Product Details

• Actors: Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, Catherine O'Hara, Reese Witherspoon, Peter Dinklage
• Directors: Mark Palansky
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Summit Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: July 15, 2008
• Run Time: 89 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (142 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0011N1WE8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,460 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Penelope" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Taking cues from Beauty and the Beast and Cyrano de Bergerac, director Mark Palanksy debuts with a slight, if fanciful confection. Produced by Reese Witherspoon and written by Leslie Caveny, Penelope begins with the phrase, "Once upon a time...," making it clear the proceedings owe more to fantasy than reality. Due to a family curse, Ricci's sweet-natured heiress sports a pig snout instead of a normal nose. Since surgery isn't an option--it would sever her carotid artery--her parents (Christopher Guest favorite Catherine O'Hara and an underused Richard E. Grant) hide her from the world for 25 years. Penelope can only break the spell through "one who will love her faithfully," but none of the local bluebloods will have her. One fateful day, while her face is hidden, she meets musician-turned-gambler Max (Atonement's James McAvoy in a winning performance). Sparks fly, until she finds he's only cozying up to her on orders from tabloid reporter Lemon (The Station Agent's Peter Dinklage), so Penelope runs away from home. The city she enters looks much like modern-day London--Amélie's Michel Amathieu served as cinematographer--except most everyone speaks with an American accent (then again, the film is a fable). The aspiring horticulturist befriends spunky courier Annie (Witherspoon) and reconnects with Max, who harbors secrets of his own. Once people become accustomed to her unconventional looks, Penelope's future starts to brighten. Like Enchanted, Palanksy's first feature gives the romantic comedy a refreshing--and empowering--fairytale twist. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Product Description

Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, Reese Witherspoon. The young heiress Penelope Wilhelm believes she is destined to be alone because she can't break a generations-old curse on her family causing her to have the nose of a pig. But when she meets a charming young aristocrat who sees beyond her physical appearance, she learns that love is really blind. 2006/color/89 min/PG/widescreen.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 69 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Great movie, but disappointing DVD August 18, 2008

By H. Vickery

Format:DVD

I give 5 stars for the movie and 2 for the DVD. The movie is a fun fantasy type with awesome visuals and great acting. But, I was very disappointed in this DVD version. I had seen a foreign copy of the movie and was looking forward to having my own clear copy. But they cut out some really great scenes (one that my husband and I were especially looking forward to) and then they don't even have a deleted scenes section! If we hadn't known what we were missing, I suppose we wouldn't have been so disappointed. The scene with the reporter and the real Max in jail is shorted (missing a hilarious interaction). A really neat story point at the end where Penelope reconciles with Edward is completely cut. The birds flying out of the house when Penelope's mom calls after her are cut out (except in the security cameras) - a neat visual. And the scene with the kids at the end is shortened. Those were the scenes that we particularly remember missing, but I think there must have been some other shortened scenes. What a waste of money, the DVD will be just sitting on the shelf while we watch our low res foreign copy.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Unusual, uplifting and fun February 29, 2008

By Julie Neal TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

This quirky ugly-duckling fable is ideal to see with your 'tween- or teen-aged daughter. Its message of self-acceptance is obvious but not heavy handed, and worth talking about afterward. A modern-day fairy tale, the movie begins with the traditional line "Once upon a time..." but soon becomes a twisted take on Beauty and the Beast. In this case, it's the princess with the curse that turns her ugly. Can she learn to love herself?

Well of course she can. The journey that pig-nosed heroine Penelope travels is not at all believable, but then again fairy tales rarely are. If you give yourself over to the uplifting moral -- that everyone is lovable and interesting BECAUSE of their differences, not in spite of them -- then this film is a treat. The energetic cinematography aptly depicts both grime and splendor, the costumes are loaded with detail (I especially loved Penelope's coat with mismatched buttons) and though the script drags at times, it has many unexpected twists and turns that keep things entertaining.

Though Christina Ricci does a good job expressing herself behind a snout, the real performance here is that of James McAvoy. Given the task of playing Prince Charming as a washed-up musician with a gambling problem, McAvoy glows with charismatic star power. The shaggy haired, sleepy-eyed actor doesn't look like your typical leading man, but when he is onscreen the movie hums. Catherine O'Hara and Richard E. Grant also click as the wrong-headed parents, and Peter Dinklage is his usual excellent self as a one-eyed reporter.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent little fairy tale October 3, 2007

By Mr. Jonathan Knight

This is an excellent little fairy tale - filmed largely in London UK about the trials and tribulations of a young girl (Christina Ricci)searching for love and who has to overcome a physical disability - a pig's snout. It is a gentle comedy whose release has been long delayed - it was shown during the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. I look forward to the DVD

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Penelope follows her nose June 10, 2011

By H. Bala TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Because of Penelope's popularity, pig Latin is banned from schools. Because of Penelope's influence on fashion, sales of scarves skyrocket. Because of Penelope, a young aristrocrat resorts to foul play to rehabilitate his sullied name. And, because of Penelope, maybe next time you'll be more leery of judging a book by its cover.

Once upon a time, Penelope Wilhern's great-great-great-grandfather Ralph had a fling with a lowly servant girl, and no way was this going to end well. The blue blood scion eventually comes to his senses, and the distraught servant girl steps off a cliff. The servant girl's vengeful mother - an honest-to-gosh witch - works a dark enchantment on the Wilhern family, to the effect that the next daughter born to the Wilhern bloodline will be cursed with a pig's snout instead of a human nose. And so we meet Penelope.

Word has it that not until "one of her kind" can learn to love her for herself will the curse be lifted. Penelope's hysterical and ridiculous mom (Catherine O'Hara) is desperate to reverse the spell, not only because she truly does love her daughter, but because it's putting a crimp on her social life. Damn inconvenient when you can't trot out the young heiress because of her unfortunate porcine proboscis.

Penelope has led a sheltered life, what with her parents having faked her death when she was a child to avoid the news media's glare. All her life, Penelope has been restricted to the confines of her home, and, surprisingly, she's grown up pretty even-keeled, sweet-tempered, charming. And then she reaches that age in which she can accept suitors, and her mom goes into hyperdrive and starts lining up these young gents to the manor born. She even hires a matchmaker. To no avail....

Once these suitors get a gander at Penelope's schnozz, they bolt out of there in horror, frequently bypassing the door in favor of a more expedient window. At 25 years old, even the habitually sunny Penelope is becoming discouraged.

Peter Dinklage goes a ways into providing balance to Catherine O'Hara's over-the-top performance. Dinklage is sly and watchable and, for a guy who's at the center of the conflict, is pretty sympathetic. He plays Lemon, an investigative journalist who years ago lost an eye while trying to snap a photo of the urban myth pig girl. Lemon teams up with a disgruntled young aristocrat, one of them candidates what ran off in horror after one glance at Penelope. Two vindictive sorts, they both want to out Penelope, and so hire down-and-out blue blood Max Campion (James McAvoy) to worm his way into an audience with Penelope and then snap away with a hidden camera. Except Max Campion isn't an out and out heel.

PENELOPE is in the same vein as CHOCOLAT, AMELIE, and THE MILAGRO GREENFIELD WAR, in that all these films achieve a delicate balance; for the most part, they circumvent the heavy-handed elements. There are bits of social satire (especially in how the media's lens and ink influence the way we view celebrities) and a purposeful nudge towards a fable's sensibility. The only grating thing in PENELOPE is Catherine O'Hara's shrill turn. In all else, it charms the heck out of you. Christina Ricci charms the heck out of you, as does James McAvoy. The marvelous set designs, depicting an idealized New York, helps to establish that light, whimsical tone. It's certainly an empowering tale. I love it that, after endless rejections by prospective Prince Charmings, Penelope gets fed up and strikes out on her own, declares her independence, wanders into the city, buys a scarf. She's soon befriended by Reese Witherspoon's carefree character. And the film goes on to take unexpected and wonderful twists and turns, making PENELOPE my favorite Christina Ricci film of all time.

Sadly, the DVD's only bonus feature is "The Making of a Modern Day Tale" which is worth watching but all too brief (00:09:30 minutes long). Read more ›

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars GREAT FILM, BUT LACKLUSTER DVD TAKES IT DOWN A NOTCH! November 9, 2008

By ! MR. KNOW IT ALL ;-b VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

I'm a sucker for a good fairy tale and 'Penelope' is one of the best I've seen in years. Ricci is perfect in the title role and although she has a pig's nose, strangely she remains attractive in this quirky love story! What I loved about this film was the more you get to know her character, the more her bizarre disfigurement just didn't matter. There's a great message here about acceptance and how self esteem can alter the way people perceive you, but unfortunately the DVD is a bit of a bummer. There aren't many extras and there are scenes cut and shortened from the film at least how it was viewed over seas. I didn't see this film in theaters, so I'm not quite sure what exactly has been changes. It would have been nice to offer a 2 disc edition with both versions of the film and more extra material.