Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang
Tags: comedy

Plot synopsis:
On a farm during World War II, while her husband is away at war, Isabel Green is driven to her wits end by her hectic life. Between trying to keep the family farm up and running and her job in the village shop, run by the slightly mad Mrs. Docherty, she also has three boisterous children to look after, Norman, Megsie, and Vincent. When her children's two wealthy cousins, Cyril and Celia, also then come to live with them, Isabel requires childcare help.
When Nanny McPhee arrives, the children at first do not listen and carry on fighting, which she soon puts a stop to. Meanwhile, Isabel's brother-in-law, Phil, has gambled away his half of the farm, and is being chased by two hired-assassin women under casino owner Mrs. Biggles. He desperately attempts to make Isabel sell her half of the farm, using mean and spiteful schemes to leave her no choice. Isabel takes the children on a picnic during which an ARP Warden, Mr. Docherty, warns them about bombs and how he imagines a pilot might accidentally release his bomb. At the end of the picnic, Uncle Phil delivers a telegram saying Isabel's husband has been killed in action. Isabel and everyone else believes the telegram, but Norman says that he can "feel it in his bones" that his father is not dead. He tells this to Cyril, who at first says it is just because he is upset, but then agrees Norman might be right, so the two boys ask Nanny McPhee to take them to London, where Cyril and Celia's father works.
There, Nanny McPhee and the boys ask Cyril's father Lord Gray, who is very important in the War Office, what has happened to Mr. Green. At first Lord Gray sneers at Norman's disbelief at his father's death, but after Cyril blurts out that he knows that his parents are getting a divorce, Lord Gray checks what has happened. While he is gone, Cyril tells Norman that he and Celia have been sent away because their parents will be splitting up, and Norman asks where Cyril and Celia will live. When Cyril replies "with Mum, I suppose, not that it makes much difference, she only ever really sees us when she wants to show us off", Norman tells Cyril that he and Celia are welcome to live on the farm with the Greens. Lord Gray returns and tells Norman that his father is not dead, but missing in action, and that there is no record of a telegram being sent to his mother. After the boys leave, Norman deduces that Uncle Phil forged the telegram.
While the boys were at the War Office, Megsie, Celia and Vincent were trying to stop Isabel from signing the papers and selling the farm. Just as Isabel is about to sign the papers, a German pilot accidentally drops a huge bomb; it shakes everything but does not explode and is left sticking out of the barley field. When Nanny McPhee returns with Norman and Cyril, the children go out to watch Mr. Docherty dismantle the bomb, but he falls from the ladder. Megsie takes over, and succeeds with the help of the other children and Nanny McPhee's raven, Mr. Edelweiss. After Nanny McPhee helps to harvest the barley, with a little magic, it is revealed that old Mrs. Docherty is in fact baby Agatha from the first film and that Nanny McPhee has been staying with her. As Nanny McPhee walks away from the now happy family, the children and Isabel chase after her, only to see Mr. Green, in army uniform and with an injured arm, making his way to them. He runs to his family and they all hug.

Review: 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.
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.
In short, this is a lovely, well-written, beautifully cast film that's executed with great affection and makes maximum use of its chocolate-box locations.Emma Thompson, aside from having no little talent for scriptwriting, is savvy enough to understand that the real stars of this film are the children and, in particular, Asa Butterfield and Eros Vlahos as Norman and Cyril respectively.Rhys Ifans shows what an accomplished comic actor he is, even if his performance as Uncle Phil seems to draw much, both in characterisation and delivery, from that of Matt Dillon's portrayal of Healy in There's Something About Mary.There's a lovely turn from Maggie Smith as Mrs Docherty and a reassuringly exuberant performance from Sam Kelly.If there's a lull, it's when the action moves away from its countryside setting, although the scene played between Vlahos and Ralph Feinnes works nicely.At a little under an hour and fifty minutes, it's quite long for children, yet my five- and eight-year-olds sat transfixed throughout.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Having not seen the previous Nanny McPhee movie, what I got was a pleasant surprise watching this funny and touching sequel starring and written by Emma Thompson.
We were quite ready to suspend reality and enjoy a magical nanny, but we didn't find the movie to have the humor and general upbeat styling we were expecting.This film seemed to be in a great hurry to finish all the lessons Nanny wanted to teach without us ever knowing what they were.
Part of the charm in the first movie was that you were left to wonder if the lessons were learned due to the children learning and living them or from the magic of Nanny McFee. In the second movie, there is no question that magic has changed behavior, not a realization of why this new behavior is proper.Less than half way through the movie, my 10 year old daughter leaned in to me and said, "This one isn't funny like the first one, is it?" She was quite right, as a whole, this wasn't a funny movie.
The immensely talented Emma Thompson returns to play and write the story of the ultimately wonderful yet outwardly repulsive nanny of the film's title, who assists another desperate single parent by taming their mischievous bunch of spirited youngsters.The lovely Mrs Green (a perfectly charming Maggie Gyllenhaal) becomes burdened with looking after the family estate, a farm in the English countryside, and her sister's children (Eros Vlahos and Rosie Taylor-Ritson) as well as her own (Asa Butterfield, Oscar Steer and Lil Woods) when her husband (a wordless yet productive Ewan McGregor) goes to war.The children take advantage of her current frenzied state by squabbling, playing dangerously, making a mess of the house and just generally misbehaving.
There is also her scheming brother-in-law Phil (Rhys Ifans at his erratic, despicable, scraggly best) seizing opportunities to prise the ownership of the farm out of her hands, and into those of two ghastly female brutes (a spine-tingling pair of Katy Brand and Sinead Matthews actually evoke sympathy for the villainous Phil) who are relentlessly terrorising him.To add to her stress, her elderly employer Mrs Docherty (a delightfully senile Maggie Smith) cannot be left alone in her own shop, for fear of disaster.These are all perfect conditions for the snag-toothed hag with that distinctive silhouette to walk into, and she does just as things are at their most chaotic.There is no doubt that the cast are superb, and the undisputed highlight of the whole picture.
Indeed the incorporation of World War II shows enormous misjudgement, with the heavily restricting boundaries of a film for small children preventing the huge event from being done justice.The nauseatingly corny and clichéd excuse for a climax is the icing on the cake of Susanna White's horribly naive direction, which unfortunately – together with Thompson's rather sloppy script – represses her and the rest of the remarkably adept cast, tragically capping their potential.Still, it makes for some amiably enjoyable kids fodder, and thankfully it did not keep Thompson from finishing her role in the Harry Potter series..
I didn't have high expectations for this movie going in to watch it and it was predictable for any problem that came about.The storyline was good with the stuck up,rich kids eventually warming up and becoming humble,the whole farm story and the role Nanny McPhee played.
I liked Nanny McPhee very much because of its naughty sense of humor, honest emotions and excellent performances from actors who did not underrate their presence in a family movie.I guess I was not the only person who thought like that, because the film had an unexpected economical success, which is the reason we now have its obligatory sequel, called Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang.And even though it lacks of the refreshing originality from the first movie, I have to admit this sequel kept me entertained, although it did not find it to be very memorable.Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang feels like a rehash of Mary Poppins, even though it is inspired on the literary series of Nurse Matilda, written by Christianna Brand.But in the hands of Emma Thompson in her screenwriter facet, Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang has a likable balance of politically incorrect humor and a sincere didactic message of an innocent intention and invaluable utility.Having said that, I found the structure from the film to be a bit modular, with a parade of comical routines, domestic crisis and family dramas solved by special effects or by the expected morals that teach the children a lesson of moderation, cooperation and discipline.As for the actors, Thompson always feels credible in her character, something which is enriched by the subtle expressions she has on various scenes.Maggie Gyllenhaal is perfect as a British woman, and not only because of the accent she adopts, but also because of her general bearing and attitude.Maggie Smith, Rhys Ifans and Ralph Fiennes also bring competent performances, even though they do not have too much material to work with.In conclusion, I liked Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, even though it is not even remotely as funny, ingenious or subversive as the first film.Nevetheless, I think I can recommend it..
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.
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.
Luckily Nanny McPhee (Thompson) comes to disciple the children, teach them important life lessons and help save the farm from being sold by the dastardly Uncle Phil (Rhys Ifans).Nanny Mcphee and the Big Bang is clearly aimed for young children and director Susanna White (who is known for television work on Bleak House and Generation Kill) attempts to keep a childish, playful tone throughout the film.
Yeah, it's quite good.This time around, Nanny McPhee is called upon by Mrs Green (Maggie Gyllenhaal) to help her with her 2 children and another 2 she's looking after for her brother (a high ranking war official played by Ralph Fiennes) while her husband (Ewan McGregor) is away at war.
Instead it's Emma Thompson with unbelievably bad teeth, serious warts, and a socially incorrect pet crow, who appears when she's needed the most (and wanted the least) in "Nanny McPhee Returns".Maggie Gyllenhaal is Isabel Green, a harried British farmwife with a husband off fighting World War II, three unruly children and their two spoiled brat London cousins, and a farm she's about to lose, pigs and all.
The mini-war between city and country kids is out of hand when Nanny shows up, and she meets a lot of resistance from all sides, but remains snaggle-toothed and unfazed.Amazing things keep on happening: pigs not only fly, they perform a water ballet, and the children slowly learn some important lessons about sharing and caring and hope and faith.An excellent supporting cast includes Rhys Ifans as Isobel's gambling brother-in-law, Ralph Fiennes as the cousins' big shot War Office father and Ewan McGregor as Isobel's soldiering husband..
The plot is still Nanny McPhee coming to the aid of a distressed parent when she's needed and not wanted, teaching the naughty kids how to behave with a few personality lessons chucked in at the same time but the story this time is different.The story is mainly about the Green children trying to help Mrs. Green run the farm and trying to stop her from selling the farm to Uncle Phil, who tries everything to make life harder for them on the farm.
Although in the first one I laughed in a lot of its moments, in its continuation I only yawned (and laughter not one)."Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang" is a very nice continuation of that children movie of the year 2005 (although that was not the finished one either (it was just a foolish and foolish movie), at least it was fun at times and with embellish magic touches that made it bearable and enjoyable for the whole family ...
In "Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang" we find a rhythm too slow for a succession of situations too forced, a grace that does not make grace, a few educational moments less well-off with humor, and a few charming characters (children never they gain the affection of the spectator and do not dazzle as much as the first Maggie Gyllenhaal is not horrible as a burdened mother but, unlike Colin Firth in the first installment, his character never captivates or transmits naturalness in his oppression or in his love to the kids, anyway, even Thompson is not as fascinating as expected).And the main problem is not the script (which was not required much to be a children film), but some misplaced performances, a lack of chemistry between actors, a narrative rhythm not successful that will bore an adult, and some visual adornments that do not convince at any time.Unfortunately this continuation will only please the kids who, after all, are more conformist when it comes to watching simple movies (as nice as it is to say otherwise, I can say from experience that it is).The best: That will please the kids.
Also Isabel's gambling brother in law (Rhys Ifans) has amassed debts and wants Isabel to sell the farm which he owns a fifty percent share.Emma Thompson's Nanny arrives unwanted at first but her tapping of her magical cane soon starts to put things right as the kids learn some important life lessons but you feel the underlying issues are not dealt with such as the lying, cheating brother in law who is being threatened by two burly female debt collectors.There are some magical elements in this film such as flying pigs that also perform a water ballet that adds fun to the movie.It is a whimsical tale that kids will like, adults will find it rather contrived and light on plot.
Emma Thompson renewed her role as Nanny McPhee with a classic acting approach and that is what this movie needs to stay on point.The cast of the movie has one of my favorite actresses in Maggie Smith; she delivers a part that you would expect from her in a family movie.
Ugly-looking but wise and sweet-hearted nanny McPhee visits a mother and his three children and two nephews, who try to get their farm afloat and survive while the father is away fighting in WW II.The script, by Emma Thompson, is charming, witty and well carried on, with classical elements that will delight both children and adults, for whom there are very naughty things there.The acting is very good.
Featuring some truly funny moments delivered by some very good young actors and once again brilliantly performed by Emma Thompson, the second Nanny McPhee film is for me, as much in league with modern children's classics as the much hyped Harry Potter.
Thamkfully Nanny McPhee teaches them the benefits of everyone getting along together.Written by Emma Thompson the young ones will enjoy the slapstick and chase scenes but adults who have seen the first film may find it a bit repetitive.
So in comes Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) to teach the children the valuable lessons to behaving well and learning to get on with each other.
I saw an import DVD so its Big Bang World War 2 set sequel to the 2005 cult film has the Nannie who comes when needed and who leaves when she is wanted showing up to take care of a family who is trying to get by on their farm.
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (Susanna White, 2010) - Emma Thompson's wise, warty heroine returns in this enchanting children's film.