In Victorian England, widowedundertaker Cedric Brown is the father of seven unruly children—Simon, Tora, Eric, Lily, Sebastian, Christianna ("Chrissie") and baby Agatha ("Aggie"). Cedric is clumsy but loves his children; however, since the death of his wife, has spent little time with them and cannot handle them.
The children have had a series of nannies, whom they have systematically driven out with their bad behaviour and pranks. They also take great pleasure in tormenting their cook, Mrs. Blatherwick, a former military cook who declares that there will be "snow in August" before the family is put to rights. Besides their father, the only one the children will ever listen to is Evangeline, the family's illiterate but beautiful and sweet-natured scullery maid.
One day, Cedric discovers multiple references for a "Nanny McPhee" throughout the home. That same night during a storm, while the children cause havoc in the kitchen, Cedric opens the door to reveal a hideous woman, who introduces herself as Nanny McPhee.
With discipline and a little magic, she transforms the family's lives. The children, led by Simon, try to play their tricks on her, but after failing, they gradually start to respect her and ask her for advice. Each time the children learn a lesson, one of Nanny McPhee's facial defects magically disappears. Over time, the children become more responsible, helping their clumsy father in solving the family problems, making Nanny McPhee less and less needed.
The family is financially supported by Cedric's late wife's domineering and short-sighted aunt, Lady Adelaide Stitch, who demands custody over one of the children. She first wants the second-youngest daughter Chrissie, but Evangeline volunteers to go and Adelaide agrees, assuming she is one of the daughters. She also threatens to reduce the family to poverty unless Cedric remarries within the month.
Desperate, Cedric turns to Mrs. Selma Quickly, an unpleasant widow. The children assume from reading fairy tales that all stepmothers are terrible women who treat their stepchildren like slaves; together, they sabotage Mrs. Quickly's visit, and she leaves, angry at Cedric.
After the financial rationale for the marriage is explained to the children, they realise their mistake; the children appease Mrs. Quickly by confessing they were to blame for ruining her visit. Mrs. Quickly, intrigued when she hears about Adelaide's wealth and status, reconciles with Cedric and agrees to marry him. However, Mrs. Quickly deliberately breaks baby Aggie's beloved rattle, which previously belonged to their late mother.
At the garish wedding, the children pretend there are bees and start a food fight with the other guests using the banquet pastries. Cedric swiftly understands his children do not like the bride and, recognizing that she is not right for him or his children, joins in the commotion himself. Mrs. Quickly calls off the marriage and storms off in anger.
When it seems that Adelaide's marriage deadline is missed, Lily suggests that Cedric marry Evangeline; the other children reveal to Adelaide that she is not, in fact, their sister. Evangeline and Cedric resist at first, but then realize their feelings for each other and agree to marry, satisfying Adelaide's conditions for maintaining her financial support but causing her to faint from shock that Cedric is marrying a servant.
Nanny McPhee, now fully transformed into a beautiful woman, magically makes it snow in August, a reference to Mrs. Blatherwick's comment from earlier, which turns the gaudy Quickly wedding scene into a beautiful winter wedding and changes Evangeline's clothes into a wedding dress. After restoring Aggie's rattle, she then leaves surreptitiously, in accordance with what she told the children on her first night: "When you need me, but do not want me, then I must stay. When you want me, but no longer need me, then I have to go."
On 16 May it was announced that Patrick Doyle would compose the music for the film. Development of the film was completed in Dorset, England. Filming ran 1 April – 9 July 2004.[4] The film reunites Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Thomas Sangster and Adam Godley who all previously starred in the 2003 film Love Actually. Thompson's work on this film prevented her from reprising her role as Frasier Crane's first wife, Nanny G. on his spin-off series, Frasier in the episode "Caught in the Act", so Laurie Metcalf played Nanny G. in the episode.
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 74% based on 135 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The critical consensus reads, "A bit alarming at first, Nanny McPhee has a hard edge to counter Mary Poppins-style sweetness, but it still charms us and teaches some valuable lessons."[5]Metacritic calculated an average score of 59 out of 100 based on 30 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[7]
Box office
The film did well at the box office, earning $122,489,822 — $47,144,110 in the United States and $75,345,712 elsewhere. It premiered in the United States on 27 January 2006 with an opening weekend total of $14,503,650 in 1,995 theatres (an average of $7,270 per theatre) ranking at No. 2 (behind the Martin Lawrence film Big Momma's House 2).[2]
A third film was planned to be set in modern-day Britain but, despite taking $93 million at the box-office, the sequel did not reach studio expectations and plans were cancelled for future films.[9] In August 2018, on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2, Thompson confirmed that she had written a third instalment, but that the studio thought it was too expensive to make, given the worse than expected performance of the second film.[10]
Stage musical
It was announced on April 12, 2018, that the movie would be adapted into a stage musical,[11] with The New Yorker reporting in November 2022 that the musical was scheduled to open in the West End in 2023.[12]
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