"Penelope" a fairy tale about learning to love yourself

"Penelope," a sweetly offbeat fairy tale from director Mark Palansky and screenwriter Leslie Caveny, has been sitting on the shelf since its completion in 2006, and for the life of me I can't imagine why. It's creative and original; it features an endearing performance from bona fide movie star Reese Witherspoon (who also produced the film); and it seems likely to have much appeal for that very desirable demographic, teenage girls. Nonetheless, "Penelope" has been waiting ages for this quiet February release, probably because it's creative and original, which tends to throw movie marketers into a tizzy. "Christina Ricci in a pig snout" is not the sort of thing that inspires advertising campaigns.

Let's just note, though, that Ricci looks adorable, though the nose does look a bit low-budget. (In the annals of movie nose jobs, this one is a few notches below Nicole Kidman's in "The Hours," a nose so impressive it seemed to have its own publicist.) Ricci plays Penelope, a young woman from a wealthy family born into a curse — the aforementioned pig's snout, bestowed on the family's first daughter. Her parents (Richard E. Grant and Catherine O'Hara, a match made in heaven) won't let her leave the house, and she spends her days in her fantasyland bedroom, reading and swinging on a swing and sadly observing the parade of young men who arrive eager to marry her, only to run away screaming when they see her in the flesh.

Eventually, as you might guess, Penelope decides to escape her plush prison. Draping her face in a scarf, she leaves her family's manor and heads for town, where she visits a pub, makes friends and gets a ride on a Vespa. The bike belongs to Witherspoon's character, a wry messenger who calls Penelope "Scarfy"; her character is about as edgy as this sweet movie gets, which is to say not edgy at all but immensely likable. Soon, Penelope finds love and — more importantly — learns to like herself the way she is.

While the fairy-tale plot is mostly predictable, the actors (including James McAvoy as Penelope's love interest) are all charming, and the "Amélie"-style whimsy of the sets and costumes a treat to watch. (The actual setting, though, is a bit muddled: Though the exterior shots are clearly England — the architecture is unmistakable — hardly anyone in the cast uses a British accent. Are they all Americans abroad? Or do fairy tales not have to worry about logic?) Sweet as gingerbread, "Penelope" deserves to find an audience; those with a taste for happily-ever-afters should look for it, before it too-quickly disappears.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com