Nanny McPhee
It is difficult to write a fairy tale that can exist in modern times but retain its folksy, timeless quality. How many deep woods have you let your 5 year old child traverse to bring her grandmother bread at her incredibly isolated cottage? Nanny McPhee is based on the decades-old Nurse Matilda books by Christianna Brand, and manages to capture the delicate old-fashioned flavor of a Grimm fairy tale while being completely accessible to a modern audience. Screenwriter Emma Thompson makes some changes to drive a plot of imninent disaster for the family in the story.
With only a few token insulting nods to the children of today (think an anthropomorphized mule with eyelashes), Nanny McPhee cuts straight to the chase of what is important to the story, and does so with the multiple layers necessary to make a fairy tale relevant and meaningful. Screenwriter Emma Thompson is the titular nanny, but she steps aside to let widowed dad Colin Firth and his comically disagreeable brood of 7 children maintain the heart of the film. These children are so terrible, so bad, and thus far there have been no consequences of their actions except an increasingly distant and frazzled father.
Angela Lansbury plays the formidable Aunt Adelaide, with a beaky schnoz and hilarious costuming that belies her vital role in the tale. Celia Imrie (you recognize her from Bridget Jones Diary, most likely) gets to out-flounce even Ms. Lansbury. The cast of notables is enormous, and it’s evident it’s all good fun to these old companions. Finally there is Kelly Macdonald, the sweet scullery maid whose sweet heart saves the family in more ways than one. Thompson herself is made up like Virginia Woolfe meets Quasimodo, but her brilliance sparkles through her scary face.
The lessons of Nanny McPhee are simple ones that many modern children would do well to emulate - but the greater lesson is knowing the reason why we do these things. She changes as well as the story progresses, but the film doesn’t offend its adult audiences by shoveling it down our throats.
The characters, performance, and story are fantastical, but grounded in the hard realities of the old-fashioned folk tales we all know. Director Kirk Jones presents them in an eccentrically decorated house, with larger-than-life subordinate characters (Imelda Staunton hamming it up as Cook is a delight), but we never doubt the emotions or the peril of this family. It’s a fine line to tread, and Thompson and Jones do it admirably. Jones previously brought us the delightful tale Waking Ned Devine; he has a gift for the twee which serves this material well.
I found myself tearing up right on cue, (Patrick Doyle knows all my buttons) but sincerely, enjoying the magical tale as much as if I were a small child. Children’s movies, especially those that aspire to be “magical” or “wondrous” must juggle more than you think to keep your adult attention. And to Nanny McPhee, attention must be paid.
MPAA Rating PG
Release date 1/27/06
Time in minutes 98
Director Kirk Jones
Studio Universal Pictures
