Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Widower Cedric Brown hires Nanny McPhee to care for his seven rambunctious children, who have chased away all previous nannies. Taunted by Simon and his siblings, Nanny McPhee uses mystical powers to instill discipline. And when the children's great-aunt and benefactor, Lady Adelaide Stitch, threatens to separate the kids, the family pulls together under the guidance of Nanny McPhee.
Nanny McPhee is a warmly crafted family fantasy with solid performances, particularly from Emma Thompson who wrote the screenplay and stars as the titular character. The plot follows a fairly predictable arc of unruly children being tamed by a magical figure, drawing obvious comparisons to Mary Poppins without achieving the same iconic status. The cinematography is competent and pleasantly storybook in its aesthetic but unremarkable. The ending wraps up neatly but feels rushed and overly convenient, with the family's crisis resolved without much dramatic tension. As a family film it delivers its modest ambitions effectively, but it remains a fairly formulaic entry in the magical-nanny subgenre without a truly distinctive voice.