MOVIE: NANNY MCPHEE & THE BIG BANG

Mrs Green’s (Maggie Gyllenhaal) life is falling apart. Her husband is away at war, and she’s been left to care for five fighting children – including two badly behaved cousins. To make matters worse, the Greens are about to lose their family farm. Enter: Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson). So ensues the tales of Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, a children’s film that really is just a children’s film. There are nasty folk, and well-meaning folk and the nasty folk all get their come-uppance. Instead of irony and double entendres the film employs a dash of the quaintly slapstick – piglets performing a synchronised swimming routine, anyone? Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang is a solid kids movie with gratifying performances and enough straightforward laughs to keep you watching happily to the end. (LHe)