The first half of this film is absolutley dreadful. It's tired, boring, cliched, trite, unoriginal and otherwise a god-awful mess. But somehere in the middle it get a little better and decides to focus on the ending you can see coming a mile a way. What saves this film is the performance from Peter Dinklage, he has great comedic timing and can really convey alot through his mannerisms. Chrisitina Ricci was a trooper in the role of the girl with the pig-face, while McAvoy was under used. Witherspoon did the film a great service by playing a secondary character who remains off screen most of the time.

Penelope is nothing great or original but it is a clean safe film you can take the kids too without having to worry about explaining anything to them afterwards.

First half-- F
Second half-- B-
final Grade-- C/C-

I thought it looked really good and I love McAvoy. I hope he's in it enough, as he's the biggest reason I want to see it.

Since you can see the ending a mile away and the first half stunk but the second half is a B.

Would you suggest just coming in a the half way point?

Would that save the movie by not sitting through the dreadful first half.

If your already at the theatre seeing another movie and it gets out when Penelope is in the middle its showing go ahead and sneak in. I wouldn't recommend actually paying to see Penelope, unless you and your Hannah Montana age daughter are actually looking for a movie you can safely see together. Even then sneak in after paying for another, hopefully better movie.

And after a second viewing it doesn't really hold up very well.

I thought it was delightful. I loved the visual "storybook" style the film took on, and it was very clever and well-written. The performances were also a delight. Christina Ricci is incredibly charming here and gives a charismatic and likable performance. James McAvoy also does a solid job, and Catherine O'Hara and Peter Dinklage both deliver memorable supporting turns. Reese Witherspoon shows up for a bit in a small supporting role and does a decent job with it, but the character is basically inconsequential to the plot. Since she's primarily a producer on this project I didn't expect her to have a lot of screentime though. My biggest complaint was that certain aspects of the direction felt a bit lazy. Most of the time it was whimsical, but the multiple newspaper headlines showing up every five minutes or so in the second act became annoying fast. Regardless, this is yet another memorable "fairy tale" film after the great Enchanted and Stardust last year. Definitely recommended. B+

I thought Reese's character was very consequential to the plot. She befriended Penelope and then brought Penelope out of her shell.

Overall, a just better than average movie with O'Hara being the star of the movie with Ricci doing a good job also. Also, I felt alittle bored and underwhelmed by McAvoy

It was cute, for the most part. But about half way in, the story derails a bit, and the film concludes with an inadvertently shallow, somewhat irresponsible message that being OK with who you is necessary to repair what made you unique in the first place.

C+

B+


I surprisingly enjoyed this a lot. It's a fairy tale that's somewhat more aimed at adults than, say, Enchanted. While still having the fantasy/fairy tale elements it also has some implied adult jokes in there (like Penelope walking into a sex shop and some others). I thought that Christina Ricci delivered a delightful performance and Reese Witherspoon actually made for a pretty good sidekick. I was glad she didn't take the spotlight here, but just remained on the side, providing some laughs and nice moments. Pter Dinklage is a hoot, as always.

James McAvoy..well, I've made it known very often here that I dislike him and not much has changed since then. I thought he had some okay chemistry with Ricci, though. There are also some nice cameos to boot here, like Nick Frost for instance. The resolution to the "problem" is pretty interesting and not in the way one would expect it. However I thought the whole thing dragged on for way too long, trying to give every single character here his/her redemption.

That said, it's mainly Ricci's film and she does a good job carrying it on her shoulders. It could have used some more humor (as it offers so much potential in that department!) and the ending twist that "heals" her is justunlogical on so many levels..but it's still a very charming and enjoyable fairy tale. Not quite as good as Enchanted, but still a very enjoyable piece of work that makes me wish we'd see more fariy tales-like films released nowadays.

PENELOPE - 8/10 (B+)

This was a really cute movie. James McAvoy was as charming as usual. During the ending when they kiss I was grinning from ear to ear.

Found it really dull and didn't buy the romance between the two. Wasn't funny or particularly enchanting and I like Ricci in most everything.

Decent, fun little movie. Stardust did it better. I was actually surprised it didn't have a Shrek-like ending (with Penelope keeping her nose and the guy being fine with it). Catherine O'Hara is always a hoot.

B