Show Modern fairytale fairy tale Pen Penelope lope charms moviegoers Stacie Peart Arts Entertainment Editor Probably the most entertaining films from this weekend was Penelope The film was a strange tale of a young girl who is stricken with the family curse Being the first Wilhem girl in five generations she was born wi with th a p pig ig nose and ears Lore stated that only one of her own kind could free her from this terrible curse and so after living in isolation from the world Penelope's mother Jessica Catherine OHara O'Hara begins to interview potential blue- blue blood husbands After many upper class young men ran out of the house upon seeing Penelope finally gets the attention of newspaperman Lemon Peter Dinklage Elf and Death at a Funeral Lemon and Edward Vanderman Jr one of the scared blue-bloods blue plot to catch a photo of the pig pig faced faced Penelope In order to get an audience with the heiress Lemon and Vanderman Jr get Max a blue-blood blue with a gambling problem to work his way into Penelope's life and attempt to get a photo As Max gets to know Penelope personality as she remains hidden behind a mirror Comfortable with Max Penelope finally comes out from behind the mirror and shows herself to Max who accidentally takes her photo Not wanted to expose Penelope or her secrets to the public Max tries to make things right but the Wilhem's discover his part in Lemons Lemon's plot and expose him Heartbroken Penelope runs away to experience life in the outside world and she meets and makes friends The film is a wonderfully told tale of a young girl just trying to be comfortable 1 I y r 4 I I I I Io o ti L' L T. T j c h i t. t t u 3 r r y LI J r b r Ly i f i 1 I Ir Photo courtesy of Summit Entertainment Christina Ricci as the title character in Penelope with herself without having the approval of another Christina Ricci takes the lead and beautifully plays the young na naive naive ve heiress who starts out with only the desire of finding someone to love her Her performance breathes life into the sweet and innocent Penelope James McAvoy is becoming a force to tobe tobe tobe be reckoned with in Hollywood The young Scot has proved he can take on difficult in The TheLast TheLast TheLast Last King of Scotland and Atonement but audiences are arc just beg beginning to release his true star magnetism with romantic comedies like Penelope The character of Max could have become just a blase blas Prince Charming wannabe but McAvoy transformed the role into a realistic young man with hiS own of problems to be solved Reese Witherspoon acted as producer and portrayed Annie Penelope's new friend Her wise street-wise delivery girl Annie was enough to show that the actress still has it in the acting department but didn't take away from the story Some of the more humorous sequences took place with McAvoy as he dealt with Lemon and the young Mr Vanderman The dynamic between the three actors McAvoy Peter Dinklage and Simon Woods h brought of chuckles as a athe the different men tried to work together v vIn 1 In the end Penelope isn't a unique film that breaks the mold with the plot or stor story telling but the excellent acting and Tim esque Burton-esque sets bring to live a worth-while worth modem modern day fairytale Penelope is rated PG o |