Nanny McPhee
Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Angela Lansbury
The seven Brown children are the most unruly pack of grubby, obnoxious troublemakers in the whole of England, and they are all learned experts at getting rid of even the most stalwart nanny who dares come under their roof. After running every agency nanny out of the house, Mr. Brown (the exasperated father at his wit's end), gets a tip about the mysterious Nanny McPhee. Though Mr. Brown isn't told how to contact her, she shows up at their door a few hours later. She is visually surprising, to put it most politely, with a face full of warts, pock-marks, chin hair, and a uni-brow. She has come to put the children in order. And of course, they have no intention whatsoever of allowing her to succeed. But they soon learn that McPhee is really more than meets the eye, and may in fact give the children more trouble than they can give her. "I will stay only as long as you need me more than you want me," she tells them, "And when you want me more than you need me, I will have to go." "We will never want you!" the eldest Brown child tells her. "Then I will never leave." she replies.
Nanny McPhee is a surprisingly tasteful blend of comedy and tragedy. The children's antics are pretty typical for a film about ill-behaved rugrats (tying up servants, throwing food, etc), but there is another side of things to weigh down the lighthearted moments. Wealthy Aunt Adelaide has been supplying a monthly allowance to the household, but informs Mr. Brown that she will only continue with this if he can find a wife before the end of the month. If he cannot, the children will be split up, put into foster homes and labor mills. When the deadline begins to loom nearer, Aunt Adelaide pays the Browns a visit. She has come to take one of the children under her wing. It's a disquieting scene, where the children are forced to choose between themselves as to which to send with their terrible Aunt. Though they end up sending Evangeline, their kind and pure-hearted servant, it is still a heart-rending scene, as Evangeline and Mr. Brown are hiding romantic feelings for one another.
This amount of gloominess and sorrow makes this an unconventional children's tale, and it also makes it a very successful one. Emma Thompson is absolutely magnificent as Nanny McPhee, and I am once again justified in my assertion that the great woman can do no wrong. Angela Lansbury and Kelly MacDonald, as Aunt Adelaide and Evangeline, also deserve praise for their roles. Colin Firth is the only one in the cast who seemed a bit misplaced to me. He didn't seem to carry enough whimsical presence for the kind of film he was in, playing more "Captain Von Trapp" and not enough "Lemony Snicket-like" buoyancy.
The cinematography was inarguably one of the best things about this film. It's a general rule of thumb that comedies are to filmed with a lot of evenly layered light, while the dramas go for more shadows. This film took to the second rule, to great advantage. (Spoiler Alert!: You will also never see a more beautiful wedding scene in a movie.) This is one of those films that both kids and adults will appreciate for the varied themes, but teens would probably most definitely be bored. Overall, Nanny McPhee is a pleasantly-surprising family comedy with a great cast and a great story. And please, don't let the dancing horse routine completely put you off...
Grading:
Story = A-
Originality = B+
DVD Features = N/A
Acting = A-
Enjoyability = B+
Visuals = A
Overall = B+
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