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I watched Penelope again today; this movie is adorable and I think it hold up on repeat viewings. This is a fully imagined fairy tale that is light hearted and fanciful to its very core.

Watching the movie again I have to say that Catherine O’Hara as Penelope’s mother is perhaps my favorite character in the movie. She is so meddling, overbearing and frivolous that she is the perfect antithesis to the wicked stepmother in Cinderella. She has some of the best lines in the film and is perhaps one of the best comical mothers I’ve ever seen on screen.

I must also commend the director Mark Palansky. Too often there are fantasy films where the unique worlds are just not unique or realized enough, but in Penelope this is a complete, whole world that is one of the most adorable, realized worlds that I have seen on film since a movie like Pitch Black. I would like to see another movie come out of his imagination.

Jessica Wilhern: Penelope, just one man, one man.
Penelope: And he'll run too! They always run. Why can't you accept that? For seven years I've been watching them run. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel? Do you?
Jessica Wilhern: I'm sorry, but we just can't quit.
Penelope: We can, because no matter how much I want to believe there's one man who won't run away, one man who... who...

I watched this again over the weekend because my best friend really wanted to see it. The movie didn't get old for me. I will admit that it probably palys better to girls, but I think this is a fabulous, cute movie.

What I didn't even think about until my friend pointed it out is that there is absolutely nothing objectionable in this film; there is no swearing, no sex, no vulgarity - and yet it plays to adults. I do think that this film really does show that if you make a good movie it is worth watching, even if you're trying not to be flashy and controversial.

I also really love that this movie is set outside reality while somehow keeping "reality" totally in mind. It bends just enough so that there is no specific time or place this film is set in, but that we can believe this crazy mystical world does exist. This movie was brilliantly designed.

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

When I saw Penelope in the theatre I thought that it would be either a pointless chick flick (which I hate) or a guilty pleasure movie; luckily, the film surprised me and turned out to be a thoroughly modern fairy tale.

Penelope follows the plight of Penelope Wilhern who had the misfortune to be born into a family curse; due to the dalliances of a distant relative far back in the aristocratic family line the town witch cursed the Wilhern family so that the next daughter would be born with the face of a pig and would remain that way until she was accepted by “one of her own kind” – another blue blood. Like any responsible parents, the Wilhern’s lock Penelope away from the outside world to help her escape ridicule and as soon as she is of age they begin to work on breaking the curse by finding an eligible blue blood man who will marry her.

Unfortunately, no blue blood can stand the sight of her and all run in terror –but are caught by the butler and made to sign a gag agreement until one day blue blood Edward manages to get away; he then teams up with Lemon a photographer to track down the truth about Penelope and expose her to the public. Along the line they bring in Max, a down and out blue blood to infiltrate the Wilhern’s system and help expose Penelope only something goes terribly wrong with their plan – Max begins to have feelings for Penelope but when she asks him to marry her he refuses. This leads Penelope to run away, discover herself, and continue to break the curse in this thoroughly contemporary fairy tale.

I think my favorite part of Penelope (other than James McAvoy & Christina Ricci) is the production design. I know it sounds little crazy, but there was no part of this movie that was not fully flushed out and created on a visual level, from Resse Witherspoon’s hair and winged vespa to Penelope’s scarf and room every detail was attended to, designed and placed to underscore the special world that Penelope takes place in. The costume designer too needs to be lauded and praised for what they did within the style of this film. All of the elements truly are things of beauty.

I highly recommend this film to anyone that enjoys a fairy tale, young or old. Penelope is a world that should be experienced by a great many people.

Director: Mark Palansky
Writer: Leslie Caveny
Penelope: Christina Ricci
Max: James McAvoy
Jessica Wilhern: Catherine O’Hara
Annie: Reese Witherspoon
Lemon: Peter Drinklage
Frank Wilhern: Richard E. Grant
Edward Vanderman III: Simon Woods

Penelope: Helaborasoreantalis. They're amazing; they bloom even in the winter.
Annie: That's cool.
Penelope: They just pop up without any help from anyone.
Annie: [laughs] Kind of like my ex-boyfriend, if you know what I mean.