Penelope (2006)
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Reviews Counted: 127
Fresh: 67 | Rotten: 60
Though Penelope has a charming cast and an appealing message, it ultimately suffers from faulty narrative and sloppy direction.
Average Rating: 5.3/10
Critic Reviews: 31
Fresh: 16 | Rotten: 15
Though Penelope has a charming cast and an appealing message, it ultimately suffers from faulty narrative and sloppy direction.
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Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 154,686
Movie Info
A kindly aristocrat suffering from an unsightly curse breaks free from her extravagant, prison-like estate to seek adventure and discover her true self in a romantic, modern-day fairy tale directed by Mark Palansky and starring Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, Peter Dinklage, and Reese Witherspoon. Generations ago, a witch placed a curse on the Wilhelm family that would result in the next girl being born into the clan having a porcine snout -- and now young Penelope (Ricci) has fallen victim to
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Cast
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Christina Ricci
Penelope Wilhern -
James McAvoy
Johnny/Max -
Catherine O'Hara
Jessica Wilhern -
Peter Dinklage
Lemon -
Richard E. Grant
Franklin Wilhern -
Reese Witherspoon
Annie -
Simon Woods
Edward Vanderman -
Ronni Ancona
Wanda -
Michael Feast
Jake/Witch -
Nigel Havers
Mr. Vanderman -
Lenny Henry
Krull -
Christina Greatrex
Mrs. Vanderman -
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Penelope Trailer & Photos
All Critics (130) | Top Critics (33) | Fresh (67) | Rotten (60) | DVD (9)
I think it's a sweet film.
Top CriticWhile uneven, this Ugly Duckling redux is hipper and funnier than a Disney movie, and the positive message to young girls can't be discounted.
The semi-satirical treatment of celebrity culture, as Penelope is treated first as a tabloid sensation then a media darling, is lame and dated.
Sweet as gingerbread, Penelope deserves to find an audience; those with a taste for happily-ever-afters should look for it, before it too-quickly disappears.
Director Palansky and screenwriter Leslie Caveny seem to have many of the right ingredients for creating something beguiling, but the film is, finally, surprisingly pedestrian. What a shame, with all these good performers.
The picture has a hapless, meandering quality that's tolerable at first but ultimately becomes maddening, as if it were a cartoon narrative recounted by a distracted 4-year-old.
This quirky, snarky contemporary fairy tale could have been a family blockbuster.
Penelope suggests that peace comes through character, not cosmetic surgery. In this, it's smarter than Twilight...
I can truthfully say that watching this abysmal fantasy-comedy is less rewarding than being slapped across the face with a large wet fish.
Watchable but patchy fantasy romance that doesn't quite work, despite strong performances from Ricci and McAvoy.
A modern-day fairytale, the film is tarted up like a hyperactive five-year-old's lurid fantasy of interior decor.
Visually stylish, what might have been a cute fantasy becomes tedious due to its banal script and a relentless overload of pig-jokes.
It's too bad that the second half turned out to be a drag, because I very much enjoyed the first half.
A diligent ensemble can't lift the film to anything higher than a shallow fairy tale with only worthy intentions.
With only a DNA witch's curse pig's snout compromising Ricci's otherwise exceedingly alluring physical assets, it doesn't make a lick of sense that prospective suitors are jumping out of windows after catching a glimpse of her disfigured beak.
Penelope is adorable and easy to watch thanks to the charms of its leads Ricci and McAvoy. But it's too much a mainstream Hollywood product and not enough of a spunky indie spirit to really win audiences over.
Is this meant to be dark comedy? It's hard to tell.
Penelope is a sweet trifle, a great kid's movie, and not surprising, given its subject matter a film gay audiences will find familiar and comforting. That's because, more than anything, this is a story of acceptance of one's true self.
It's not eccentric enough to be as otherworldly as it wants to be, but it's too self-consciously quirky to perform on its own merits.
Maybe I've got some subconscious porcine fetish thing going (or something) but I think Christina Ricci looks kind of cute with a pig's snout where her nose should be...
A sweet but clumsy fable that's pleasing without being particularly distinguished.
After I saw the intriguing trailers that trailed off a couple years back, I wondered why this movie was wallowing somewhere on a shelf.I'm still not sure. Although I do know one thing: Had this been a Christmas-time release, it would have been seen by lot
Produced according to a formula for squeezing the maximum amount of cloying charm out of the minimum investment.
It's Ricci, with her princesslike innocence and Keane-painting eyes, who provides the movie's abundant charm.
Despite Christina Ricci's charming performance, Penelope is trapped in a twilight zone between fairy tales and play-it-safe romantic comedies.
The convictions of the cast and an extremely snappy script fill in most of the gaps caused by the wobbly plotlines.
Audience Reviews for Penelope
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Penelope Wilhern: I felt the rush of a thousand heartbreaks.
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- Jessica Wilhern: No, you ran! It was you this time.
- Penelope Wilhern: He just stood there, staring at me. No one's ever just stood there before.
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- Penelope Wilhern: Once the Queen is dead, the King is useless.
- Johnny/Max: What's that about?
- Penelope Wilhern: I don't know. Maybe he's too depressed to fight. He really loved her, you know.
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- Penelope Wilhern: I like myself the way I am!
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February 28, 2008:
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February 27, 2008:
Total Recall: Fairy Tales for GrownupsOn the festival circuit, Penelope, starring Christina Ricci as a pig-nosed recluse embarking upon...
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Featured
Movie: ID: 561680217 Title: Penelope Release Date: 2006-09-08 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 3 Status: 1
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