DVD available at Amazon.com
Director:
Kirk Jones
Cast:
Emma Thompson……….Nanny McPhee
Colin Firth……….Cedric Brown
Kelly Macdonald……….Evangeline
Celia Imrie……….Selma Quickly
Derek Jacobi……….Mr. Wheen
Patrick Barlow……….Mr. Jowls
Imelda Staunton……….Mrs. Blatherwick
Thomas Sangster……….Simon Brown
Angela Lansbury……….Aunt Adelaide
Universal Pictures presents Nanny McPhee. Written by Emma Thompson. Based on the Nurse Matilda books by Christianna Brand. Running time: 97 minutes. Rated PG (for mild thematic elements, some rude humor and brief language). Available on DVD: May 9, 2006.
The movie:
Nanny McPhee is not your ordinary nanny. She doesn’t sing playful melodies like “Chim Chim Cheree” or “Jolly Holiday”. She isn’t some guy who pretends to be the nanny to his children while wearing women’s clothing (ahem, Mrs. Doubtfire). No, Nanny McPhee has neither of these traits. What she does have, though, is two warts on her face, an elongated tooth protruding from her mouth, and a magical walking stick. Make no mistake. Nanny McPhee is not a witch. If she was, well, she tends to lean towards the side of good instead of evil.
Don’t go trying to find a nanny like Ms. McPhee (Emma Thompson); she isn’t an easy woman to get a hold of. You can’t find her name in any phone book, and she is not affiliated with any nanny agency. McPhee only makes an appearance when times are at their most dreadful. Fortunately for Cedric Brown (Colin Firth), her assistance is needed in a big way.
Cedric is a single parent, and a widower, who is trying to raise seven children. When he’s away at his job in a funeral parlor, he must rely on the assistance of a cook, a maid, and a nanny. Sounds fair enough: three able-bodied adults versus seven children. Never underestimate the mischievousness of little buggers.
In this fantasy, the story does not begin with “Once upon a time in a land far, far, away…” Instead, the current nanny runs out of the front door – screaming hysterically – towards the funeral parlor to tell Mr. Brown that she is quitting. But before doing so, she says the children are eating the youngest child. Come to find out, it was just chicken. Mmmmm mmmmmm good. Nothing like chewing on a leg or a breast.
Nanny-less, Mr. Brown is in a bit of a predicament. His latest nanny’s resignation makes it the seventeenth nanny the kids have driven away from the residence. Seventeen! Just how bad are these kids? Well, the nanny agency closes shop every time Mr. Brown knocks on door. Yeah, that’s not good. If you can imagine Macaulay Culkin’s Home Alone theatrics and multiply it by a hundred you’ll begin to realize there’s nothing these malcontent brats won’t do.
The pill to cure this ill mysteriously arrives on the Brown’s doorstep one night and goes straight to work. Nanny McPhee doesn’t sing whimsical limericks to get the children in line. Instead, she teaches five rules to help them become better persons. Part of the process involves making the children take “measles medicine”, which is some black goo that moves about in her spoon.
If seven kids weren’t enough to keep her busy, Nanny McPhee must contend with Mr. Brown’s tiresome aunt, Aunt Adelaide (Angela Lansbury), and her attempts at taking the children away from their father. There’s also a storyline involving Cedric having to get married so that he and his little mischief-makers can afford to live together – via a stipend provided by their aunt.
Emma Thompson pulls double duty as the nanny and as the movie’s screenwriter. If anyone can dispute her credibility as a writer, all he has to do is look at her Oscar statuette for Sense and Sensibility. Adapting the children’s novels by Christianna Brand could’ve been tough. Still, if you can handle Jane Austen a children’s book is small potatoes.
As her alter ego Nanny McPhee, Thompson is no stranger when it comes to cleaning up other people’s messes. In Primary Colors, several years back, she played the wife of a Southern governor running for president, and had to deal with husband’s “dirty deeds”. Thankfully, the deeds are not nearly that dirty in Nanny McPhee. Though, there is a brief moment where Aunt Adelaide expresses disapproval in her nephew’s choice for a wife by saying “Incest!” But it’s just the maid; played by the ever-so-lovely Kelly Macdonald. Don’t worry, kids watching will have no idea what the word incest means. Maybe that’s what the MPAA board means “Rated PG for some rude humor”.
Nanny McPhee, while strictly formulaic – rehashing many of the nanny family comedies that have preceded it – is sure to appease the children who enjoy humor filled with Dr. Seuss extravagances and pie-in-the-face sight gags. Adults, who tire quickly of Spongebob Squarepants, are sure to enjoy the fantasy, but more importantly the moral of the story: Valuable lessons learned will make you wise beyond your means.
Score: 5/10
The DVD:
THE VIDEO
(Presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic widescreen)
Stunning. Absolutely. Stunning. Having seen Nanny McPhee in theaters, I can attest that the video transfer may be even better. Like any fantasy, loud colors and extravagant set pieces are to be expected. Director Kirk Jones, his production designer Michael Howells, and his cinematographer Henry Braham all deserve to be congratulated for their attentions to detail; especially the illumination throughout the Brown house. Each room is like its own little world, filled with blues and oranges and greens and pinks.
Score: 9/10
THE AUDIO
(English, Spanish, and French Dolby Digital 5.1)
Including the two commentary tracks (more on that later) there are a total of five audio options in which to listen to. It could be overkill, but don’t tell an audiophile that. As for the surround sound, the 5.1 track does the trick. With plenty of “eewws”, pie splats and other zany effects, the kids will be as pleased as punch hearing sounds from all directions.
Score: 8/10
SPECIAL FEATURES: Two commentaries and EPK featurettes!!!
The DVD comes enclosed in a keep case package. On the inside is an insert advertising NBC’s My Name is Earl. Flipping it over, you can order some Frontline flea and tick control. Not sure why the DVD has an insert to begin with, let alone one that advertises Earl and flea prevention, but it’s there for you to gawk at.
The back cover claims to have “bewitching special features”. I wouldn’t go that far. There are some amusing odds and ends, however. Despite the disc sporting two commentary tracks, you wouldn’t know it by reading the back of the DVD. Perhaps it is for the best. Because since the target audience is kids, chances are good that they won’t even listen to the tracks.
Both commentaries don’t offer much in terms of background information. Mostly, they are reactions from those involved. For the track, director Kirk Jones is joined by some of the Brown children. He is the heavy in the conversation, but the kids put in their two cents worth from time to time. And like most kids who watch movies, sometimes they have to go to the bathroom. The same happens as this track is being recorded. Kids come and go to the lavatory.
The second commentary has producer Lindsay Doran and actress Emma Thompson. I thought they would offer more insight considering it is the producer and screenwriter sitting down together. While Doran points out the advantage of having built the house and all of the structures for the town, she does not go into great deal. We are supposed to just take what she says at face value. Yes, it is nice to be able to shoot from inside and outside the house with relative ease. Care to elaborate?
Moving on to the rest of the disc, there’s a short gag reel and seven deleted scenes. Each deleted scene comes with a short introduction by Jones, and he explains why it was ultimately left in the cutting room. A little less than 13 minutes in length (including the intros), the deleted scenes were trimmed because they could either be misconstrued by little kids or shifted the focus of the Brown family to another supporting character.
The next three featurettes were produced in part by Universal Pictures and are strictly filler material. Casting the Children (11:39) includes footage of the casting sessions and other behind-the-scenes material. Sound bites by Jones, Thompson, the acting coach and some of the children reveal how the Brown children were like a team, comprised of a leader (Simon), the brains/scientist (Eric), a hungry little person (Sebastian), et cetera. Also, not all of the child actors were professionally trained. Only two were.
Village Life (3:51) and Nanny McPhee Makeover (5:38) explore the set design and makeup required to create the Nanny McPhee character. All the houses and town square seen in Nanny McPhee were built from scratch. Michael Howells and his crew built everything on a three-acre lot. So, I guess this feature could have been called “Extreme Fantasy House Makeover”.
Another makeover, which is also extreme, is seeing how physically different and scary Emma Thompson can be with two warts, a nose the size of a potato and a Unibrow. Surprisingly, the process takes only an hour to complete.
The last featurette, How Nanny McPhee Came to Be, is the most rewarding extra in the lot (probably because it was produced in the United Kingdom), as it covers the inspiration for Nanny McPhee: The Nurse Matilda books by Christianna Brand. Some of the situations that appear in the book also appear in the movie – the measles scene as well as Aunt Adelaide taking one of the Brown children. But there were differences. The stories have far too many Brown children to be named, thus the movie whittled the number down to seven. Also, Mr. Brown is married in the books; in the movie he’s a widowed father.
The feature even goes as far as to tell the viewer a little bit about Christianna Brand, and how her Great Grandfather in the 1800s originated the stories of Nurse Matilda. And from generation to generation they passed, finally imparted to Christianna.
Score: 5.5/10
| InsidePulse’s Ratings for Nanny McPhee | |
