 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
|
|
|
 email this review to a friend
Favorite Movie Quote: "I gave my right eye for this story." I've got to take over ZB's spot on the front page, as I just got home from seeing this film as well. What a delightful, wonderful, fanciful way of teaching the very simple lesson of learning to love oneself, despite (or in spite) of personal deformities, whether they be internal or external. I'd been eagerly looking forward to watching this movie for a long time, ever since I added it to the database and was originally looking for its first release date, back in October of 2007. Why they kept pushing it back is obvious: with fanciful films like ENCHANTED being released by the House of Mouse, this little gem hardly stood a chance. So releasing it during what would have normally been the ice age of film-dom, I see it as a movie studio giving a really good movie an opportunity to make something out of itself amongst a sea of nothing other than depressing Oscar-type films and, well... not much else. I could start with how lovely this film looks, the glimmer on the screen of the art direction and cinematography. That the reds seem to practically bleed from the movie screen, grabbing your attention immediately. I could talk about the unique level of the story, where a blue blood family is cursed when a relative along in the line discusses wanting to marry a servant girl (that he impregnated) and getting laughed at by the family. So when the girl throws herself off a cliff to her death, the curse is placed that the first daughter born to the family be born with the face of a pig, forced to look so until "one of her own" would accept her as she was. It took years before a girl was delivered, to parents played by the veteran actors Catherine O'Hara (the mom from the first couple of HOME ALONE movies, for those who need an easy reference) and Richard E Grant (my preference is to remember him as the man chasing down Julian Sands in the first WARLOCK). Both actors are spot on in their performances. O'Hara is clearly American, an overprotective mess who is obsessed with breaking the family curse, even going to the length of faking her daughter's death in order to be left alone by the press so they wouldn't know her shame. Grant is great as the subdued and put-upon father who simply wants to love his daughter and not piss off his wife. But finding a husband for the snouted Penelope (this is the first time in quite awhile that I've found myself liking Christina Ricci again) amongst a list of suitors who themselves are obsessed with only money and perfect appearances, proves difficult. Along the way, the FANTASTIC (can I mention enough how incredible an actor he is and that it is brilliant that he is getting roles that don't make his dwarfism an issue?) Peter Dinklage gets wind of Penelope still being alive (he was the reporter trying to get pictures of her as a baby) and with the help of one of the suitors who escaped the family mansion without the gag order and in a position to try to repair his reputation after he is laughed off as being a crackpot for claiming he saw a pig-faced girl, the two men find a "down on his luck" blue blood to help them in getting pictures of her. That guy happens to be played by James McAvoy (more recently seen in ATONEMENT) and with a forced American accent, falls in love with the girl behind the two-way mirror. But amongst some confusion, Penelope again feels rejected, this time by someone she developed real feelings for, and escapes the family grounds in search of discovering the world - and herself. The actors here (I want to b*tch only a little to say that I'd wished Nick Frost's role had been bigger) are fantastic. Where they all could have played caricatures of their various roles, instead everyone is spot-on with their subtle and apt deliveries. Even the weak roles I won't call weak. This is really one of the best ensembles I've seen in a long time. The fanciful nature and the story and message of finding oneself could have also been screwed up if directed improperly. PENELOPE doesn't go to great lengths to tug at your heartstrings. It manages to do so without making a fool of itself. The film is sweet because it just is, not because it's TRYING to be, if you get what I mean. A family film, but a film that adults will love and not just have to suffer through for the sake of their children's desire to see it. I have hope for 2008. If the films can continue to be this good, it's looking to be quite the year. email this review to a friend
Comment on this Review:
 Subscribe to MatchFlick Movie Reviews through RSS |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
RSS | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | About MatchFlick® | Press | Contact Us | FAQs
Partnership and Advertising Opportunities | Movie Database | Merchandise ©2004-2008 MatchFlick®. All rights reserved. ©MOVIE IMAGES ARE COPYRIGHT PROTECTED AND THE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS |
Mar 2, 2008 12:58 AM
Mar 2, 2008 3:14 AM
I'd just been so looking forward to this movie for so long, and yes... the ending(ish) part was off the charts. We all laughed so long and hard at that one, especially when Halloween came 'round and Grant called O'Hara to the door. Tell me that wasn't damn priceless, I dare you.
Mar 2, 2008 9:56 AM
Mar 3, 2008 9:03 AM
Mar 3, 2008 5:07 PM