In 2006, in her first screenplay since her Oscar win for Sense and Sensibility, Emma Thompson adapted and starred in Nanny McPhee, based on a series of childrens’ books from the 1960s. The film did great box office, possibly better than expected, spawning a sequel in 2010.
Like a stern Mary Poppins with a massive conk, warts and a tombstone-like tooth overhanging her lip (she’s described in the books as the ugliest person you’ve ever, ever seen), Nanny McPhee appears when families need her most. For Edwardian widower Colin Firth, that time comes after his seven naughty children have made every nanny run away in tears, so badly behaved are they. Doing as they please and with a bereaved father who adores them but simply can’t cope, the children find that the mysterious Nanny McPhee gives as good as she gets and her life lessons soon teach the children responsibility, civility and how to cope with the loss of their mother. As the children learn, Nanny McPhee becomes less ugly-looking until, when the family no longer need her, she’s gone.
Severely walloped again with the ugly stick, Nanny McPhee returns for a sequel, The Big Bang, set in WW2 rural England. This time she’s helping (bizarrely) Maggie Gyllenahaal and her kids who have a father away fighting in the war.
Written and gleefully performed by Thompson, both films display a delightfully knowing awareness of what kids like. It can be a difficult balance to get right – keeping children laughing whilst teaching them important stuff – but the films have just the right level of silliness, sentimentality, thrills and action to please youngsters and bigger kids too.
As is the law of diminishing returns, the sequel still did well at the box office but not as well. The same could be said of Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (or, if you’re American, simply Nanny McPhee Returns) itself, being the lesser of the two films, despite big names in the cast including Maggie Smith, Ralph Fiennes and Ewan McGregor.
While the Blu-ray transfers for both films are fabulous, the extras are nothing new, all of them having been lifted from previous home releases. But there’s fun to be had with shorts showing the creation of the first film’s village, the casting of the children, a short history of the books and their writer, plus a commentary from director Kirk Jones and the kids who clearly got on like a house on fire. Similar behind the scenes featurettes make up the sequel’s extras.
Great fun.
NANNY McPHEE & THE BIG BANG / CERT: U / DIRECTOR: KIRK JONES, SUSANNA WHITE / SCREENPLAY: EMMA THOMPSON, CHRISTIANNA BRAND / STARRING: EMMA THOMPSON, COLIN FIRTH, ANGELA LANSBURY, MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL, RALPH FIENNES / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
