“I did knock”
Though it’s been compared to Mary Poppins, Nanny McPhee is based on Christianna Brand’s Nurse Matilda books from the 1960s and is a wonderful family film from Emma Thompson.
It was decided to change the name of Nurse Matilda to Nanny McPhee since in Victorian England a nurse was a common description of a nanny. However, modernly that is not the case. It was also decided not to call her Matilda to try and stay away from Roald Dahl’s Matilda. So Nanny McPhee was born.
Widower Mr. Brown (Colin Firth) works as a makeup artist at a funeral home run by Mr. Jowls (Patrick Barlow) and Mr. Wheems (Derek Jacobi). Mr. Brown has seven children, Simon (Thomas Sangster), Tora (Eliza Bennett), Lily (Jennifer Rae Daykin), Eric (Raphael Coleman), Sebastian (Sam Honywood), Christianna (Holly Gibbs), and Baby Agatha (Hebbe and Zinnia Barnes). They are all very, very, very naughty.
The tale begins with them running off their latest nanny. Mr. Brown returns to the nanny agency only to have the door slammed in his face since they’re been through all the nannies available. A mysterious voice tells him through the letter slot “the person you need is Nanny McPhee.” One evening the children, mad about being sent to bed without dinner for running off the last nanny, decide to wreck Mrs. Blatherwick’s (Imelda Staunton) kitchen. Scullery maid Evangeline (Kelly Macdonald) looks on in horror and tells Mr. Brown something needs to be done. At that moment, a storm arises and the mysterious Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) appears at the door.
The Brown children are taught a lesson by Nanny McPhee
Nanny is truly an imposing sight with a nose as big as a potato, many warts, and a snaggletooth resembling a tombstone. Nanny uses her magical powers to set the little devils straight and joins the Brown household. However, things are not well in the Brown household when Mr. Brown finds out that his allowance from Aunt Adelaide (the legendary Angela Lansbury) is in danger of being cut off unless he marries again. Nanny then sets out to teach the children five lessons, the first of is to go to bed when they’re told, and with each lesson she begins to lose some of her ugliness. While Mr. Brown attempts to finds a wife, but courts the hideous Mrs. Quickly (Celia Imrie) out of desperation.
Nanny McPhee is a delight and a wonderful family film. Screenwriter/actress Emma Thompson is wonderful as the mysterious McPhee. Colin Firth is also in fine form, as usual, as Mr. Brown. However, my favorite has to be Angela Lansbury as the hawk-nosed, snooty Aunt Adelaide. The children also are wonderful. It has a delightful Victorian England setting and a great production design. I thought of it as Mary Poppins meets Beetlejuice (since the production colors of the Brown house interior reminded me of Beetlejuice). A word of warning for smaller children since Mr. Brown does work in a funeral parlor and we do see some dead bodies, nothing gory though.
Nanny McPhee is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. A fullscreen version is also available. Special features include 3 featurettes. The first is 11 minutes and entitled “Casting the Children.” It has interviews with director Kirk Jones, children’s casting director Pippa Hall, producer Lindsay Doran, actress/screenwriter Emma Thompson, children’s dialogue coach Lelia Bannerman, actor Raphael Coleman, actress Eliza Bennett, actor Thomas Sangster, actress Holly Gibbs, actor Holly Gibbs, actor Colin Firth, actress Angela Lansbury, actress Imelda Staunton, and actress Kelly Macdonald. Many of the people from this first featurette are featured in the others so I’ll only mention new participants.
The second is 4 minutes and entitled “Village Life” and is about the village built for the movie and features production designer Michael Howells. The third is 5 minutes and entitled “Nanny McPhee Makeover” and covers Thompson’s transformation into McPhee. It has contributions from hair/makeup designer Peter King and costume designer Nic Ede. Next are 7 deleted scenes (13 minutes total) that you can watch separately or use the play all function. They all have introductions by director Kirk Jones. Highlights include David Kelly’s cameo (who was in Jones’ Waking Ned Devine), a scene redone in the style of a silent movie, and a gag appearance by Colin Firth made up as Nanny McPhee.
Aunt Adelaide and Mr. Brown
There is also a 3 minute gag reel. Next is a 7 minute featurette entitled “How Nanny McPhee Came to Be” and appears to be a promotional piece for British television. It discusses the three Nurse Matilda* books, has Thompson reading her character’s description from the book and has biographical information on author Christianna Brand and illustrator Edward Ardizzone (who was Brand’s cousin). Finally there are two audio commentaries - one with director Kirk Jones and the children and one with producer Lindsay Doran and Emma Thompson.
Nanny McPhee was a wonderful movie and I highly recommend it for family viewing. I know that my family enjoyed it.
Nanny McPhee is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK . Visit the DVD’s database for more information.
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