Penelope
Grade: C

After transforming from a precocious child actor into an irrepressible bad girl in indie movies, Christina Ricci lost her way with straight-to-video bombs like Prozac Nation and, now, this flat fairy tale about a girl cursed with a pig snout. Ricci gives it her all, and she’s backed by a very likable cast that includes Catherine O’Hara, James McAvoy and Reese Witherspoon. Unfortunately the spirited performances can’t disguise the fact that director Mark Palansky has no idea how to squeeze 90 minutes of whimsy out of a plot that ought to be confined to a brief bedtime story.