Nanny McPhee 2

Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (U), 2010

Pigs Can Fly!!

“Five out of 10 – it was too cheesy “said my 10 year old daughter. Only five people saw this disjointed and totally contrived sequel to the rather good, first Nanny McPhee, but they would probably agree. Sequels are rarely a good idea and this is no exception.
The plot, such as it is, centres on Mrs Green (Maggie Gyllenhaal) whose delicately balanced life managing three young children, a full time job in the local grocery shop and a farm (her husband –a brief cameo from Ewan McGregor - is away at war) is tipped into chaos and confusion by the arrival of her sister’s two, spoilt, children, down from London to avoid the bombs. Enter Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) uninvited but entirely welcome, to bring order to the household with her simple philosophy of discipline, kindness and of course, magic.
At one level, the movie entertains with its visually-pleasing combinations of acrobatic and synchronised- swimming piglets, house-trained baby elephants and motorbikes which take mysteriously to the skies. However, less successful, are the unexploded bombs, (constantly) burping crows and bumbling uncle forever scheming to raise money.
The characters fail to develop or solicit empathy of any sort from the children themselves - different from the original film - to Nanny McPhee whose role is sadly reduced to little more than banging her magic stick and occasionally raising an eyebrow a la Roger Moore. The acting is, nevertheless, partly redeemed by a trio of cameos; Maggie Smith as the forgetful and confused Mrs Doherty, either buried in flour or pouring treacle into wooden draws; piglet purchaser, Bill Bailey as the somewhat eccentric Farmer MacReadie; and lastly, an outstanding Ralph Fiennes as Lord Gray, Army Chief of Staff, struggling to keep his emotions in check as his young son appeals to his father’s hitherto absent, humanity.
Successful, family films tend to fall into two broad categories; warm, tender but well constructed, feel-good movies like Racing Stripes and Beethoven or, imaginative, intelligent tales that manage to work on two levels; a storyline for children and a social commentary for adults like Toy Story (1 and 2) and Finding Nemo . Nanny McPhee ended up in neither and it shows.

Verdict
Critical acclaim has been positive from the News of the World to the Independent but this critic would beg to differ; the storyline is thin – an inauspicious debut from writer, Emma Thompson - , the characterisation under-developed and the acting, for the most part, modest at best. Under-7s will enjoy but for adults, the pigs just don’t fly. 4/10.

Dick Morgan,
March 2010