Rating: 3 Pulses

Rated PG

Penelope, starring Christina Ricci donning a prosthetic pig’s nose, is a film that seems to be torn by its own dual nature. On the one hand, Penelope could be described as a whimsical homage to those foreign fairytale films, or the American independents of late with their curios and corduroy. Then there are times when the movie (produced by supporting actress Reese Witherspoon) feels more like an American romantic comedy, complete with cheesy doe-eyes and pop music montages. Unfortunately, the combination of these elements yields a movie in the midst of an identity crisis that fails to fully please fans of either style.

The premise of Penelope is loosely similar to, though less satirical than Pumpkin, another film starring Christina Ricci. This time, however, Ricci inhabits the role of the disabled title character, swapping a serious handicap for a magical disfigurement.

Penelope is the daughter of two well-to-do blue bloods whose ancestors’ sordid social lives caused a witch to curse their family, dooming the first-born daughter to wear the mark of her great-grandfather’s piggish affair. (In one toss-away line the writers conveniently answer the question on everyone’s mind: the witch, foreseeing the inevitable advent of plastic surgery, cursed a major artery to run directly through her nose). Having explained Penelope’s porcine proboscis, the film leaves its disturbing beginnings for a more kid-friendly take on the ugly duckling theme.

Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, Penelope disguises itself as a different kind of film, Am’lie accordions abound. The script and acting however, while competent and convincing enough, out this movie for the comedy aimed at pre-teen girls that it really is. Quite aware that I didn’t fit the intended demographic, I attempted to view the movie through a different lens, using the beloved movies of my youth as a template.

I like The Goonies to this day because the kids cussed while hunting for one-eyed Willie’s rich stuff. In a similar scene of debauchery, Christina Ricci gets drunk her first night out in 25 years while hunting for her own independence. From The Princess Bride I took away a moral code of chivalry and ’twue wuv,’ while Penelope attempts to humorously show the immorality and cruelty of superficiality (if one can ignore the hypocrisy that the ugly duckling always becomes a beautiful swan in the end).

I found that there are some good things to be taken away from this film, however I prefer to hope that, rather than stand alone, Penelope helps introduce its audience to the vast world of creative films that it so generously borrows its style from: a world where British accents are not solely relegated to characters who are either magical or evil. Though half Disney, half Grimm, ultimately Penelope misses its mark by a nose.