That's what Mr. Cedric Brown (Colin Firth), the widower father of seven children who'd take the team Olympic Gold for mischief-making does. Working at a funeral parlor with two silly assistants, Mr. Jowl and Mr.Wheen (Derek Jacobi), he relies on nannies to look after his offspring, but his childrens' antics are all to drive away the nannies; in the case of Nanny Weston, they make as if they were eating the youngest, an infant.Mcphee (Emma Thompson) arrives at the Brown resident one stormy night, and her profile silhouetted outside the door reminds me of the shudder one thinks when Alfred Hitchcock's profile is shown on his show. If the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz and Mary Poppins were thrown together, one would get Nanny McPhee. She's clearly no beauty, as she has two warts on her face, a swollen nose, and a tooth that hangs over her lower lip. She also carries a crooked staff which she taps on the floor in order to conjure magic.
She wastes no time in getting the kids well-behaved, especially in a scene where the children have invaded the kitchen in defiance of their father punishing them. Her way is akin to forcing a PS2 junkie to keep playing games until he either gets bleeding controller blisters or his eyes pop out of his skull. Result, he'll have had enough.
Brown is gratified that her only conditions are that she teach his rambunctious kids five lessons and that she requires Sunday afternoons off. The lessons include saying please and thank you, going to bed on time, getting up on time, and doing what they're told. And mysteriously, when one of the lessons are learned, her warts disappear until...
Brown though is quite ineffectual in enforcing discipline in the household, as he is wishy-washy and too busy at his job. It's clear that the death of his wife, whom he still talks to via the empty chair she used to sit in, is still affecting him. His oldest, Simon says that he doesn't care about or spend time with them like he did when their mother was alive. But he is living off an allowance from his forbidding Aunt Adelaide, and if he doesn't marry by the end of the month, she'll cut him off. The children will be sent to foster homes or put to work in the workhouses. He's desperate enough to choose Selma Quickly, a disreputable and loudmouthed woman whose taste in colours are a garish dayglo fuschia and green, as a prospective new wife. Why not Evangeline, the scullery maid who's learning to read and is concerned about the children?
Three performers from Love Actually are reunited. They are Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, and Thomas Sangster, who played Liam Neeson's son. Thompson provides the film's sole center of stability and rationality, a soothing contrast to the stiff eccentricity of Angela Lansbury's Aunt Adelaide, and Celia Imry's vulgar Quickly.
McPhee's five lessons are values that seem to have been lost on the kids of today's era. In fact, they seem to have more in common with the wild jungle mentality the Brown children have in the beginning. She tells her charges: "When you need me, but do not want me, then I will stay. When you want me, but do not need me, then I have to go." Nanny McPhee effectively joins the ranks of Mary Poppins and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in instilling good manners and values in children.
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Emma Thompson shines in her wonderful adaptation. Colin Firth, of course, plays the same British befundled love-sick hero he is in every film and Angela Lansbury should NEVER retire. I loved everything about this film from story, costumes, and casting. If you're looking for a fun enjoyable film you can take the whole family to--look no further. Nanny McPhee has just the magic stick for you!Want Nanny McPhee (2006) Discount?
Colin Firth plays Cedric Brown, the father of seven boisterous and slightly out of control children whose sole mission in life is to get rid of the endless string of nannies that their father tries to bring in to train them. After the recent death of their mother, the children--led by the clever and devious Simon, are sure that their father will remarry an evil stepmother who will treat them badly and further alienate them from the sole parent they have left. In order to avoid this occurrence, and entertain themselves in the process, they think up any number of methods to terrorize each person who comes in to try to bring order to their wayward lives. After the resignation of the 17th nanny, the agency that Mr. Brown uses "Nannies of Distinction" refuses to send him another. A whisper in the air tells Mr. Brown "what you need is Nanny McPhee." Fortunately for Mr. Brown, nothing could be closer to the truth.Nanny McPhee brings a bit of magic along with a lot of order when she appears in the Brown household. Her mission is simple: teach the children five lessons and ensure that she is no longer needed. She tells Simon, "When you need me but do not want me, then I must stay. When you want me and no longer need me, then I have to go." She teaches the children to say please and thank you, to go to bed, wake up, and get dressed when their told, to listen, and to love.
A bit of a fairy tale, the magic interspersed throughout Nanny McPhee made it charming and cute. It's not a new tale to have boisterous children in need of control brought to heel by a firm nanny, but the magical elements and transformation of Nanny McPhee from a witchlike hag to a beautiful governess add an unexpected twist. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and would recommend it to parents, children, or anyone in the mood for a bit of fantasy.
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