A movie review cause RottenTomatoes sucks
Okay, so last Wednesday (Feb. 20th) a friend and I went to an advanced screening of the Christina Ricci/James McAvoy movie Penelope. Now, I've been wanting to see this movie since September when I caught a preview of it at the beginning of some movie I can't seem to remember at the moment. It looked lovely and fresh and witty and seriously it had James McAvoy in it which was more then enough. So I looked it up and found every little bit of information I could on it and I waited, and waited and waited till I was sure this would be one of those movies you'd die to see but will spend the rest of your life never having seen it.
I was wrong (thank god) so when I got the free passes I was so excited. My friend and I made a whole night out of it; movie, dinner and then Chapter and Wal-Mart to hang out and goof off. It was awesome.
So today I get my RottenTomatoe newsletter and imagine my shock and disappointment when I find that the idiots over there didn't give this wonderful little movie a fresh rating but a rotten one instead? I'm not sure they watched the same movie as I did but there is no way this movie doesn't deserve a fresh rating. Right now I am so pissed off.
And then I remembered that the day after I saw this movie I wrote a review of it for IMDB.com and I have now decided to post that same review here to right the mistake made my RottenTomatoes and to give people wanting to see it a different prospective. Be warned before you read though, there is a small kinda spoiler but I have marked it in the review so you'll know what to skip should you want to. All I can hope is that my review does this movie justice and that it inspires people to take a chance on this charming little fairytale.
Movie Review
______________________________________________________________________________
By: Girlygirl
______________________________________________________________________________
PENELOPE
This movie is amazing- it's like a dark(er) fairytale with humor and wit and moral in all the right places. It's not to fast and it's not to slow; it moves at a perfect pace and it does what not a lot of other movies can. It takes the time to make its characters real- gives them time to show more then one side of themselves. They are wonderfully 3 dimensional instead of flat boring clichés.
Christina Ricci (who has been acting for as long as I can remember) is still timelessly beautiful- with or without the nose- and manages to simultaneously break your heart and make you smile. After seeing this move there really isn't anyone else I could picture playing this role.
Catherine O'Hara is the funniest, craziest part of this movie. She is perfect in every single way and through it all- all the insane matchmaking and shrieking- you can still find the soul of a mother who only wants her daughter to be happy... and it takes a pretty special actress to be able to pull that off in such a crazy, crazy character.
Reese Witherspoon smartly decided not to play the main role but more of a sidekick/comic relief role and my god I forgot how funny she could be. She is a breath of fresh air as the first person who really befriends Penelope and she reminds you of your absolutely best girlfriend... or at least the best girlfriend you always wished you had.
And of course James McAvoy. Let’s start with the obvious; why is this man that good looking? But I'm happy to say that he isn't just a pretty face the boy is wonderful in this movie. You can really see a troubled soul in his portrait and at the same time a guy who know right from wrong. He doesn't go about trying to win her money but he genuinely cares for her and it's there in every single line. A lot of actors could have played this role but there aren't many who would have made this character as believable and soulful as James McAvoy did.
As for the two lead- Christina and James- they are magic together. They have incredible chemistry and play off each other flawlessly. SPOILER HERE- The one scene when he sees her for the first time and he stands there looking at her is so real. I watched it and it made me nervous- you could actually feel what she'd be feeling as he stands in front of her without saying anything. It's heartbreaking and it feels like that one moment is dragging on and if there is anyone out there who knows the feeling of standing in front of a room full of people and feeling like you want to die that is the exact same feeling you get from this scene. It was unbelievable.- SPOILER ENDS
As you've probably guessed I loved this movie- from start to finish- save for the fact that James didn't have his accent which made me a little sad. And I suggest that everyone go see this movie. It's a movie for all ages and I think many a young girl would benefit for the moral behind this story.
I hope this review helped!