Fairy Tale Blogathon: Penelope

To celebrate fairy tales, Fitzi Kramer of Movies Silently is hosting the Fairy Tale Blogathon which will run from November 9 to 11 this year. For my entry, I decided to review Penelope, a modern retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast. It stars Christina Ricci, and this movie also marks the day the name "James McAvoy" landed on my radar, and I have been tuning in his work since.

The core lesson of the classic tale is embedded in the movie, with a couple of twists here and there. For one, Penelope was a recipient of a curse given generations ago. Due to the insensitivity of the rich, the town witch has cursed the family in which when a girl was born, she would have a face of a pig. In order to break the spell, someone from their own kind (blue blood, rich people) must love Penelope for who she is. Because of the curse, Penelope's family (but mostly her mother) hid her in the world, and they've been trying to lift the curse by setting her up, only to have them leave in terror after seeing her face. When they thought that they might have found their answer in Max Campion, they didn't know that he was working for Lemon, a reporter that the family had a bad run-in years ago. A lot more happens in the movie, but it picks up when Penelope decides to take her situation into her own hands. 

There are many factors that make this fantasy movie work, with Christina Ricci being the primary reason. She was charming as the titular character. From the moment we meet her, we already know she's quite the character. She's smart, well-read, and know how people react when they see her. Still, it never really stopped her from doing what she wanted. Catherine O'Hara was literally stealing the scene whenever she's onscreen. Her frantic turn as the mother was hilarious, and even Richard E. Grant had his comic chances. 

However, its flaws are very evident and have made their mark on the movie. My primary irk was the way the script was worded. I couldn't understand its language identity. It seems like it's set in Britain, and most of the characters have accents, except for the main family. Those from Britain speak like they're from Britain, and the family speaks like they're in America. The script was worded in such a way that the writer has tried to merge two similar dialects in one movie but if you're accustomed to watching movies from both countries, you will detect a difference in speech. Besides the way it was written, there were also evident plot holes stemming out as the story progressed. Information and characters just appear out of nowhere when a scene justifies for it, but it fails to follow through with the succeeding scenes. There are really parts of the movie where you might question the existence of a scene or a character; it was that of a mess. A good point of the script however, is how empowering it is. For a character that was initially reliant on a fellow blue-blood to break the curse, Penelope has managed to stand on her own and live her life the way she wanted it to be. Besides that, the direction was good (despite the screenplay the director has to work with), and there really were scenes that just use the fantasy effect at the right moment. 

If you can look past the flaws, the movie is a delight to watch. Ricci's charming performance elevates this retelling, making it enjoyable to watch. She had good chemistry with James McAvoy (whom the writer tried to put some back story to his character, but it was rather misplaced). The lesson the classic tale teaches us is still there, despite being muddled by plot holes and story progression that just appears when it's convenient. 

Final Word: If you're in for a light movie, this might be good for you!

Cast: Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, Reese Witherspoon

Director: Mark Palansky

Year: 2006