Nanny McPhee and The Big Bang: Movie Review

Nanny McPhee and The Big Bang: Movie Review

Rating: 5/10
Cast: Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Maggie Smith, Rhys Ifans, Ralph Fiennes
Director: Susanna White
School hols are well and truly here.
What with How To Train Your Dragon and now Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, it's clear there's a fight going on for the household cash - if the rain sets in over Easter.
Emma Thompson is back as the Nanny in this second world war set sequel which sees Maggie Gyllenhaal's Mrs Green on the verge of tearing her hair out - with her husband away at war and city dwelling cousins sent to live on the farm, plus with quarreling kids of her own, she's really got her work cut out.
However, enter McPhee - who turns up on their doorstep because the army sent her (she's a military Mary Poppins) and with a brief to pull the kids into line.
But that's not all the problems - Mrs Green's brother in law (Rhys Ifans, verging on a 1930s silent film villain) has gambled away his half of the farm - and is determined to do what he can to save his own neck from the debtors.
Look - what can I say about Nanny McPhee? It's clearly a family film aimed at the families who've got younger kids; jokes about poo from the farm, a belching bird and sibling squabbles do not a sophisticated day out make. Coupled with a slightly nostalgic way we all lived in the war, parts of this film may irritate you a little more than is necessary.
Throw in some cute animal moments and synchronized swimming pigs and you clearly have a recipe aimed at the younger end of the market. Not that there's anything wrong with that - coupled with Emma Thompson's very restrained and austere performance as the slightly nightmarish nanny, there's plenty to keep that audience relatively amused for the duration.
There's also some good one liners from the city dwelling Cyril (Eros Vlahos) who has a way with sardonic lines such as this about Nanny McPhee - "She has a face that could make us win the war hands down."
But, yet, there's a vein of tragedy running through this film which an adult will pick up - there's betrayal, war orphans being relocated, family love issues, an ongoing nod to the city's perception of the country folk (hint "we're in the land of poo" and "Oh covered in poo people" comments from the kid characters will tell you where that's angled) which are clearly aimed at the more perceptive end of the audience.
It's this odd mix though which doesn't quite hang together - while all of the main adult cast do proficiently in their roles, the child actors are in places a bit ropey (although they do have their moments) and the whole thing isn't exactly enthralling in the way other kids movies can be.

In conclusion (and to reiterate), Nanny McPhee and The Big Bang will be loved by the younger end of the audience; older kids and adults may find it somewhat of a harder sell to sit through as there's not enough to keep them engaged throughout.