McPhee Wins My Vote Too

When President’s Day rolled around and my wife, children, and I found ourselves with a day off, we decided that we’d go see a movie. Wait a minute. That line seems really familiar.

Unbeknownst to either of us, Dennis and I went to see Nanny McPhee on the same day, at back-to-back showings. Let me echo Dennis’ statements. This is a delightful show if you have any portion of a kid left in your heart at all.

We ended up at the theater a little late and found our seats in the middle of the previews. Then, of course my kids had to have the obligatory bucket of popcorn. Needless to say, I missed the first couple of minutes of the show (I can’t wait until all theaters have an armchair ordering system I saw on TV or at least a pre-ordering system) No matter though; it was mere seconds before I was totally entranced.

In an attempt to get the attention of their widowed father (Colin Firth), seven deliberately naughty children chart their success in getting their nannies to resign their positions (usually running and screaming from the house). Finally, when the agency has run out of nannies, Nanny McPhee (delightfully played by Emma Thompson, who also wrote the screenplay) mysteriously arrives on the scene.

This situation is compounded by an edict from wealthy benefactress Great Aunt Adelaide (Angela Lansbury) who insists that the children must have a mother by the end of the month, else she will not support them any longer. With this income gone, Mr. Brown would be forced to sell the house and would then be sent to debtor’s prison. The children would then be split up and sent to orphanages. All of which Mr. Brown neglects to tell his children.

The way in which Nanny McPhee teaches the Brown children their “lessons” reminds me so much of my father. Instead of spoon feeding the answers to them, she allows them to experience the consequences of their actions and requires them to think through their own problems. In our house, when we asked my Dad how to do something, he would say something like, “Well, remember your physics here. How could you best apply a lever?” It drove me insane at the time, but I think I am better for it. By the way, he still does that today.

To keep this review balanced however, I will voice my only two very minor complaints. The first is the choice of color schemes for the Brown house. In an Edward-Scisorhands-esque palette, their home sticks out in stark contrast to the stodgy countryside (but perhaps that is the point). To me however, it tended to emphasize that this movie was just a fantasy and ripped me from the daydream. I tend to like fantastic elements that are embedded in a real world. This lets me believe, at least for two hours, that the story actually could have happened.

The only other issue that pulled me out of the McPhee universe was the CG animation of baby Brown’s mouth. While I understand that mouths are hard to animate, I just had a hard time believing that a baby could say the things it did. But hey, I loved the dancing donkey, so what do I know?

Overall, this was a delightful movie that I would love to see again. It was one of those rare movies that you leave wishing there was more. But there is! We were surprised to find out that the movie was an EXPERT adaptation of the Nurse Matilda books written by Christianna Brand. On Sunday, we read the first six chapters and only stopped when it was time to eat dinner. When we finish, perhaps I’ll update you on that as well. Nanny McPhee expertly weaves together comedy, reality, and genuine storytelling. Do not miss this movie if you consider yourself young at heart.

My New Favorite Thing: Firefly / Serenity

I have a new love! No, nothing my wife should be worried about. Actually, it's her new love too. For Christmas she gave me the movie Serenity, which we had seen together in the theater, but she also gave me the series it was based on, Firefly.

Firefly has been described as a space western, which actually fits, but it would be more accurate to compare the main character and Captain of the ship, Mal Reynolds (pictured in the middle of the image above) as a Han Solo type character from the original 1977 Star Wars movie. Smuggler, pirate, and scoundrel are all terms that are applicable. Truth is, the American Civil War and the Millennium Falcon were both huge inspirations for Joss Whedon in creating this show.

I have to admit that I have mixed emotions about this new love—on one hand I'm elated that I've found something that I so thoroughly enjoy. On the other hand it's depressing that I and just about the rest of the world missed this show when it was on the air and when our viewership could have kept it on the air. As a result, all we have is an abbreviated series and a movie. All of which is excellent, but it could have been so much more.

I blame the Fox Network. I vaguely remember seeing a commercial for it when it was premiering and thinking to myself that it looked cool, but I didn't catch the time and never heard anything more about it. It turns out that they did the same thing to it that they did to another series that I really enjoyed called Space Above and Beyond.

It seems like when Fox doesn't have faith in a show, they have no desire to promote it or put it in a time slot that will promote a following. Instead they move it around from night to night until it ends up on one of the poorest nights for T.V. and then pre-empt the heck out of it with sporting events until it becomes impossible for any reasonable person to keep up with it.

Anyway, I've found it now, and I love it. It's too bad that Fox didn't put more effort into gettting people to see it, because it seems that's all it takes for people to get hooked. I've already introduced it to a guy I work with and he likes it too.

Anyone who likes an entertaining story, sci-fi for not, give Firefly and Serenity a try. You won't regret it.

Movie Review: Nanny McPhee

When President’s Day rolled around and my wife, daughters and I found ourselves with a day off, we decided that we’d go see a movie. The options boiled down to two: Curious George and Nanny McPhee.

At first I was leaning more towards Curious George because it seemed like a light, fun movie and the repulsively ugly makeup Emma Thompson donned seemed very unappealing to me. But as the reviews started rolling in, I began hearing how wonderful Nanny McPhee was. For example, author Orson Scott Card said in his review of the movie, “Don't even think about not going to see Nanny McPhee. If you've been good, then this movie will be your reward. And if you've been naughty -- well, you need Nanny McPhee more than anybody.”

Well, I don’t know if I fit into the naughty or nice category (hopefully nice), but off we went to the show.

Just seeing the premise of the movie as shown in the trailers, one might think that this is simply a retelling of Mary Poppins. Well, it’s not. It only bears the most circumstantial resemblance to its predecessor. I’d say the biggest difference is that this movie actually has a plot. Instead of just a bunch of disjointed adventures laced together with musical numbers and animation—this movie has a grand, touching story arc where all of the characters you come to love throughout the tale actually go through real changes and  learn great, life-changing lessons.

My daughters, ages 6 and 8, both enjoyed this movie immensely as did my wife and I. There was nothing in this movie that was scary—except for a spider that freaked me out more than anyone. There was no embarrassing innuendo that I was hoping either went over my daughter’s heads or that they wouldn’t ask me to explain later. There was never a moment that I felt bored and wished that the movie would move along so we could go home—actually, when it was over, I wished it wasn’t.

Recommend for kids? Yes. There was one part where there was some comical flirtations between the father and a potential wicked-stepmother, but it never crossed the line into anything inappropriate for kids.

Recommend for adults and kids? Yes. Definitely the kind of movie parents won’t mind seeing repeatedly with their kids.

Recommend for adults with no kids? Yes. There was 6 years of our marriage when we didn’t have kids and would go see Disney movies and the like on dates. This is definitely the kind of movie that you don’t need a kid as a chaperone to go see and enjoy. There’s plenty of entertainment in it for all.