Nanny McPhee -- 2005 -- PG

What can I say about this one? We have a group of seven rowdy children who have run off a total of seventeen nannies at the beginning of the film. Their father goes right back to the nanny agency who turns him down flat. Enter Nanny McPhee, a mysterious "government nanny" who has a knack for knocking the children in line.

With seven children, you basically have two characters: Simon, who is the oldest, and the other six who function as essentially a single character in six parts. For a ninety minute film, it did pretty well working with these kids from a character standpoint. The only one to really stand out was Simon, who was a driving force behind the plot and the kids' actions.

While I understand the division of responsibilities, the only oddity I thought there was had to do with an apparent absolute refusal of the father to ask the maid to keep a general eye on the children until he could get another nanny. Sure, it's not her job, but she had a relationship with the kids, they liked her, and her character didn't seem like the one to refuse such a request. One can chalk it up to his being respectful of her position, but at the same time, desperate times...

This is a fun little film that plays the magic card well, and doesn't try to shove it down our throats. It has a lot of subtlety and some good characters that we can relate to, feel sorry for, and feel good for when we get our Hollywood ending.