Taglines: You believe that pigs can fly.
On a farm during World War II, Mrs Isabel Green (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is driven to her wits end by her hectic life. Between trying to keep the family farm up and running and her job in the village shop, run by the slightly mad Mrs Doherty (Maggie Smith), she also has three boisterous children to look after, Norman (Asa Butterfield), Megsie (Lil Woods) and Vincent (Oscar Steer).
All of this she has to do while her husband is away at war. So when her children’s two wealthy cousins, Cyril (Eros Vlahos) and Celia (Rosie Taylor-Ritson) are sent to live on their farm and another war is being fought between the two sets of children, she is in need of a little magic.
o Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) arrives to take matters into her own hands. At first, the children do not listen and carry on fighting, but after a bang of Nanny McPhee’s stick, they soon realise that they cannot go on fighting. Meanwhile, Mrs Green’s brother in law, Uncle Phil (Rhys Ifans), has gambled away the farm, and is being chased down by two hit women. He desperately attempts to make Mrs Green sell her half of the farm, using many mean and spiteful schemes to make Mrs Green have no choice but to sell the farm. His plans include digging a hole so that the family piglets can escape. Mrs Green takes all the children on a picnic during which an ARP Warden, Mr Doherty (Sam Kelly), warns them all about bombs and how he imagines a pilot might accidentally release his bomb.
At the end of the picnic Uncle Phil delivers a telegram saying that Mr Green has been ‘killed in action’ in the war. Mrs Green believes the telegram, along with everybody else. But Norman says that he can “feel it in his bones” that his father is not dead. He tells this to Cyril, who at first says it is just because he is upset, but then agrees that Norman might be right, so the two boys decide to ask Nanny McPhee to take them to London, where Cyril and Celia’s father works.
It is a sequel to the 2005 film Nanny McPhee. It was adapted by Emma Thompson from Christianna Brand’s Nurse Matilda books. Thompson reprises her role as Nanny McPhee, and the film also stars Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ralph Fiennes, Rhys Ifans, Ewan McGregor, Maggie Smith, Asa Butterfield, Bill Bailey and Katy Brand. The film was theatrically released on August 20, 2010 by Universal Pictures.
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (2010)
Directed by: Susanna White
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Maggie Smith, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emma Thompson, Rhys Ifans, Asa Butterfield, Daniel Mays, Bill Bailey, Nonso Anozie, Sinead Matthews, Katy Brand, Ewan McGregor
Screenplay by: Emma Thompson
Production Design by: Simon Elliott
Cinematography byB Mike Eley
Film Editing by: Sim Evan-Jones
Costume Design by: Jacqueline Durran
Art Direction by: Suzanne Austin, Bill Crutcher, Nick Dent, Gary Jopling
Music by: James Newton Howard
MPAA Rating: PG for rude humor, some language and mild thematic elements.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: August 20, 2010