Nanny McPhee arrives to help a harried young mother who is trying to run the family farm while her husband is away at war, though she uses her magic to teach the woman's children and their two spoiled cousins five new lessons.
Director:
Susanna White
Stars:
Emma Thompson,
Maggie Gyllenhaal,
Ralph Fiennes
Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother, twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, along with their sister Mallory, find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures.
Director:
Mark Waters
Stars:
Freddie Highmore,
Sarah Bolger,
David Strathairn
Wilbur the pig is scared of the end of the season, because he knows that come that time, he will end up on the dinner table. He hatches a plan with Charlotte, a spider that lives in his pen, to ensure that this will never happen.
Director:
Gary Winick
Stars:
Dakota Fanning,
Julia Roberts,
Oprah Winfrey
Story of a wonderful little girl, who happens to be a genius, and her wonderful teacher vs. the worst parents ever and the worst school principal imaginable.
Two young brothers are drawn into an intergalactic adventure when their house is hurled through the depths of space by the magical board game they are playing.
A teenage girl discovers her father has an amazing talent to bring characters out of their books and must try to stop a freed villain from destroying them all, with the help of her father, her aunt, and a storybook's hero.
When a massive fire kills their parents, three children are delivered to the custody of cousin and stage actor Count Olaf, who is secretly plotting to steal their parents' vast fortune.
In a parallel universe, young Lyra Belacqua journeys to the far North to save her best friend and other kidnapped children from terrible experiments by a mysterious organization.
Director:
Chris Weitz
Stars:
Nicole Kidman,
Daniel Craig,
Dakota Blue Richards
The Darling family children receive a visit from Peter Pan, who takes them to Never Never Land where an ongoing war with the evil Pirate Captain Hook is taking place.
Director:
P.J. Hogan
Stars:
Jeremy Sumpter,
Jason Isaacs,
Olivia Williams
Mr. Cedric Brown has just lost his wife and is now left with his seven children who misbehave so much that all the nannies have run away. Now he is told by a mysterious voice that he should get Nanny McPhee who is a magical woman with special powers.Written by
Daniel Cudley
Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Adam Godley appeared together in 'Love Actually' (2003). See more »
Goofs
When Mrs. Blatherwick sits in the rocking chair in the kitchen, before the "mouse" races across the floor, in the first shot her left hand lies on her belly, with her right hand over her left, patting it gleefully. When it cuts to a close-up, her hands are in the opposite position. See more »
This definitely has to be one of the best films of the year and is something that can be enjoyed by the whole family, from the wee tot to grandparents. Based upon the 'Nurse Matilda' books by Christianna Brand, the film revolves around seven motherless children who have frightened off seventeen nannies much to their over-wrought father's dismay. The children are unruly and their father has his own stresses of desperately searching for a wife before his mean-spirited great aunt cuts off his allowance and everything is falling apart at the seams...until Nanny McPhee enters the house to sort things out. Think of 'Mary Poppins' if Roald Dahl had written the character and you have an idea of what happens next!
The best thing about this film is that while it will appeal to children, it doesn't dumb down or indulge in cavity-inducing sweetness that you tend to see in films produced by Hollywood. There is much humour and fun to be had but there is also a darker tone, what with children being threatened with the Work House and their father speaking to corpses!
The actors are all excellent. Colin Firth was perfect as this dithering man who may be meek but will do anything for his children and Emma Thompson is totally unrecognisable as the lead character of Nanny McPhee (she also deserves much recognition her skills in script-writing this film). But it's Angela Lansbury, as snooty Great Aunt Adelaide, who steals the show with the way she spends much of the film with such a sour face that could curdle the milk! The children also deserve much praise, especially when you consider most of them are not only very young but had never acted before. I certainly hope to see more of young Raphael Coleman, who played the middle son Eric, in future films as he totally threw himself into his character and was the most engaging of the children.
I'd highly recommend this to people who enjoyed 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' (both old and new versions) and 'Matilda'. I doubt many will be disappointed with this film!
72 of 79 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
This definitely has to be one of the best films of the year and is something that can be enjoyed by the whole family, from the wee tot to grandparents. Based upon the 'Nurse Matilda' books by Christianna Brand, the film revolves around seven motherless children who have frightened off seventeen nannies much to their over-wrought father's dismay. The children are unruly and their father has his own stresses of desperately searching for a wife before his mean-spirited great aunt cuts off his allowance and everything is falling apart at the seams...until Nanny McPhee enters the house to sort things out. Think of 'Mary Poppins' if Roald Dahl had written the character and you have an idea of what happens next!
The best thing about this film is that while it will appeal to children, it doesn't dumb down or indulge in cavity-inducing sweetness that you tend to see in films produced by Hollywood. There is much humour and fun to be had but there is also a darker tone, what with children being threatened with the Work House and their father speaking to corpses!
The actors are all excellent. Colin Firth was perfect as this dithering man who may be meek but will do anything for his children and Emma Thompson is totally unrecognisable as the lead character of Nanny McPhee (she also deserves much recognition her skills in script-writing this film). But it's Angela Lansbury, as snooty Great Aunt Adelaide, who steals the show with the way she spends much of the film with such a sour face that could curdle the milk! The children also deserve much praise, especially when you consider most of them are not only very young but had never acted before. I certainly hope to see more of young Raphael Coleman, who played the middle son Eric, in future films as he totally threw himself into his character and was the most engaging of the children.
I'd highly recommend this to people who enjoyed 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' (both old and new versions) and 'Matilda'. I doubt many will be disappointed with this film!