The just-released Penelope was actually shot and put in the can back in 2006. Since my site didn't exist back then, reviewing it might actually cause a rift in the space-time continuum, so I hope Kirk and Spock are standing by to do something about it.
Actually, for a movie which sat on the shelf at Stone Village Pictures for two years, it's not half-bad. The problem with any film which sits unreleased for so long is that it acquires a stink about it...such films garner the reputation of being absolute crap, and they usually are. In this case how-ever, I'm convinced the distributors simply didn't know when to place it exactly in order to ensure a successful release. In between the crush of Mission: Impossible III, The Da Vinci Code, The Departed, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3, 300, The Simpsons Movie and Transformers, it's understandable that Stone Village and its releasing partner The Weinstein Company might have been concerned about Penelope getting lost in the shuffle.
Penelope is still opening against hard competition this weekend from the inexplicably beloved Will Ferrell and the more explainable Natalie Portman, but at least it now has a fighting chance to deliver its message: that finding tolerance and acceptance of others and oneself is the first step to finding true love.
As written by tv vet Leslie Caveny(Everybody Loves Ray-mond, Newsradio) and directed by first-timer Mark Palansky, the film starts with a voice-over by Penelope(Christina Ricci) and a flashback to her ancestors being cursed by a witch when one of their own(Paul Herbert) knocked up and subse-quently abandoned the witch's daughter--who eventually committed suicide. The witch foretold that the next daughter born to the family of blue bloods would be cursed with the face of a pig. For five generations, the family had nothing but boys, until Edward and Jessica Wilhern(Richard E. Grant and Catherine O'Hara) give birth to Penelope. Because the infant's carotid artery strangely runs directly through the nasal cavity, plastic surgery of any kind is impossible, and so as one doctor so sensitively puts it, "the snout stays".
But not all hope is lost for Penelope. The witch's curse specified that the girl-child would only remain cursed until she was loved "by one of her own". So while Penelope grows up, her well-to-do parents teach her as much of the ways of the world as they can from the seclusion of their sprawling English townhouse, and as she nears legal age, they begin preparing her to meet suitors--one of whom, it is hoped, will be the one to lift the curse.
Penelope the film--based upon the same-titled book by Marilyn Kaye--is an interestingly constructed feature. It's seldom boring, has a tried-and-true theme, and psyches out the audience by taking unexpected detours when at times it seems the film will begin proceeding down well-trod paths. Since this is a fairytale, it's no giveaway to say the curse is lifted...although the manner in which it happens doesn't follow accepted formulas, and still makes perfect sense. The performances--especially from Ricci, SCTV vet O'Hara, James McAvoy(Atonement, the upcoming Wanted) as Pene-lope's possible true love, a bit part by Reese Witherspoon (who also served as one of the producers) and Peter Dinklage(Threshold, Underdog) as a diminutive reporter who once lost his eye to mom Jessica while attempting to snag a picture of the infant Penelope are almost all spot-on.
The primary problem with the film is the direction by Palansky. I don't know if there's some new rule in Hollywood about virgin directors having to "do the deed" by directing fantasy films first(as with last year's Mister Magorium), but perhaps the way to go might be with helming a simple drama to start. When filming a fairytale/fantasy, especially if it's set in what's supposed to pass for our world, there needs to be a distinguishing set of rules for said locale. The England of Penelope is unlike any I've ever visited, vacillating between the standard real world and some otherwhere that never existed. This problem can be easily explained by the fact that Palansky doesn't yet know how to film what are obvious-ly sets in order to make them look completely believable, so that the eyes of the audience don't pick them out as fake (such as the exterior of the police station that one of the charcters is hauled off to at one point). Such skill--or lack thereof--is the distinguishing difference between a visionary like Peter Jackson and your standard hack. Palansky's other problem in relation to the scenery is that he is too obviously influenced by Tim Burton, since early set design in the film (generally approved or vetoed by the director) looks very much like it was borrowed from the soundstages of Sleepy Hollow, Edward Scissorhands and Sweeney Todd.
Palansky also doesn't know how to fully utilize his actors. While the always brilliant O'Hara and other vets like Grant (Above and Beyond, Freezing) can be left on autopilot, a too-brief cameo by Nick Frost(Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) is wasted, as Palansky makes no use of his snappy comedic timing...and for one scene, unaccountably has him switch from his standard English accent to something resembling American! Also, a primary role of one of Penelope's poten-tial suitors who agrees to go along with a shady scheme of reporter Lemon(Dinklage), as portrayed by Simon Woods (Spooks, Elizabeth I), is ineptly acted. While the role is sup-posed to be a sendup of the starchiness of the upper class, Woods' Edward Vanderman Jr. is nothing more than a card-board cutout, clearly written with no regard as to the charac-ter's personal history or care for any emotional investment we should place in him. And for a movie like Penelope, which depends on the emotional investment of its audience, this is an unforgivable crime. Also, for a film which claims its main idea is tolerance, there is a subtly cruel visual joke played at the expense of "little people"...which is a shame, given that until this point, the size of Dinklage's character had nothing to do with the character himself, who had been treated in a dignified manner.
All this aside however, Penelope makes for an interesting night at the movies. In spite of brief mentions of adultery, suicide, and a couple of quick erection/masturbation jokes(the majority of these will go far over the heads of younger children), the film is rated PG and it's quite safe to take the 'tweens and other young'uns. The message here is indeed one of tolerance...and what child shouldn't learn that in today's world?
Official Archives of LanceReviews...
Uneven Fable
Long-delayed film meets success somewhere in the middle...
Penelope: A movie that strives to touch your heart, and succeeds
...sort of.
Christina Ricci stars as The Shadow...I'm sorry, I mean Penelope
--a young woman cursed until she's loved by "one of her own".
James McAvoy stars as Max...a young man who may or may not be what Penelope's been searching for.
"How can you not be laughing--I'm a dwarf! AND I've got an eye-patch! That's comedy GOLD right there, baby!"
"You there! Yes, YOU audience member! This film teaches about the evils of intolerance! No matter how bland my performance may be, who are YOU to judge it?!"
