Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang Review
Monday, April 5, 2010
, Posted by Should I See It at 6:19 PM
Film: Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang
Director: Susanna White
Starring: Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rhys Ifans, Maggie Smith, and Ralph Fiennes.
Plot: Nanny McPhee returns to the screen, this time helping a harried mother, Mrs Green, whose husband is away fighting in the war. Nanny McPhee uses her magic to teach Ms Green's three children and their two cousins visiting from the city five very important lessons.
Sheeeeeeeeeee's BA-ACK.
Yes, the world’s fourth favourite nanny, (behind Mary Poppins, Fraulein Maria and Super Nanny’s Jo Frost), is back again to transform terrible children into angels!
Well, not that all of the children in Nanny McPhee are really terrible. The Green children aren’t all that bad, really. They saved their sugar coupons to make their father some jam for when he comes home from the war. In my opinion, the Green children (Norman, Megsie and Vincent) are unfairly punished by Nanny McPhee. It’s the city duo, Celia and Cyril that need ‘whipping into shape.’ Anybody who turned down their nose at my house, made fun of me, and ruined my father’s special jam all within the first five minutes of meeting, would not be welcome. There really is no wonder that the Green children don’t like their cousins. If they weren’t so funny in their snobbishness, the audience wouldn’t like them either.
Performance wise, the kids are actually very good: Eros Vlahos and Rosie Taylor Ritson as city cousins Cyril and Celia fare best, particularly Vlahos who mastered the spoilt brat swagger. Oscar Steer as Mrs. Green's youngest son Vincent is simply too cute! Asa Butterfield (from The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas) is probably the weakest, but even he has his moments.
By the calibre of the guest actors, you know that Emma Thompson is a pretty influential name (or she has really good friends). Ralph Fiennes and Ewan McGregor make cameos as the children’s fathers and Maggie Smith and Rhys Ifans round out the adult cast. Maggie Smith in particular is charming as the slightly dotty Mrs Docherty (who is in some way connected to Nanny McPhee, but I won’t spoil that for you here).
But it's Maggie Gyllenhaal who disappoints. Unfortunately she must have caught a major case of the overacting bug. I know Nanny McPhee isn't exactly an exercise in subtlety, but Gyllenhaal's performance is so over the top that it detracts from the film.
I also enjoyed the period detail of the film. In particular, Vincent and Cyril’s trip to the War Office in London was particularly well done. It was interesting to see the film makers approach their presentations of the war office from a child’s perspective.
For the most part Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang is fairly entertaining, but the script is incredibly uneven. There are some genuinely funny lines, and it includes one of the best speeches about poo that has ever been written, but when it comes to pigs that not only fly but do synchronised swimming, and an unfortunate sub plot about kidney removal, you know that the ideas were running a little thin.
The homage to Mary Poppins is perhaps more obviously this time around than in the first.
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang has its charms, but they aren't quite as sweet the second time around.
If only all parents could have Nanny McPhee’s special powers then the world would be a much better place!
Should I See It?
Only if you have kids to take to see it.
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang Official Site here.
