March 30, 2010
Delicious, funny, sweet, moving - thoroughly recommended for moppets and their parents alike. Maggie Gyllenhaal is adorable as harassed mum Mrs Green, trying to cope with the family farm and her three boisterous children while her husband is away at war, meanwhile fending off her wicked brother-in-law (the splendidly hissable Rhys Ifans) who wants her to sell the farm so he can pay off his gambling debts and escape the attentions of two hilarious female heavies, Miss Topsy and Miss Turvy. She also has a day job cleaning up after sweetly dotty Maggie Smith as the local store-keeper Mrs Docherty, and is anticipating a visit from her brother's children, the frightfully posh Cyril and Celia. The ensuing mayhem can only be managed by super-Nanny McPhee, who brings a whole new meaning to President Roosevelt's dictum, Speak softly and carry a big stick. I won't reveal the details except to say that they are universally delightful; and as for the ending, even my hardened thirteen year old, who never cries in movies, was seen to twinkle away a tear. Definitely a must-see for those rainy afternoons of which we are promised many this hols.