Your appreciation of “Penelope” will have a lot to do with whether you can buy a movie about a girl with a pig snout. If you can, you’re home free.
Said snout adorns the face of Christina Ricci, playing the modern-day descendent of a long-ago witch’s curse. This legacy is explained to us in a funny prologue, which has some of the black-comic tang of the classic British picture “Kind Hearts and Coronets.”
This film, made in London, aspires to that kind of comedy. It settles for being a family-friendly fairy tale, albeit one with a peculiar twist.
Because of the family curse, Penelope hasn’t left the house in years. Although her parents (Richard E. Grant and Catherine O’Hara) have inherited a fortune, Penelope can’t attract a suitor.
Her life changes when publicity about a “pig girl” surfaces — and also when one gentleman caller (James McAvoy, from “Atonement”) actually shows interest.
This movie was made in 2006; you wonder if one reason it’s getting released now is McAvoy’s sudden rise to popularity. Maybe. But the biggest name in the cast belongs to Reese Witherspoon, who settles for a brassy supporting role and a credit as a producer.
Coming off best is Peter Dinklage (“The Station Agent”), who takes the part of a tabloid reporter and works some charming variations on it. Christina Ricci does as well as someone can with a large pig’s nose glued to her face (although she also spends some time with a scarf draped across her face).
This movie taps along in its paces, delivering one or two lessons about judging books by their covers. It’s not a kids’ movie exactly, but it also doesn’t have a great deal of grown-up appeal, so it is sometimes difficult to understand just where the film is aimed.
If you were hoping for a serious examination of the problems of pig-snouted people in today’s world, you will be sorely disappointed. Wait for the documentary, I guess.
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