Susan Granger’s review of “Nanny McPhee” (Universal Pictures)
Nanny McPhee is the most magical child minder to come along since Mary Poppins.
In Victorian England, Cedric Brown (Colin Firth), the village mortician, has been left a widower with seven naughty, undisciplined children who exasperate the cantankerous cook (Imelda Staunton) and scullery maid (Kelly MacDonald). To add to his woes, he’s been told by rich, imperious Aunt Adelaide (Angela Lansbury) that he must marry again within a month and give the children a new mother or lose the allowance on which he has supported his family. Suddenly, stern Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) arrives. Unorthodox and unattractive, she’s has a long, dark uni-brow; a bulbous red nose; fleshy, drooping earlobes; two large, brown, hairy warts; and a snaggle tooth – quite the opposite of pretty Mary Poppins. Instead of pulling things out of her carpetbag, she has a crooked cane that, magically, transforms chaos into proper order. And as she teaches the beleaguered Brown family five important lessons, the manners and the behavior of the mischievous children change, along with Nanny McPhee’s physical appearance.
Emma Thompson, who won an Oscar for her “Sense and Sensibility” screenplay, cleverly adapts the “Nurse Matilda” books by Christianna Brand, while Kirk Jones (“Waking Ned Devine”) directs with wryly wicked charm but few surprises. The CGI scenes are fun, particularly the comic pratfalls and colorful food fights. The Shakespeare-trained acting ensemble, which includes Derek Jacobi, Celia Imrie and Patrick Barlow, is superb, as are the children, led by Thomas Sangster, who played Liam Neeson’s son in “Love Actually.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Nanny McPhee” is a whimsical, storybook 7, teaching a valuable lesson that children not only need love and attention but also can handle honesty from adults.
