Nanny McPhee Returns [Blu-ray]

Susanna White

Overview

A struggling mother receives some much-needed assistance tending to the family farm and raising a group of spirited children while her military husband is fighting overseas in this sequel to the whimsical 2005 fantasy comedy Nanny McPhee. Mrs. Isabel Green (Maggie Gyllenhaal) lives in a scenic valley with her two sons and one daughter. They each understand the importance of working together as a family, and things are going remarkably smoothly for the rural quartet until a pair of spoiled cousins arrives for an extended stay, effectively turning the quaint little farm into a virtual zoo. As the situation quickly gets out of hand, Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) suddenly appears on Isabel's doorstep claiming that she can bring a much-needed sense of order to the out-of-control household. In time the mysterious helper does just that, using powerful magic to teach her young charges the importance of getting along, and gradually winning their trust in the process. But when the piglets escape from their sty, the contentious kids must work together to recover the family farm's most valued assets, or risk losing everything their father worked so hard to build before he went off to fight in the war. Rhys Ifans and Maggie Smith co-star.

Product Details

Release Date:	12/14/2010
UPC:	0025192088070
Original Release:	2010
Rating:	PG
Source:	UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound]
Language:	English
Time:	1:49:00

Special Features

Deleted scenes; Featurettes; A look inside; Feature commentary with director Susanna White

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Emma Thompson	Nanny McPhee
Asa Butterfield	Norman Green
Ralph Fiennes	Lord Gray
Maggie Gyllenhaal	Isabel Green
Maggie Smith	Agatha Rose Doherty
Rhys Ifans	Phil Green
Daniel Mays	Blenkinsop
Ewan McGregor	Rory Green
Rosie Taylor-Ritson	Celia Gray
Eros Vlahos	Cyril Gray
Oscar Steer	Vincent Green
Lil Woods	Megsie Green
Katy Brand	Miss Turvey
Sinead Matthews	Miss Topsey
Ed Stoppard	Lieutenant Addis
Toby Sedgwick	Enemy Pilot
Nonso Anozie	Sergeant Jeffreys
Bill Bailey	Mr. Dochtery
James Newton Howard	Composer

Technical Credits

Emma Thompson

Tim Bevan	Producer
Eric Fellner	Producer
Lindsay Doran	Producer
Emma Thompson	Executive Producer,Screenwriter
Debra Hayward	Executive Producer
Liza Chasin	Executive Producer

Editorial Reviews

Mary Poppins? In the Brown household, it's more like Hellzapoppin as charmingly flustered widower Mr. Brown (Colin Firth) struggles to control his seven "extremely ill behaved" children. They do not go to bed when they're told. They do not get up when they're told. They do not get dressed when they're told. They say neither "please" nor "thank you." Seventeen nannies have come and gone. But No. 18 -- Nanny McPhee -- is not so easily cowed. Emma Thompson -- who earned an Oscar for adapting Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility (1995) -- again performs double duty here as star and screenwriter, adapting Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda books with wit and care into a richly satisfying family film. As Nanny McPhee, Thompson makes an unsettling first impression, masking her beauty behind warts, a bulbous nose, a protruding snaggletooth, and a dour mono-brow. She also has a confounding habit of suddenly materializing out of nowhere ("I did knock," she quietly insists). No spoonfuls of sugar for her. She has a walking stick that dispenses some macabre (and later, wondrous) magic whenever she taps it on the ground. With each improvement in the children's behavior, Nanny McPhee's various blemishes disappear. "When you need me but do not want me, then I will stay," she informs her charges. "When you want me but do not need me, then I have to go." Boy, do they need her; not only to become better-behaved children but to foil the nasty Mrs. Quickly, whom Mr. Brown rather reluctantly prepares to marry to ensure that formidable Aunt Adelaide (Angela Lansbury) will continue to financially support the family. Little does Mr. Brown know of his sweet scullery maid Evangeline's (Kelly Macdonald) unrequited love for him, and surely it will "snow in August," the downcast young woman states, before such a fairy-tale romance will come true. Nanny McPhee is not as transcendently supercalifragilisticexpialidocious as Mary Poppins, yet parents seeking a film that can work its considerable magic on the entire household.