This new post is a film review of Nanny ~McPhee and the big bang, the ideal film to share as a family....
When a mother is struggling to look after her three children and the family farm while her husband is away she starts to hear the name Nanny McPhee. When her niece and nephew arrive the house descends further into chaos and an arrival on the door step shocks her. Nanny McPhee has turned up to look after the children, claiming she is a military nanny who has been sent to help.
The mother is sceptical as she believes she does not need help by Nanny McPhee takes no notice and sets about teaching all 5 children 5 lessons. Can Nanny McPhee really straighten these children out and in the process save the farm from the brother in law who is trying to sell it?
I really did enjoy the first Nanny McPhee film and was really looking forward to seeing how this one would work as the ending of the first film seemed quite final to me. I did enjoy the story and thought it worked very well, I also found the setting and the fact it was based during war time helped to give the story some depth. There were a few issues I had with the story ad some of the effects were not overly great but all in all both me and hubby enjoyed the film.
The acting from all was very good and the lead role of McPhee was played by Emma Thompson. At the start of the film she was pretty scary and looked horrid but it was good as the children seemed scared of her and what she was capable of. She was not nasty in any way but she ruled with a good solid strictness and liked to see results. She had a very powerful on screen presence which I enjoyed a lot. She managed to deliver all of her lines with ease and I loved how she gave a small amount of humour with her relationship with the bird. There was a good connection with her and the children and I loved seeing how they reacted to her and how their feelings changed as the story moved on. The children actors was good, one was a lot stronger than all the other though. Norman, played by Vincent Green was by far the best out of the bunch and he acted superbly and gave a good solid performance. I loved how he took to the role of being head of the house due to the lack of his father being there. He took charge of his brother and sister and really showed how much he cared for them all. There were a good mix of character with the children and I have to admit that I was not overly keen on the stuck up cousins.
There was one role which I did not enjoy, that was brother in law Phil, he came across as smarmy and only thought about his own needs, he really took the role to a daft place which seemed out of keeping with the whole story. He never showed emotions or feelings and I think he played it too much towards a comedy role where as if he played it slightly straighter I would have been able to relate to him more. We did have some other good smaller roles in the film which included appearances from, Bill Bailey, Ewan McGregor and Maggie Smith.
The setting for the film was on a run down farm and I loved seeing how the children handled working there without all the latest mod cons and technology. The fact this was set during the war was another good point as we got to see how life was for the children of this time and just how hard they had to work. I liked all of the costumes and found they all fitted very well into the film and for me they showed how different life was back then. I did like the few scenes we had of the countryside and it was lovely to see some unspoilt areas of land instead of the fast paced built up area we have today.
There were some special effects in the film and the majority of them were very good, I did have a few problems with the scenes when the boys and McPhee were on her motorbike as we could clearly see the back drops had been added at a later date but for the younger audience then this will go unnoticed and will not spoil their viewing experience. The effects used towards the end of the film were good but for me it was just a little to far fetched and seemed to take the film away from the original story and I found they slightly pointless.
We do have so comedy in the film and the majority of it is very good and suitable for the target audience. As I previously said I did not the comedy which the brother in law tried to bring to the film as it was very daft and not in keeping with the film for me. The majority of jokes are visual and at the start of the film involve a lot of poo but we do get some good few spoken ones which all ages will be able to understand and enjoy.
I am reviewing the film only so there are no bonus features to speak about. The running time of the film is 109 minutes and I found this to be a great length with the story moving at a good pace from start to finish. The rate is a U and I do agree with this and think it would make a brilliant film for the whole family to sit and share together. The DVD can be bought for around £5 now and I do think this is a good price.
I am happy to give this film 4 stars. I have dropped one due to the few small area which I did not enjoy or think worked which I have mentioned above. This is a great film for the whole family to share together and one everyone will enjoy.
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