Nanny McPhee **** (2005, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Angela Lansbury, Celia Imrie, Imelda Staunton) – Classic Movie Review 1834

Emma Thompson and Colin Firth star in director Kirk Jones’s delightful, magical 2005 family fantasy comedy film Nanny McPhee, with expert performances and a super wicked sense of humour.

Thompson stars as a Mary Poppins-style governess who uses her special magical powers to control the unruly behaviour of seven naughty children in her charge. Firth plays the father and widower Mr Cedric Brown, whose wife has recently died and left him alone to look after his seven kids, who have scared off all the nannies he has hired to help. But a mystery voice tells him that he should now call for Nanny McPhee.

Angela Lansbury (Aunt Adelaide), Celia Imrie (Mrs Quickly) and Imelda Staunton (Mrs Blatherwick) also star.

Thomas Brodie-Sangster plays Simon.

The cast also includes Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Simon), Kelly Macdonald (Evangeline), Eliza Bennett (Tora), Raphaël Coleman (Eric), Holly Gibbs (Christianna), Jennifer Rae Daykin (Lily), Elizabeth Berrington (Letitia) and Samuel Honywood (Sebastian).

Nanny McPhee is securely based on an expert script by star Thompson, which took her seven years to write, even though she was working from the Nurse Matilda books by Christianna Brand. She took five years to write her Oscar-winning screenplay for Sense and Sensibility (1995), even though she was working from the Jane Austen book.

By the way, ‘This film is dedicated only to the truly naughty – and their children.’

Nanny McPhee is directed by Kirk Jones, runs 97 minutes, is made by Universal Pictures, Studio Canal, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and Working Title Films, and is released by United International Pictures (UIP) (2005) (UK) and Universal Pictures (2006) (US).

The end credits are animated.

Sequel: Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang [Nanny McPhee Returns] (2010).

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1834

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