*dies from the cute*

Possible spoilers ahead....

I went to see Penelope on Friday. It was adorable. It was a nice, sweet piece of candy after all of the gloom and doom of the Oscar winners. There aren't enough movies like this- the ones that are funny, cute, and sweet without making the viewer want to throw up. The last one I can think of was Enchanted!

How can someone not love a tale of a girl cursed with a pig's nose until she finds true love with one of her own kind? Yes, that is the plot, such as it is. It doesn't need to be any deeper than that. There are charming performances all around, from Christina Ricci as the cursed girl of the title to James McAvoy as a potential suitor who isn't what he seems. Reese Witherspoon appears briefly as a friend to Penelope when she leaves home for the first time. There's also Peter Dinklage as a reporter who tries to expose Penelope's secret (and has a change of heart about that), Catherine O'Hara as her overprotective mother, and Simon Woods as the nasty Edward, a blue blooded suitor who is afraid of Penelope. It was hard to think of the nice Mr. Bingley from Pride and Prejudice as the bad Edward, but he was perfectly nasty and snobby.

I loved Penelope's delight at being out in the world for the first time. The movie is very colorful and playful in showing Penelope's world, both behind the walls of her home and beyond them. The whole Penelope/Max romance was a little bit rushed, but it is a fairy tale after all. Finally, I loved the film's "I like myself the way I am!" message. No magical first kiss to break the curse- it's more like Dorothy saying "There's no place like home".

This movie was on the shelf for two years. What a shame. It could have been seen and enjoyed so much sooner! And of course, it's getting trampled at the box office by 10,000 B.C.- give me pig-faced girls over woolly mammoths any day, please.



I would not be a very good Torchwood fan if I didn't point out that Burn Gorman (Dr. Harper) has a small role- he's the boss of the reporter. I'm wondering if his part got cut. His American accent was weird. Some British actors just don't do them well.

More sweetness and fluff at the movies next week for me- I'm going to see Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. It's based on a forgotten 1930's novel that is being rediscovered. It looks good.