Sweetly incredulous and incredulously sweet, Penelope is a whimsical off-beat story about a hidden princess, an unlikely prince and a family curse complete with a moral-of-the-story ending.

Stuck in distribution hell for almost two years, this ugly duckling fable makes it to our screens just by a nose (or should we say a snout), and we’re all the better for it.

The heroine takes the form of Penelope (Christina Ricci), an educated, wealthy young woman with a loving heart and the nose of a pig, the result of a generation-spanning curse.

Penelope’s well-meaning but overprotective parents (Richard E Grant and Catherine O’Hara played with scene-stealing hilarity) hide her away from the world, while parading dozens of blue-blooded suitors in front of her two-way mirror, with the knowledge that the curse can be broken if she is loved and accepted by her equal.

As the movie teeters between a self-aware, post-modern, Shrek-like irony and a more direct and genuine commentary on the harsh realities of modern life, it sometimes seems ashamed of its own sweetness.

Luckily, this modern-day fairy tale has more than enough charm to carry the film, thanks to a snappy script and wonderfully engaging cast.

The enchanting Ricci is wide-eyed perfection with the right touch of quirky.

And she enjoys nice chemistry with the deliciously-scruffy James McAvoy, who sports a good American accent in this pseudo-London setting.

Reese Witherspoon, on her producing debut, also makes a brief but savvy appearance as a punk biker who befriends Penelope in a bar.

Despite an extremely uneven style and sometimes incongruous uncertainty, Penelope does manage to conjure up some magic.

If only it took a note from its leading lady and believed in itself a little more. - TODAY/sh