I sat down to watch this movie with my 7-year-old brother not knowing what to expect having not seen the first "Nanny McPhee." I was surprised about how brilliant this film turned out to be, even though watching it was my decision. For those who are unfamiliar, this movie is about a woman named Isabel Green. She lives with her three children, and her husband is off fighting in a war. When the Greens' two cousins, the Grays, come for a visit, the five children start causing trouble for Isabel. Who is the one to fix this problem? Nanny McPhee.With the amazing cast and beautiful acting, I thought this movie was fantastic. It had the right amount of humor and magic to make everything work. During the more serious scenes (mainly the scene with Norman and Cyril after they receive the telegram), I felt the same emotions as the characters. Though I enjoyed all the characters and cast members, there are a few that stood out to me. Eros Vlahos and Asa Butterfield as Cyril Gray and Norman Green. These two young actors stole the show at most parts! Eros is a great comedy actor, and made me laugh several times. Asa was funny as well, but it was the emotion that he added to the character that made him stand out. Well done to these two boys.I give this movie an 9/10. The ONLY reason I'm not giving it a full 10/10 is because I think that some things could've been explained just a little better (the only instance I can think of at the moment is when the Greens got the telegram from the war office. I knew what it meant, but I'm not sure if my brother did. Other younger viewers might not understand right away. It is discussed again later on, of course). Other than that, I think this movie was brilliantly made and cast and everything. I would completely recommend this movie to anyone; especially anyone who loves funny, clever, and heartwarming movies.

Our family loved the charming first movie but this movie is just awful. The negative reviews already written recap the problems very well: Poor directing, plodding story, predictable outcomes, etc. Ghastly. Three additional criticisms not yet mentioned.(1) Very confusing clothing and haircuts. Who would cast farm kids during WWII to wear polo shirts? That and Vince's mop haircut gave the feeling in the opening scene that this was a modern film with elements from American suburbs.(2) On which planet does a fun children's film feature villains who extort characters with deadly threats of removing both kidneys...and worse? I'm not taking this film seriously but that's just too macabre. (3) During the introduction to special features, Emma Thompson says that this is "An entirely new film." That is just so not true. Indeed, an early scene sets you up to expect to see a duplicate scene copied from the first movie. You get fooled but then a few seconds later you see the scene you expected anyway. The only thing original to this movie compared to the first is that pigs fly. There are positive elements to this movie--beautiful country scenes, nice camera work, good acting by lesser characters--but not enough to warrant spending precious time to watch it.

After seeing all the positive reviews of this movie, I was hesitant to write a review, but as another reviewer so accurately pointed out, this movie lacked the magic of the first.I can't tell you how disappointed I was. The magic was simply and completely gone in this one.Admittedly, after seeing the terrible commercials for this film, I only rented it at Red Box (for $1 - glad I didn't spend any more!) due to two people being in it...Rhys Ifans and Maggie Smith...Smith being one of my favorite actresses.I won't go into detail about the plot (you're capable of reading and can read that for yourself) but will instead concentrate on what this movie lacked...and there was a lot of that.Gone was the magic of the first movie and yes, I realize that this is a sequel, not a re-make.None of the characters are worth caring about except Ifans and Smith. Ifans is such a royal pain that you simply want to reach into the TV and slap him for being such a nuisance and Smith is charming and much too adorable. Her character is a real delight.The kids, on the other hand, are terrifically boring and lackluster, the character of the mother was simply too over-the-top to even want to care about and what was with the squeaky voiced (and oh-so irritating) hit woman and her counterpart that sounded as if her male-esque voice was faked (because it was)? Might I ask what exactly they were supposed to bring to the movie except to make it ridiculous? Every time the frog voiced woman opened her mouth, I cringed.While I did appreciate the lovely scenery and the quaint farm (which redeemed this movie...somewhat) the only thing that saved it from a 2 rating, was the twist at the end that literally almost knocked me out of my chair.I must also comment on the absolute silliness that Nanny McPhee was now in the military as an Army Nanny (you're joking, right?) and in this one, Nanny herself seemed almost wooden and her lines, forced, as if she didn't want to be there and was simply going through the motions to get them done.In the first one, she was quaint, polished, magical and believable. In this one, she was laughable...and not in a fun or positive way.I was utterly sick after I finished watching this film, because the first Nanny McPhee is one of my favorite movies and even at my age, I watch it all the time. I was not looking forward to the terrible review I was going to have to give it and hate writing this.Vast, vast, disappointment...

Emma Thompson is back as both the writer and the star as Nanny McPhee, but this time hired a director. She "returns" but not to the same family. This is a whole new set of situations.It is during the war and the nice family is struggling to make ends meet and keep the farm while dad is away, fighting as an Army man. Relatives from London come to visit for a while and along with the kids in the family make an impossible situation. Until a knock on the door, and there she is Nanny McPhee, 'small c, capital P.' She is sent by the Army to help, but we know she has certain magical qualities, and rapping her walking stick on the floor or the ground makes wonderful things happen.Maggie Gyllenhaal is Isabel Green, the mother. Rhys Ifans is good as Phil Green, the brother-in-law who is no good, has gotten into debt by gambling, and is trying to get Isabel to sign the farm over to him. It is good to see Maggie Smith, here as Mrs. Docherty who seems to run the local store, badly.I must admit I had lots of trouble sticking with it during the first scenes, in the muddy barnyard, with animal feces everywhere and of course all the kids getting into it. But once Nanny McPhee showed up it got watchable. Still, not that enjoyable a movie for adults. Mostly silly stuff.