Ooh! A movie

You've probably guessed what movie I'll be talking about today...PENELOPE!!! I've been wanting to see this movie for a long time and finally saw it this weekend.

It's about a rich girl [Penelope] who, due to a family curse, was born with a pig nose and pig ears. In order to break the curse she has to find love with "one of her own kind". When she's old enough, her mother hires a matchmaker and they start the impossible task of trying to wed her to a "blue-blood".

Men are brought into a room where Penelope talks to them through a one-way window or mirror or whatever it's called. All the men end up jumping out of windows when they finally meet her--that is until Max [played by the wonderful James McAvoy--as seen in the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" and "Becoming Jane"]. Max seems to like her but refuses to marry her.

That night Penelope runs away [she's been kept hidden in her family's mansion since her mother decided to fake her death so the reporters would stop hounding the girl] to get out in the world. She goes to a bar where she gets PRETTY loopy and meets Annie [Reese Witherspoon].

(That's the only reason someone might not want to go see this movie--there are a couple scenes in bars, though nothing crazy is happening. Max is shown gambling repeatedly, though he does stop becase of Penelope--see we CAN change them! This movie is rated PG but I don't remember any bad words in it. It's probably one of the cleanest movies you'll find that isn't a cartoon.)

Anyways, it's a really sweet, fun movie. I liked it. James McAvoy, as always, is very dashing and you can't help but love him! Christina Ricci's character s very sweet and likable. The woman who plays Penelope's mom [Catherine O'Hara] is hilarious and would not be the mom I'd want if I had a pig nose. That leads me to another point--who knew a girl could look so cute with a pig nose?

I give this movie a big two thumbs up!

Cast:

Penelope...Christina Ricci [I've never seen her before.]

Max...James McAvoy ["the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", "Becoming Jane"--you may also have seen him in "Atonement" and "Wanted" with Angelina Jolie. I've seen neither of the last two movies mentioned above.]

Annie...Reese Witherspoon ["Walk the Line"]

Lemon...Peter Dinklage [you may have seen him in Prince Caspian as Trumpkin the dwarf]

Edward Humphrey Vanderman III...Simon Woods ["Pride & Prejudice" as Mr. Bingley--he even looks great WITHOUT the red hair!]