Bechdel Wins: Penelope

After writing a less than happy review about The Lego Movie, I thought it would be nice to mention a film that pleases my hard-to-satisfy movie palette. The modern fairy tale movie Penelope is one such film.

Last week, Wood Sprite and I watched the movie together for the first time and she instantly fell in love with it. It’s about the titular character (played by Christina Ricci), who was cursed with the nose of a pig. Her family keeps trying to marry her off to break the curse, but the curse can actually be solved in a much easier way. The movie has everything that my daughter and I love—magic, pretty visual effects, humor, good friendships and good characters. The characters in the film are nearly evenly split when it comes to gender, and it passes the Bechdel Test easily. (In fact, the cover I have is much different from this photo, and depicts only Penelope.) It also stars Catherine O’Hara, an actress I love, love, love.

Perhaps the coolest thing about the movie is that you think it’s going to be the typical prince-saves-the-princess scenario, but it’s totally not. It’s about a strong young woman who comes into her own and takes on the world by storm. There’s also romance, but it’s a secondary—maybe even a tertiary—plot.

The movie is highly rated for families from both Common Sense Media as well as viewers themselves. When I say “whole family,” I have to admit that it’s not for the youngest members of the family. It includes some scenes in a casino and a bar, so there is drinking and smoking in the film. They are there as accessories more than anything else, but that means that the movie may not be appropriate for all kids. To me, violence is the worst thing in films for kids, and all of the shooting and blowing-up-stuff in The Lego Movie (and so, so many other kids’ movies) is worse.

Penelope also has two scary moments—one refers to suicide near the beginning of the film and the other shows a creepy monster-like face for a second, which Wood Sprite turns her head from. You may want to discuss these issues before, during and/or after the movie together.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia