Nanny McPhee

Woohoo...another "fairy tale"...Sheesh.......


Genre: Comedy, Kids/Family, Science Fiction/Fantasy and Adaptation
Run time: 1 hour, 38 minutes
Rating: PG for mild thematic elements, some rude humor and brief language
Starring: Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Angela Lansbury, Kelly MacDonald, Thomas Sangster
Synopsis: A new nanny enters the household of the recently widowed Mr. Brown and attempts to tame his seven exceedingly ill-behaved children. The children, led by the oldest boy Simon, have managed to drive away 17 previous nannies and are certain that they will have no trouble with this one. But as Nanny McPhee takes control, they begin to notice that their vile behavior now leads swiftly and magically to rather startling consequences. Her influence also extends to the family's deeper problems, including Mr. Brown's sudden and seemingly inexplicable attempts to find a new wife; an announcement by the domineering Aunt Adelaide that she intends to take one of the children away; and the sad and secret longings of their scullery maid, Evangeline. As the children's behavior begins to change, Nanny McPhee's arresting face and frame appear to change as well, creating even more questions about this mysterious stranger whom the children and their father have come to love.


Like most fairy tales, there is a hidden message in "Nanny McPhee", now whether or not this is the message that the author/scriptwriter expected, is really not something I'm going to worry about too much. Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) enters the Brown household to teach the seven children 5 lessons. Now, these seven children are absolutely adorable...some of the cutest kids you could hope to meet, but they are some of the rudest, meanest, sneakiest kids you could ever possibly meet. On the outside they are beautiful, but on the inside they are ugly. When Nanny McPhee arrives, she outwardly portrays the inner ugliness of the children. What is then very interesting - and a key part to the movie - is that as the children increase their inner beauty, Nanny McPhee's outer beauty increases.

This movie reminded me of the God's words to Samuel "Man looks at the outside, but God looks at the inside." Although the children "looked" good, their actions betrayed their true nature. However, as they learned Nanny McPhee's lessons, they truly became "beautiful" people.

So it often is with us - we may look "righteous" on the outside, but it is the heart that interests God. Not until our inner matches our outer, will his work be complete - heaven!