Nanny McPhee

[Drunk Monk]

Ha! I finally saw a movie in a theater. My lord, it's been since this forum went up since I actually got out.

Nanny McPhee aspires to be a goth Mary Poppins. Emma Thompson takes herself too seriously, not unlike her ex, Kenneth Branaugh. Can't these 'Shakespearean' actors all be more like Patrick Stewart? Stewart relishes his hammy-ness by lending that distinguished air to cartoon roles. Thompson (and Angela Landsbury) sports a prosthetic nose ala Nicole Kidman in the Hours, but to a characature effect. McPhee is heavy handed, unnecessarily dark, and completely predictable. Give me Mary. Mary makes your 'eart so light when the day is gray and ordinary Mary makes the sun shine bright.

That being said, Tara enjoyed it. She asked a lot of questions about what was going on, never a good sign for a children's film, but she seemed to appreciate the moral. Also *spoiler alert* (but a predictable spoiler because it's such a predictable film) this was Tara's first pie-in-the-face food fight finale, the first one that she 'got', and she thought it was totally hilarious. There's nothing like kids to bring you back to that innocence; such rehashed schticks are fresh and funny again. It got me thinking that she'd love that old Monty Python skit about a humor lecture where everyone hits each other with pies. There was some redemption when the goth veil was lifted into an effects-laden ending, and one Jane Austen style plot twist, but I doubt any of the rest of you (or your kids for those DOOM parents) will be as impressed as Tara was. Tara is really into Samantha and Mary Poppins, so as said in one Bewitched episode, 'witches are good, witches are dear.'

[Drunk Monk]

Not nearly as good as the original. Not as dark. Rather fluffy actually. T & I could barely remember the original however. It was sort of like Trelawny, McGonagal & Voldemort slumming. More nods to Mary Poppins (Edelweiss the crow? Really? Emma is such a Julie Andrews wannabe). Dm might have dozed off for a scene or two, but the loss was inconsequential.

There's one really random scene that's a tribute to Pink Floyd. It's so out-of-the-blue that it really works. Best scene in the film, but very short, like a momentary lapse of reason.