Saturday, March 7, 2009

Penelope

Not enough people saw Penelope. I don’t have the statistics to prove this statement, but I’m convinced it’s true just the same. Whenever I mention it the response is always the same, “Oh yeah, I think I remember that one. I wanted to see it, but never got around to it,” or something to that effect anyway. Well, I am here to tell you that this movie should not be missed. It doesn’t have a surprise ending and there is nothing particularly award winning about it, but it’s a fanciful and sweet story and everyone should see it.

For those of you who don’t remember what this movie is about, let me remind you. It’s about a high society girl named Penelope, played by Christina Ricci, who is born with a pig nose because of a curse put on her family by an old woman over one hundred years ago. In order to break the curse she has to win the acceptance of a high society, blue blooded man – and convince him to marry her. Basically, whenever she shows herself to any of her “suitors” they run away. Finally after she falls for one of the men she decides that it’s time for her to come out of hiding and experience the real world. She runs away from home and discovers something unexpected – herself.

I love this movie because it is colorful – in every sense of the word. The cinematic imagery is vivid and vibrant. The story is creative, witty, and meaningful and the characters are humorous and relatable. The clothes are even bright.

What makes Penelope so great is how easy it is to relate to the story. Everyone has some physical attribute about themselves that they don’t like. Either they’re too fat, too skinny, have a ridiculously large rear end, or are lacking one all together. The list can go on and on – big ears, double chin, thunder thighs, chicken legs, extra long nose hair, a think uni-brow, or crooked teeth – just to name a few.

We all have flaws and often we’re painfully aware of them, but Penelope teaches us to embrace our true selves for who we are, not who we wish we were. It’s a story of acceptance – accepting others, but most importantly accepting ourselves for who we are inside and out.

1 comment:

andrea said...

I saw it and I love it!!!