The success of “Nanny McPhee” in 2005 prompted the production of “Nanny McPhee Returns” in 2010. Director Susanna White and screenwriter Emma Thompson wisely decided on a different family for the magical nanny to help, now in the English countryside during World War II. The story was adapted, as was the first film, from the series of children’s books by Christianna Brand in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
American actress Maggie Gyllenhaal played the English mother struggling to run the family farm while her husband is away fighting in the war. Gyllenhaal turned in a marvelous performance, stealing the show to some extent from Thompson’s McPhee. The supporting cast includes Rhys Ifans, Asa Butterfield, Lil Woods, Oscar Steer, Eros Vlahos, Sam Kelly, and veteran thespians Ewan McGregor, Ralph Fiennes, and Maggie Smith.
“Nanny McPhee Returns” was titled “Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang” in Europe, and earned only a modest return at the box office, killing the hopes of a third “McPhee,” maybe to the disappointment of Emma Thompson, Susanna White, StudioCanal, Relativity Media, and Working Title Films.
Nanny McPhee Returns (2010)
cinema
My Review
The success of “Nanny McPhee” in 2005 prompted the production of “Nanny McPhee Returns” in 2010. Director Susanna White and screenwriter Emma Thompson wisely decided on a different family for the magical nanny to help, now in the English countryside during World War II. The story was adapted, as was the first film, from the series of children’s books by Christianna Brand in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
American actress Maggie Gyllenhaal played the English mother struggling to run the family farm while her husband is away fighting in the war. Gyllenhaal turned in a marvelous performance, stealing the show to some extent from Thompson’s McPhee. The supporting cast includes Rhys Ifans, Asa Butterfield, Lil Woods, Oscar Steer, Eros Vlahos, Sam Kelly, and veteran thespians Ewan McGregor, Ralph Fiennes, and Maggie Smith.
“Nanny McPhee Returns” was titled “Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang” in Europe, and earned only a modest return at the box office, killing the hopes of a third “McPhee,” maybe to the disappointment of Emma Thompson, Susanna White, StudioCanal, Relativity Media, and Working Title Films.