. Penelope is searching for self-acceptance and achieves what she's always dreamed in the process. I don't mean to spoil the ending, you can guess how her dreams coming true might manifest, but the last frames are painfully predictable and could be easily guessed by reading the plot synopses on this page.
Because the story is so recycled and the conclusion not much of a surprise, I tried to enjoy the journey. To its credit, Penelope is visually a pretty little picture. The title character develops a love of horticulture, and her home and bedroom are decorated with beautiful flora and fauna. Her love of green also transcends into her navigation of the abstract urban environment to which she eventually flees. As a result, the art direction in this movie is truly charming, and the city of no name takes on a magically surreal character all on its own as it is accentuated with bright colors and a mixture of antique and modern-looking pieces to emphasize the fantasy-flavor of this story.
In addition, though the tale is familiar, the tone and discourse remain adult; this is not a kid's movie by any stretch. A previous reviewer compared this film to Big Fish, and I think the comparison is fair. The lesson of self-acceptance offers many parallels to themes that affect adults, including thoughts about destiny, shame, love, superficiality, inspiration, regret, and other resonant subjects. The dialogue is occasionally stunted but never patronizing, and the ending, even if predictable, is not trite nor panders to the viewer. This quality makes the film somewhat charming despite its predictability and other flaws.
For example, the movie falters in its performances, editing, and direction. The film is short, but the pacing is awkward, so much so that the moments with comedic potential never fully realized that potential because the timing was awkward and seemingly clipped. The character portrayals by every actor but Dinklage and McAvoy felt over-the-top in a way that alienated me a bit, and while the story itself was charming (if renovated for this film), the dialogue was uninspired and simplistic, almost undermining the non-patronizing, more adult tone of the piece. O'Hara is such a gifted and funny actress, a Christopher Guest favorite, and one of the saving graces of several films, and yet, her performance was slightly annoying in this film. Whether she was written, directed or chose to perform it that way, I can't guess, but her hysterical mother felt as recycled as the plot, channeling the frantic mother she played in Home Alone. Also, for some reason, I found it extremely hard to suspend disbelief while watching Ricci as the title character. She's always been attracted to dark characters with unusual attributes, and maybe because Penelope is not quite so dark,even if unusual, it was hard for me to forget that I was watching Christina Ricci with a porcine nose. Yet, her character's alleged charms were lost on me because I felt her performance was a bit heavy-handed and caricaturish.
Despite these opinions, that's not to say I didn't enjoy the film. For me, watching Penelope reminded me of sipping International Foods coffees and nibbling on Pepperidge Farm cookies. Pleasant, rich in spirit, even a fine effort, but something that ultmately grows old with too many sips or nibbles. I feel Penelope merits a 6.5 on the ratings scale between cute but mediocre and shaky but entertaining, the half point owing to the amazing visual presence of the film, but the 6 reflective of my opinion on its recycled story and other lackluster ingredients. As to the test, I can't see it passing. There are many other incarnations of this fable that I have enjoyed more, and while Penelope is innocuous and pleasant, I can't see watching Penelope's transformation more than once. With its uplifting but simple maturity, though, others might enjoy this movie more than me.