PENELOPE

Headline: ** Playful Fairy Tale for Families **
Title: PENELOPE
Quality: * * * Acceptability: -1
SUBTITLES: None
WARNING CODES:
Language: L
Violence: V
Sex: None
Nudity: None

RATING: PG
RELEASE: February 29, 2008
TIME: 90 minutes
STARRING: Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, Catherine O'Hara, Richard E. Grant, Reese Witherspoon, Peter Dinklage, and Simon Woods
DIRECTOR: Mark Palansky
PRODUCERS: Scott Steindorff, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Simpson
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Dylan Russell
WRITER: Leslie Caveny
BASED ON THE NOVEL/PLAY BY: N/A
DISTRIBUTOR: Summit Entertainment

CONTENT: (Pa, Ro, B, O, C, L, V, AA, M) Mixed worldview with Romantic and moral elements, and an ambiguous attitude toward a witch character who shows up at the beginning and near the end for a joke with love lifting a curse from the witch, plus a Christian minister leads a wedding ceremony; six obscenities and two light profanities such as "My God"; light somewhat comic violence such as montage of men jumping out of window breaking glass; no sex but brief kissing; no nudity; alcohol use and woman gets drunk for first time; no smoking; and, gambling and deceit, plus a boy says, "It's not the power of the curse, it's the power you give the curse."

GENRE: Romantic Comedy/Fantasy
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Teenagers and adults

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Rob Friedman, CEO
Summit Entertainment
1630 Stewart Street, Suite 120
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Phone: (310) 309-8400
Fax: (310) 828-4132
Website: www.summit-ent.com

SUMMARY: In the comic fantasy PENELOPE, the title character, the daughter of wealthy socialites, is actually cursed with an ugly nose and needs to find true love "with one of her own kind" to remove the curse. PENELOPE is playful, funny, droll, and eccentric, but has a few obscenities and some mixed worldview elements demanding caution for older children.

IN BRIEF:

In the comic fantasy PENELOPE, the heroine is an ugly rich girl whose pig-like nose is the result of a family curse. The curse can only be lifted when Penelope finds true love "with one of her own kind." For years, her mother keeps her hidden, even faking Penelope's death. When Penelope comes of age, her mother secretly tries to find an upper class suitor to break the curse, but they all run away in disgust. An eager tabloid reporter finds out Penelope is alive. He hires a young man named Max to pose as a suitor to get the shot. Max finds himself falling for Penelope, which leads to some comical complications until the two sweethearts can get together finally.

PENELOPE is playful, funny, droll, and eccentric. The cast does a good job. Rated PG, its positive qualities are marred by some foul language, Romantic elements and some lackluster scenes. Also, the mean old witch in the beginning makes a comical reappearance, where she puts a temporary spell on Penelope's mother, to stop her from talking for a while, to everyone's relief. Thus, the movie's worldview is somewhat mixed.