|
|
  
Back Shelf Beauties
|
Nanny McPhee If you took your kid to see Hoodwinked, you owe it to the little angel to take him or her to see a GOOD family movie. Your child deserves to see a family movie that is amazing, charming, pure and wonderful without the neo hip attitude and gross out gags most rely on (and special thanks to New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick for coming up with the phrase, "neo hip attitude." I wish I could write like that). Your child deserves to see Nanny McPhee, and you do, too. It made me feel all giggly, googly happy to see a film that is this awesomely fantastic (See, that's not as cool as "neo hip attitude.") Based on the Nurse Matilda book series, Colin Firth stars as Cedric Brown - a flustered and saddened widower trying to raise seven children after his angelic wife passed away. Of course, they aren't the easiest to control. As we are told, and quickly come to believe, they are the seven naughtiest children on the face of the planet, and they have driven away 17 nannies with their antics. However, the Brown children are about to face a super nanny who isn't about to be intimidated by the brood. The nanny agency doesn't want to have anything to do with the Browns, but a mysterious, odd looking "government" nanny, Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) soon shows up at their door promising the children she will leave when they want her to stay, but no longer need her. Before you know it, a battle of wills and wits commences as the children try to drive Nanny McPhee away like the others, while she stands firm and tries to teach the children her 5 lessons. Will Nanny McPhee be able to shape up the Brown family? Nanny McPhee is a magical movie sure to touch the hearts and funny bones of most people who go to see it. Star and writer Emma Thompson has provided an amazing script that is smart and wholesome (what a charming change from the usual), and attractive to children and adults because it has universal appeal, instead of jokes for each group (kids and adults), which leave the other wondering, or makes the kids think these ideas are old fashioned. It has themes to relate to including Mom or Dad looking for a new spouse when the kids still love the one who is no longer in the picture, the frustrations parents feel when trying to control or discipline their children, the need for communication between parents and kids and more. For a fantasy movie, Nanny McPhee has some of the most realistic parent/child interaction you will ever see, with neither side being set up as the bad guy or the idiot who is completely wrong and doesn't get it. Best of all, the kids are kids, and the adults are adults. Then, Thompson goes on to wrap all of these serious issues inside a very funny story with vivid, memorable characters, and includes several sub-plots that never muddle the story, but enhance it and make us appreciate all of the characters in the film. Director Kirk Jones does a wonderful job getting great performances out of all of the children, and is smart enough to let Firth, Thompson, the legendary Angela Lansbury and up-and-comer Kelly Macdonald wow us with their heartfelt performances. With a script as good as Nanny McPhee's, we shouldn't be surprised to find some of the best actors in the business clamoring to be part of the film. Thompson is spectacular as the mysterious Nanny McPhee. She doesn't make the character into some second coming of Mary Poppins, even if the comparison is a natural one. Thompson's McPhee is a little devilish, makes us wonder about her origins, and shows a strict, but loving hand when teaching the children and guiding events to come out the way they are destined. In the ultimate complement to an actor and writer, Thompson makes the audience breathlessly wait to find out what she's going to do next, and delivers the goods in a way that entertains and surprises us. Best of all, her heavy makeup becomes secondary to the performance. Firth is wonderful as the flustered father facing monumental and possibly dire circumstances. He fills Cedric with an earnestness and purity that makes the audience feel for his predicament instead of writing him off as some sort of deadbeat, distant father, all naturally and effortlessly delivered by one of the best. Lansbury is perfectly cartoonish in her comic relief role as Aunt Adelaide, but also knows when to make the character darker as she emerges as a possible villain in the story, and Macdonald makes Evangeline into the kind of character we want to see bloom in Cinderella-like fashion. Some moments in the film could be a little frightening for the youngest of children, but nothing most kids can't handle. Nanny McPhee may be one of the best family films I have ever seen, and one of the best films of any genre this year, so I am worried the movie's marketing does not do it justice. Do you really need to see a dancing donkey to make the movie attractive enough to buy some tickets and bring the kids? 4 Waffle (Out Of 4) Copyright 2006 - WaffleMovies.com
|
