Widower Cedric Brown hires Nanny McPhee to care for his seven rambunctious children, who have chased away all previous nannies. Taunted by Simon and his siblings, Nanny McPhee uses mystical powers to instill discipline. And when the children's great-aunt and benefactor, Lady Adelaide Stitch, threatens to separate the kids, the family pulls together under the guidance of Nanny McPhee.
There's nothing offhand or spontaneous-feeling about Nanny McPhee; it's a highly mechanical piece of work, and its potentially delightful details are wasted.
– Stephanie Zacharek,
Salon.com,
27 Jan 2006
fresh:
Any time Thompson curls that prosthetic snaggletooth over her lower lip and murmurs a nearly inaudible harrumph is a comic moment to be treasured.
– Jami Bernard,
New York Daily News,
4 Feb 2006
fresh:
The kids will love the candy-box sets and costumes like confectionery-shop windows, the whimsy and farcical grotesqueness of it all.
– Rex Reed,
New York Observer,
8 Feb 2006
rotten:
...Pleasing but ultimately unsatisfying.
– Anna Smith,
Time Out,
24 Jun 2006
rotten:
Nanny McPhee falls back on the Nickelodeon principle "If all else fails, hit 'em with a retina-searing overload of visual and aural information."