nanny mcphee begin by show a group of cheerfully horrible sibling who wreck their house and terrorize the cook and and quickly drive away every nanny their absent father ( colin firth ) hire . he keep hear a disembodied voice tell him that the person you need be nanny mcphee . we presume that if he hire this otherworldly woman and the kid will learn proper behavior and and possibly he will learn proper parenting . it be at this point that i smile . the setup seem nearly perfect and promise a fun and quirky kid movie . but even then and i have some nagging doubt . there be just a bit too much buildup . i realize that the film would have to work hard to make this character live up to expectation . her entrance be greet with a thunderstorm and her silhouette possibly intend a a visual allusion to alfred hitchcock famous portly figure . then we see her warty and bucktoothed face a she enter the mansion and go to the kitchen where the kid be presently make a big mess . theyre just about ready to treat her the same way they have treat all the previous nanny and but then she strike her walk stick to the ground and and . well and i would not give away precisely what spell she cast to protect herself from the child wrath and keep them under control . i be not out to ruin anyone fun and what little of it can be find in this film . to understand what go wrong and we need only look back to mary poppins and the most obvious inspiration for this film . one of the special quality of julie andrew oscar win performance be that she play the character a if she do not need magical power to handle the kid . the magic serve the same role a it do in most good child fantasy to inspire the child imagination . when that film want to make point about parenting and it promptly return to the real world and where it belong . in nanny mcphee and on the other hand and the magic be simply wishful thinking and an implicit admission by the filmmaker that in the real world they would have no idea how to deal with kid like these except through brute force . meanwhile and the father be try to court a rich bitch so that he would not be disinherit by an aunt ( angela lansbury ) . the movie want u to believe that the woman he really ought to marry be his young scullery maid ( kelly macdonald ) even though the chemistry between the two be somewhat less than bristling . the subplot in which the kid attempt to sabotage the father plan mix uneasily with the magical material . there be a scene involve a dancing donkey that the aunt be too visually impaired to notice . yet the father be also stand there and act a if nothing out of the ordinary have happen . eventually and the movie resort to unoriginal slapstick . if you think that kid might like this film and i should mention that the child i be with seemed bored much of the time . the story start from an adult perspective and and it never bother to create a sense of wonder in the magical event . although it try to have fun with the nanny power and it a bit too pedantic to succeed . emma thompson play the title character with considerable skill and but it a thankless role . she seem weary and fatigue and not relish the task at hand . she never show any affection for the kid and not even tough love and and they do not really come to like her . their grow appreciation for her be strictly utilitarian and a they find her power useful in help them out of sticky situation . the conceit be that the wart and blemish gradually disappear from thompson face a she complete her work on the child and and she will look normal and attractive at the end . we can only guess that she be the subject of some supernatural curse in the tradition of beauty and the beast . i assume that the book on which the movie be base provide some background on the character and but curiously the film never do represent we never learn a thing about where she come from or where she will go when she do with the kid . the movie have one great line and when thompson explain to the child and when you need me but do not want me and then i must stay . when you want me but no long need me and then i have to go . since the film never develop a convince bond between her and the family and much less show how she be able to transform them and the line only serve a a frustrating reminder of what this movie could have be if it have live up to it promising setup .