For her raucous children's fantasy, Nanny McPhee, Emma Thompson did more than read Christianna Brand's popular Nurse Matilda books.
Thompson scrutinized such Julie Andrews films as Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music.
Like Mary Poppins, Nanny McPhee is a magical nanny, but she's no sweet beauty. Nanny McPhee looks like one of the witches from The Wizard of Oz.
The truth is, Nanny McPhee's scary looks reflect the demeanour of the children she's come to tame. The more unruly the children, the more hideous Nanny McPhee looks.
Nanny looks so hideous this time because the seven Brown children are true monsters.
They make the children in such American movies as Yours, Mine and Ours or Cheaper by the Dozen look like angels.
Since their mother's recent and untimely death, the Brown siblings have managed to drive away 17 nannies.
Like the nun Andrews played in The Sound of Music, Nanny McPhee not only tames the Brown children, but teaches them how to have genuine fun.
She also helps their father (Colin Firth) find true love, not with her this time, but with the scullery maid, Evangeline (Kelly Macdonald).
This love affair requires a touch of My Fair Lady because Evangeline needs to be cleaned up, taught to speak properly and learn upper-class manners.
Only the youngest children won't see that Evangeline is the ideal replacement for the deceased wife, so there's no surprise when Mr. Brown clues in.
The surprise is how he does and what happens when he does.
That realization gives Nanny McPhee a true fairy-tale ending full of magic.
It also gives the film its most slapstick moments when a good old-fashioned pie fight orchestrated by his children stops Mr. Brown from marrying a garish widow, Mrs. Quickly (Celia Imrie).
Imrie is just one of the great British character actors in this movie who make the most of their hilarious supporting roles.
Kudos also go to Derek Jacobi and Patrick Barlow as Mr. Brown's assistants at the funeral parlor, Imelda Staunton as the militaristic cook and especially Angela Lansbury as the children's near-sighted, mean-spirited wealthy aunt.
These characters are staples of British literature from Charles Dickens and Jane Austin to Roald Dahl.
The wonderfully outlandish production and costume designs give Nanny McPhee the look of a cartoon or picture book and the actors, especially the children, knew this gave them rein to overact with spirited abandon.
Nanny McPhee is funny and insightful on so many levels that it will appeal to adults as much as the to youngsters they accompany.
(This film is rated G)
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