Review of Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (2010) by Filipeneto — 14 Jan 2020

A meritorious continuation.

This fantasy movie is an expected sequel as the initial movie was a box office hit. It happens decades after the events of the first film (although the connection between them is discreet) and brings more of it: a mother whose husband went to war and who needs to unfold between work, her farm care and education the children she has at home, and the two spoiled brats from the city with whom they will soon quarrel.

In fact, here, the movie sins because it can't bring anything truly new or different from the previous one. What saves the movie is the fact that it is fun and has truly hilarious moments, like synchronized piglet swimming. It all happens in the middle of World War II, but it is too light a film to make it truly feel in the plot. The war only becomes palpable in the middle of the movie, a turnaround that, after all, was more or less expected.

Again, it is the children who are given the whole stage when it comes to making the audience laugh. They match entirely and are excellent. The direction of the film is once again in the hands of Emma Thompson, who continues to secure the lead role and the script's authorship, ensuring that this film can match its predecessor. Maggie Gyllenhaal is beautiful and captivates our sympathy, Rhys Ifans is quite entertaining and a bit stupid when trying to be a villain, opposite Sinead Matthews and Katy Brand very well. Ralph Fiennes and Ewan McGregor make brief welcome appearances and Maggie Smith, side by side with veteran Sam Kelly, is impeccable, as always.

Technically, the film still bets heavily on CGI and visual and sound effects, which is normal, but I felt that there was more restraint in its use. The sets and costumes are also better and more realistic, and that troublesome eye strain caused by too much color, so evident in the first film, was corrected.

In short, this movie is an excellent continuation of the first movie. But unless they decide to present something different in a hypothetical third movie, I think the revenue presented so far runs out of this movie.