Nanny McPhee

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Nanny McPhee ★★½ 2006 (PG)

Thompson wrote the screenplay and stars as the spectacularly ugly title character, who comes complete with magical abilities and a no-nonsense manner destined to overcome the horrors wrought by the seven motherless Brown children. Their clueless father, Cedric (Firth), counts on a stipend from Aunt Adelaide (Lansbury) to support the unruly brood but she has now demanded that he marry in 30 days or lose the money. Cedric is in love with unsuitable scullery maid Evangeline (Macdonald) but decides on garish, greedy widow Mrs. Quickly (Imrie) instead. Naturally, Nanny will put everything right. Loosely based on Christianna Brand's 1960s “Nurse Matilda” series. 97m/C DVD . US GB Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Kelly Macdonald, Derek Jacobi, Pat Barlow, Celia Imrie, Imelda Staunton, Thomas Sangster, Angela Lansbury, Jenny Daykin, Eliza Bennett, Raphael Coleman, Samuel Honywood, Holly Gibbs, Hebe Barnes, Zinnia Barnes; D: Kirk Jones; W: Emma Thompson, Matt Robinson; C: Henry Braham; M: Patrick Doyle.