Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang

Not having seen Nanny McPhee 1, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised.

The film was very easy to get into and the story and plot were well written and set.

The actors young and old performed brilliantly making the whole thing enchanting and a highly believable fantasy.

The special effects were very well done and the comedy in it was delightful. I took my children with me, aged 5, 12, 15 and 18 and they all loved it too, with lots of laugh out loud moments and lots of smiles throughout.

All in all a very good film and I recommend it highly.

If you're going to see it I suggest you take all the family. Its a definite must see for all ages and you'll not be disappointed.

Emma Thompson returns from the 2005 film "Nanny McPhee" for the sequel as she reprises the titular character of the movie in "Nanny McPhee Returns (formerly known as "Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang". The first movie was surprisingly good and was it was a pleasure to watch the movie. Now, the second movie has a different tale and how about it? It was great.

First, "Nanny McPhee Returns" is not set in a city but rather on the countryside. A mother who's husband is gone to war has three naughty children who helps her work in the farm. Suddenly, their cousins from the city had to stay with them for a while. Since they're environment is different, their way of living has to be different and so, they can't stand it and so trouble comes. With nothing else on hand, Nanny McPhee comes to the rescue to teach the children five lessons that would change their behavior forever.

From flying motorcycles to swimming pigs, "Nanny McPhee Returns" was still able to keep the magic pumping up from the first movie. This movie has more magical things than the first movie. But, the first movie has a stricter Nanny McPhee than the first one and the first one (I think) gives Nanny McPhee a harder job to handle them rather than handling the kids in the second movie.

Emma Thompson who previously portrayed Professor Trewlawney from the "Harry Potter" series denied to reprise her role in the final installments and instead chose to reprise "Nanny McPhee" back to the screen. She was still able to repeat her solemn character in this movie. Although Thompson was a bit less in depth on her acting, her acting can still be praised.

Maggie Gyllenhaal plays the troubled mother who has been encountering endless problems in her life. Here, she uses British accents on her lines and her acting was perfect. Maggie Smith who also played Professor McGonagall in the "Harry Potter" series plays Mrs. Docherty who is a friend of Mrs. Green, the troubled mother. She plays in more of a funnier role than her previous ones and her acting was great, brilliant. The actors/actresses who played the naughty kids were also shockingly awesome. There's nothing wrong with the acting.

The special effects, the script and the cinematography were all stunning. The flying pigs scene was breathtaking and the script was perfectly written. The cinematography was not a problem at all. They were all mesmerizing.

In all, "Nanny McPhee Returns" is a good family adventure. It's still able to recreate the magic of the first film. It was brilliant and I recommend this to all families. I guarantee that most kids who see this film will try to see this film again. I had no regret watching this film. Overall, this movie gets 7 stars out of 10. Thanks for reading my review.

Emma Thompson once again pens and stars in the candy-coloured film adaptation of the children's' books by Christianna Brand, following a very strict and very ugly nanny who brings order and manners to a household full of naughty children. This outing sees the titular character nursing a farmhouse family whose father is off at war. The mother, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal is obliged the sell the land to her nasty brother (Rhys Ifans), a slimy character who will not rest till he gets his way. Meanwhile the children's' vile London cousins come to stay - two little brats who bawk at the state of the earthy farm abode.

Enter Nanny McPhee - an otherworldly being who appears when a family needs her most - squashed-nosed and snaggle-toothed, she calmly teaches the children five important lessons, though when things get out of hand she must employ the same supernatural technique of setting down her walking stick as she did in her previous adventure, and to spectacular effect. Nanny McPhee attempts to set the household to rights using these very methods, while the family struggle on with their visitors and hope against hope that their father will return.

Thanks to Emma Thompson's involvement, the film boasts a impressive array of British thespians including Maggie Smith, Ewan McGregor and Ralph Fiennes as a senior WW2 army officer. Though characterisation is hardly profound in a story such as this, each actor has their moment to shine - and Gyllenhaal, as the young mother, sports a flawless British accent and conveys her trademark maternal emotion when needs be. Production values are stellar, with all the period details on display. The film whisks along at a nice pace and never gets bogged down in one place - Thompson's adaptation is wrought with real warmth and wit, and once again she works wonders on-screen under layers of prosthetics, with every wry glance and raise of the eyebrow worthy of a laugh.

Setting the story of against the backdrop of World War II is very smart move - the 'big bang' in the title referring to the imminent threat of bombings during this time period. This gives the film a foundation of realism that the previous movie lacked....however, there's little room left for war time misery in the thematic threads of this story - you're more like to find a group of piglets doing synchronised swimming than any sign of a swastika.

Ultimately this is a family film, written for children - talking to them, not at them and carrying a very sensitive message at its heart. There are no double-entendres for the adults the snigger at, this is harmless entertainment at its best. It may not be a new classic but it's nice to see something like this making its way to our screens during the Easter break.

It's only when you need her and not want her, that she appears, and only when you want her but no longer need her, does she go away. It's been 5 years since the first Nanny McPhee film burst onto the silver screen, and now a second film comes at a time during the school holidays to provide the little ones some entertaining, family friendly fare with good moral messages to boot. Emma Thompson reprises her role as the magical nanny with facial disfigurements that disappear one at a time, each time she imparts values to children, and here she has 5 to teach the little ones to behave.

Like its predecessor, Nanny McPhee appears to assist Maggie Gyllenhaal's Mrs Green, a war time wife whose husband (Ewan McGregor) has been off to war and has only corresponded back home through snail mail. Being the current breadwinner and finding great difficulty in controlling her children Vincent (Oscar Steer), Norman (Asa Butterfield) and Megsie (Lil Woods), her problems compound when they are joined by their cousins Cyril (Eros Vlahos) and Celia (Rose Taylor-Ritson) who hail from the city, and a clash of attitudes spell even more trouble for the harried Mrs Green. But not if Nanny McPhee can help it, and does so in a jiffy.

Set mostly in and around the Green farm which the children's uncle Phil (Rhys Ifans) as chief baddie who tries hard to get Mrs Green to sell half her ownership so as to bail him out of gambling debts, McPhee gets to impart lessons learnt through manufactured incidents on the farm and allows her magic to be weaved even on piglets, which will probably delight the younger audience as they do strange things like climbing trees and synchronized swimming. In some ways, the lessons here somehow paled from the earlier film, and the last lesson happened more like a matter of fact rather than one properly planned out, though they do enough to allow some nifty special effects laden scenes to be played out.

The children in the film brought about fine performances and are able to hold their own against the likes of Maggie Gyllenhaal, and even the cameos of McGregor and especially Ralph Fiennes, who boomed with much stature as Lord Gray of the War Office and in that short scene, provided enough pathos and a key plot element as to why the Green's cousins came to live with them on the farm. Comedy came in the form of Maggie Smith's senile Mrs Docherty, though it was a mix of hits and misses with the latter taking unfortunate dominance.

I suppose Nanny McPhee can be an enduring franchise if the younger audience embrace it as the less flashier franchise series of say, Harry Potter and even Twilight. After all, it has good moral lessons to impart, and has a feel good element about it, on one hand being light weight in treatment, yet packing some punch in its messages. Stay tuned during the end credits too for an animated sequence that's too beautifully done to miss, and for the sharp eyed viewer, let's see if you can spot a moment of goof in the film that has something to do with the film being flipped left to right. Recommended for children, and adults alike.

If you've seen the first Nanny McPhee movie, then you know the premise of the second: A harried single parent (this time a woman played by Maggie Gyllenhaal) is overwhelmed by her three children plus two cousins from London who come to stay at her small farm. World War II is raging, her husband is somewhere in the battle theater, and her brother-in-law (Rhys Ifans) wants nothing more than to sell the family farm out from under her.

Just as poor Isabel Green wonders how she'll manage to make a payment on the tractor, get the crops in, keep her senile boss (Maggie Smith) from destroying the store, fend off Phil Green's efforts to get her to sign away her rights to the farm, and still take care of five children, Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) arrives on the scene.

Nanny McPhee, of course, takes the children promptly in hand and wastes no time teaching them the lessons they need to learn. If Isabel and Phil learn something along the way, so much the better.

The script is fairly silly (penned by Emma Thompson, it's aimed at a very young audience), though it does have its occasional moments of cleverness and poignancy (and one especially silly moment that I must confess was hysterical no matter your age). There's also a heart-rending tie-in to the first film.

The acting is quite good though melodramatic (which, in fairness, is entirely appropriate here). As an aside, Maggie Gyllenhaal's English accent is pretty convincing! The children are just fine, but I must single out Eros Vlahos (who plays cousin Cyril) and Lil Woods (in the role of Megsie Green). Maggie Smith is, of course, her usual stellar self, and Emma Thompson manages to play a caricature of a character without overdoing it at all. A small part for Ralph Fiennes and a cameo from Ewan MacGregor cap off a very capable cast.

BOTTOM LINE: Nanny McPhee Returns was cute, but it wasn't all that good from my own perspective. I'll tell you, though, that every last four, five, and six year-old in the theatre giggled, gasped, laughed, and cooed right when they were supposed to. While I can't recommend this movie for your own grown-up (or even teen-agers') night out, your younger kids will just love it.

POLITICAL NOTES: Although Nanny McPhee Returns takes place during World War II and mentions of the war feature prominently, no details of the reasons for the fight or any political judgments whatsoever are made. Given the nature of that particular conflict, I'd say that there was some real skill exercised in writing about it!

FAMILY SUITABILITY: Nanny McPhee Returns is rated PG for "rude humor, some language and mild thematic elements." Frankly, children young enough to enjoy this movie take especial delight in rude humor like that exhibited here, and the mild thematic elements will likely be largely above their heads. Any real concerns should be easily addressed by Mom or Dad after the movie's over.