Nanny McPhee DVD > Reviews > The Person you need is Nanny McPhee

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	funny, entertaining
Disadvantages:	a bit predictable

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I tend to watch a lot of kids films - despite not being a kid or having any. I don't like watching anything that is particularly violent or gory, to me that's not entertainment, so I usually go for a safer option, such as comedies, romances or films aimed at children.

~The plot~

Cedric Brown (Colin Firth) is a widower and lives with his seven children, cook Mrs Blatehrwick (Imelda Staunton) and scullery maid Evangeline (Kelly Macdonald).
Cedric struggles to care for his seven children who are out of control. Since their mother died the children have had several different nannies, all of whom have left due to the bad behaviour of the children. The children have purposely driven the nannies out, and are proud of their actions, as they strive to drive each nanny out more quickly than the previous one.

Cedric is despairing and doesn't know what to do - especially as the nanny agency has run out of nannies. He also has the problem of his Aunt Adelaide (Angela Lansbury) who is a very uptight old woman, but who gives him a monthly allowance to pay the rent, as his job as an undertaker does not pay well enough to feed all of his children. Aunt Adelaide tells Cedric he must marry before the end of the month or he will stop the allowance.

Cedric begins to hear a mysterious, haunting voice, which tells him 'The person you need is Nanny McPhee.' One night a mysterious woman arrives on his doorstep and announces herself to be Nanny McGhee (Emma Thompson). When Cedric asks who has sent her, she announces that she is a government nanny. Nanny McPhee has a rather frightening appearance, complete with warts and a large protruding tooth. On her first night she walks into the kitchen to greet the children and finds that they have tied up the cook Mrs Blatherwick (Imelda Staunton), are throwing food, jumping about and just generally misbehaving. She tells them to stop and when they don't listen, she bangs her walking stick on the floor, which seems to cast a magic spell, meaning the children can't stop what they are doing and it almost endangers the life of their baby sister, Aggie (the cutest baby ever, by the way!) The children realise that Nanny McPhee is not to be messed with, but still , led by their eldest brother Simon (Thomas Sangster), they continue to cause mischief.

Will the children ever learn to behave? And will Cedric have to marry the vulgar Mrs Quickly (Celia Imrie) in order to save his house?

~What I thought~

I loved this film, I thought it was really good from the very start. I think the plot was fairly predictable, but it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the film. Even though, obviously, it is aimed at children, I think adults will enjoy it too. Nanny McPhee is almost a witch like character, but she has a good mix between being scary and genuinely caring for the children, and you do find yourself becoming endeared to her. There is a lot of magic in the film, but it is done in an enchanting, rather than frightening way. There are some really funny scenes in the film too - especially the one with the dancing donkey! The film had a good pace throughout - there weren't any parts which made me want to skip past them.
Nanny McPhee has been compared to Mary Poppins, and I suppose there are some obvious similarities - they're both nannies with a knack for magic, but whereas Mary Poppins is all sweetness, Nanny McPhee has a distinctly darker tone.

Colin Firth was great as the despairing dad (I wonder if he'll adopt me?) and Emma Thompson as Nanny McPhee was also fantastic. Thomas Sangster, (Who you may recognise from Charlie and the chocolate factory, or Love Actually) is great as Simon, and all the other children do well too, although I think it would have been better if we had seen more of them.

~Other info~

Running time - 94 min
Certificate -U
Currently available from Amazon for £4.95

*This is a film only review*