We could all use a Nanny like this
I couldn't have picked a better movie. Snaggle toothed, dreadfully homely, and a wee bit of a woman that can cause even the bravest of souls to wince, McPhee is charming. It always amazes me to watch such a beautiful actress as Emma Thompson play a character that is just so different from herself.
Beauty aside, I find that Nanny is an endearing angel that rivals even the quintessentially beautiful Mary Poppins. Sans the musical notes that dance from Julie Andrews, Emma Thompson's character provides the sane sense of ease and comfort, while teaching a horde of little demons how to behave properly.
I have to say that Emma Thompson delivers a perfect performance in this film. She's everything that a frazzled mother Mrs. Isabel Green (Maggie Gyllenhaal) could wish for, especially during the trying times of World War II. Ewan McGregor plays her husband, who is off fighting the war. As often occurred during those times, he has left his young wife behind to care for...
A Cute Family Film
This is a nice family film, somewhere between a 4 and 5 star, so I rounded up. Nannie McPhee (Emma Thompson) is a strange nannie. She is quite magical and quite delightful, but I'm getting ahead of myself. (Of course, better to be a-head than a little behind, I always say.)
The story begins on the family farm, in the English Countryside, far from London. It is WWII. Isabelle and the 3 children are taking care of the farm while the husband/father is away fighting in the war. The farm is owned by the husband and his brother Phil. The brother lives elsewhere.
Phil wants the money from his half of the farm and is pestering the heck out of Isabelle to sell it but she is trying to hang on until her husband returns. Meanwhile, Phil has incurred some gambling debts - actually, he bet the farm. Two "Hit Women" are after Phil now, threatening to remove his kidneys.
The 2 cousins are coming from the city (London) to stay at the farm because bombs are...
Every Little Thing She Does is Magic
There's something about the Nanny McPhee character that appeals to me even more than Mary Poppins. I grant you that Nanny McPhee is no looker, what with her hairy warts, her snaggletooth, and her bulbous nose all glaring at you as if she were an endurance test for her clients. All the same, she knows what she's doing. Perhaps it has something to do with her magic, which doesn't serve as a vehicle for light, whimsical musical numbers; it's harsher and more direct, the kind that could conceivably subdue unruly children were it real. Under her rules, it seems plausible that a child can actually learn his or her lesson, and indeed, all the children in this film are challenged in ways that many family films wouldn't care to consider. But it's not all strict policies and firm magical consequences - with each lesson the children learn, she gets progressively less ugly, and by the end, she looks like the Emma Thompson we know and love.
"Nanny McPhee Returns," the sequel to the...
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