But luckily, Penelope decides that being stuck with a pig’s nose for the rest of her life does not mean she can’t live. As she ventures out into the world, she discovers that life is full of opportunities and joys that don’t care what kind of nose she has. She comes to see that she actually likes herself just as she is. And in the end, Penelope teaches us that a curse is only as strong as the power you give it and proves that the only love that has any power is one that embraces us exactly where we are.

At the end of it all, Penelope is very much a story about finding freedom and the ultimate power of love to break the bonds that prevent it. For Penelope, love frees her from the ever-present idea that she is inferior. For her parents, love is what pushes them to finally let go of their unkind prejudices. For her troubled suitor Max (James McAvoy), love is what inspires him to break free from an all-consuming addiction. And even for hard-nosed reporter Lemon (Peter Dinklage), it is also love which replaces his need for revenge and vindication.

In this life, there are things that keep us from being free and living as we were fully meant to. Sometimes they may be parts of ourselves that we feel are inadequate. Other times they may be hurtful and unproductive ways of living that we are not even aware of. They may be foolish desires we just cannot seem to let go of. Or they may be deep pains that have become so much a part of us we don’t even know what it would be like to let them heal.

But the good news is, like Penelope and every character in her story, we too can be set free by the power of love, by recognizing how loved we are just as we are, and by loving every single person around us just as they are.

As it is said in Romans 5:7-8, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for good man someone might possible dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”