Penelope (2006)

Director:

Mark Palansky

Writer (WGA):

Leslie Caveny (written by)

Release Date:

29 February 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy | Romance

Tagline:

A fairytale like no other.

Plot:

A modern romantic tale about a young aristocratic heiress born under a curse that can only be broken when she finds true love with "one who will love her faithfully."

Plot Keywords:

Curse | Whimsical | Disfigurement | Pig | Mother Daughter Relationship

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Christina Ricci	...	Penelope
James McAvoy	...	Max
Catherine O'Hara	...	Jessica Wilhern
Reese Witherspoon	...	Annie
Peter Dinklage	...	Lemon
Richard E. Grant	...	Franklin Wilhern
Simon Woods	...	Edward Humphrey Vanderman III
Ronni Ancona	...	Wanda
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Russell Brand	...	Sam
Martin Nigel Davey	...	Street Vendor
Tallulah Evans	...	Little Girl - Photo Booth
Michael Feast	...	Jake
Nick Frost	...	Max Campion
Burn Gorman	...	Larry
Christina Greatrex	...	Mrs. Vanderman
Nigel Havers	...	Edward Vanderman Jr.
Jillian Henry	...	Young Penelope (voice)
Lenny Henry	...	Krull
Paul Herbert	...	Leonard Wilhern
Richard James	...	Card Dealer
Richard Leaf	...	Jack the Barman
Rubria Marcheens Negrao	...	Hotel Clerk
Nick Shafer	...	(voice)
John Voce	...	Duty Cop

MPAA:

Rated PG for thematic elements, some innuendo and language. (foreign cut)

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG (foreign cut) | Ireland:PG | Taiwan:GP | Singapore:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario) | South Korea:12 | Hong Kong:I | Germany:6 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Hall Barn, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Stone Village Pictures

Trivia:

It took an hour and a half just to put the nose prosthetic on Ricci.

Goofs:

Continuity: When they are playing chess, Max is supposed to move his black queen into a vunerable position. The footage shows him moving her white queen and knocking his over into check mate.

Quotes:

Duty Cop: Detailed description?
Jessica Wilhern: Brown hair. Brown eyes.
[pause]
Jessica Wilhern: A unique... ly pleasant personality.
Franklin Wilhern: Think pig.
Duty Cop: So she's a fat girl?

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2008-03-01)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Hoppipolla

Charming

I didn't know what the heck Penelope was, I only saw the trailer once and it looked very strange, I only saw the poster more than a few times and it again, didn't really catch my interest. But my friends and I decided to check it out and I'm actually glad that I saw it. As silly story that it is and a bit predictable, it's a good movie. Most romantic comedies tick me off because they are so predictable and the it's the same formula each time, Penelope is close to the same formula, but instead adds a fairy tale twist. It has the same moral of the story as most films of having to accept yourself, but Christina Ricci made it more charming and lovable. The cast was perfect and all did a great job, the looked like they had such a good time bringing this story to life.

Penelope seems like the girl that should be living the high life, a wealthy family, part of royalty, but her life isn't perfect. Due to a shallow mistake her ancestor made, a witch cursed a face of a pig onto the next born daughter, that happens to be Penelope who apparently has to marry a man of royal blood to break the curse. But since she's not the prettiest face on the planet, every man runs from her, but Max, a spy sent by a photographer, Max learns that Penelope is a beautiful soul. Penelope runs away though to find her freedom and instead finds herself and how wonderful she truly is.

Penelope is a very cute film, I was very impressed with the story, there were some things I was a little disappointed in, like how they just abandoned some characters for no reason. But I think it's hard to fit it in a short film, still I think it could have been edited better. But Christina Ricci was a great choice for Penelope, even though she's still oddly enough not the ugliest woman I've ever seen with the nose, she did a good job and held her own well. Reese Witherspoon, small role, but she was so charming. I would recommend Penelope, it's a cute film and was a lot of fun to watch.

7/10