First, I need to say we saw the first Nanny McFee film and loved it. We were hoping for the same charm in this film. Unfortunately, we found it lacking. We were quite ready to suspend reality and enjoy a magical nanny, but we didn't find the movie to have the humor and general upbeat styling we were expecting.
This film seemed to be in a great hurry to finish all the lessons Nanny wanted to teach without us ever knowing what they were. The lessons were taught after one incident of naughty behavior. No one, not even movie kids, learn a life lesson in one episode! Part of the charm in the first movie was that you were left to wonder if the lessons were learned due to the children learning and living them or from the magic of Nanny McFee. In the second movie, there is no question that magic has changed behavior, not a realization of why this new behavior is proper.
Less than half way through the movie, my 10 year old daughter leaned in to me and said, "This one isn't funny like the first one, is it?" She was quite right, as a whole, this wasn't a funny movie. There was too much mean-ness and too many dire situations for it to be considered funny.
This cast deserved better and Emma Thompson did not deliver a viable story. Though I must say, we LOVED Maggie Smith's character and her surprise revelation at the end.
This movie on it's own ranks a 4 or 5, but this movie as a sequel ranks only a 3.
This film seemed to be in a great hurry to finish all the lessons Nanny wanted to teach without us ever knowing what they were. The lessons were taught after one incident of naughty behavior. No one, not even movie kids, learn a life lesson in one episode! Part of the charm in the first movie was that you were left to wonder if the lessons were learned due to the children learning and living them or from the magic of Nanny McFee. In the second movie, there is no question that magic has changed behavior, not a realization of why this new behavior is proper.
Less than half way through the movie, my 10 year old daughter leaned in to me and said, "This one isn't funny like the first one, is it?" She was quite right, as a whole, this wasn't a funny movie. There was too much mean-ness and too many dire situations for it to be considered funny.
This cast deserved better and Emma Thompson did not deliver a viable story. Though I must say, we LOVED Maggie Smith's character and her surprise revelation at the end.
This movie on it's own ranks a 4 or 5, but this movie as a sequel ranks only a 3.