Yay I've gone bronze and no tanning bed in sight!!
Thanks to everyone for your ratings and comments...
Yay I've gone bronze and no tanning bed in sight!!
Thanks to everyone for your ratings and comments.
I always try to return all ratings and if I promise an E and don't get back to you feel free to give me a poke.
Sue
Member since:30.05.2009
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This is a film only review of the film Penelope
I don't know about you but the regular channels on the TV have been pretty dire lately. Thank goodness that I have Sky Movies!!!
After coming home from a couple of days away with the option of Police Booking Motorists or some such muck, political propaganda, American rubbish and Harry Potter AGAIN (we have all the DVD's already) we checked on Sky Anytime and decided to watch the family film 'Penelope'.
Penelope is classed as a modern-day fairy tale and it is written by Leslie Caverny, produced by Reese Witherspoon and directed by Mark Palansky.
I couldn't actually tell you where it is set, the setting was an unclear place that seems to be America, but then there are so many British actors in it that it could almost just as easily be England (Surprisingly though James McAvoy drops his Scottish accent and acquires an indistinct American one). The city featured could be either London or New York!! It was actually filmed in London, but the police, hospital etc are American.
Penelope is about a girl who looks like a pig. The story starts as a couple are entering a maternity ward. We are then told about the Wilhern family, a family blessed with money and a high social standing, but
also a family that have a dark secret.
Many generations ago, an illicit love affair between one of the family and a servant resulted in an unwanted pregnancy and a tragic suicide. The mother of the servant girl - a witch - put a curse on the next Wilhern female descendent. The first daughter born to the family would be born with the face of a pig and only by uniting herself with one of her own kind could the curse be broken. The family took this to mean that if a young man as blue-blooded as the daughter herself would agree to marry her, despite her looks, then the girl and the family would be free of the curse. By chance of fate it took many, many generations for the curse to be born out and poor Penelope (Christina Ricci) is the unfortunate recipient of the snout and piggy ears. . Now Penelope has two loving parents (Catherine O'Hara and Richard E. Grant) who, after gazing upon her pig snout do what any loving parents would do. They fake her death and cremation and then impound her in her home throughout her childhood - never allowing her to be seen or heard. She grows up alone in her own fairly-tale like bedroom. As far as her parents are concerned, their daughter has everything she could want in the house and is protected from the outside world.
Hidden away in the magnificent house, Penelope is introduced to string of eligible, blue blooded bachelors in her parent's fruitless attempt to break the curse - one sight of the poor girl though has them running away quickly - despite the sizable dowry on offer. The film then follows this search for the perfect young man. Along the way we come to know Penelope and understand the damage done, not by her nose, but by the idea that she is repugnant (Actually I think that she looks quite cute with her piggy nose!!) She grows into a young woman certain that only a change in her appearance could ever lead to a happy life That of course is the moral of the film, she is a beautiful person despite her nose) Everyone in the film is then engrossed with the snout - even a reporter, who had tried to get pictures of Penelope when she was born. The reporter, Lemon (Peter Dinklage), is desperate for a photograph of the mysterious Penelope, he sets up a plan with a terrified former suitor Edward Humphrey Vanderman III (Simon Woods). Vanderman is a pompous oaf who saw Penelope's face and was promptly pronounced crazy. He joins forces with Lemon in order to prove the existence of the pig nosed heiress.and together they hire down-and-out blueblood Max (James McAvoy) to pose as a prospective suitor to get the mush wanted picture. Predictably the handsome down-on-his luck gambler finds himself falling for Penelope, but not wanting to disappoint her or to expose his underhand ways, he decides to disappear. Fed up by his latest betrayal and determined to live life on her own terms, Penelope escapes from her home and wanders into the world alone. She finds adventure and Annie (Reese Witherspoon), her first friend and becomes the person she was meant to be.
We get to watch Penelope's journey. We meet her as the hopeful recluse and follow her as she discovers that the world really isn't how she imagined at all. Better in some ways, worse in others, but definitely not at all what she expected. Christina Ricci is lovely is hardly hideous In fact, she's adorable. As well as looking cute she is also thoughtful, smart and funny, but also very sad and lonely. Christina Ricci does such a wonderful job with the character - she certainly made me root for her.
ames McAvoy as the suitor who is not quite what he seems is appealing and pleasant. He also brings a touch of sadness and nervousness to his character Catherine O'Hara is funny and more than a little infuriating as Penelope's mother. But she is playing the part well. She cares for Penelope, but she cares too much about the wrong things, about looks not personality. Reese Witherspoon shows up as a rough young woman who can handle herself in the city, it is her character that shows Penelope what she has been missing all these years.
The film has a clear, easy message - love yourself as you are. A message that really does need to be put across to the young girls watching the film. It isn't a heavy-handed film, it simply never tries to hide its message. Although the character of Penelope is far older than the target audience for the film, the entire production is very innocent. The complete sex content is one single kiss and there is hardly any violence (what violence there is consists of suitors throwing themselves out of windows in horror at the sight of Penelope - very farcical scenes.
I would say that this is a film that the whole family can enjoy - our viewing audience was a 68 year-old man, 57 year-old woman and 13 year-old boy and we all enjoyed it; I know that my grandkids would have lovd it to.
As I said at the start of this review, this is a film only review, but the DVD is available from Amazon from around £1.50. The details are
Format: PAL Region: Region 2 Number of discs: 1 Classification: U Studio: Momentum Pictures DVD Release Date: 23 Jun 2008 Run Time: 86 minutes
If you have Sky Movies the film is running( as of 4/9/09) on Sky Premier and also on Sky Anytime.
Summary: Well worth watching
Pictures of Penelope (DVD)
Penelope (DVD)
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Production Year: 1993 - Family - Director: Tim Burton, Henry Selick - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Ken Page, Pee-Wee Herman, Glenn Shadix, William Hickey, Catherine O'Hara, Chris Sarandon, Danny Elfman
Advantages: Charming, funny, romantic, sad, compelling, good cast, great musical scor Disadvantages: None for me, as long as you accept it for what it is.
grafter123 13.06.2008 (29.06.2008)
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