Nanny McPhee: Critic Reviews

73%

MovieWeb: 0 reviews

73%

RottenTomatoes: 134 reviews

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Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly (Top Critic)

42

Nanny McPhee is one of those raucous, hyperactive kiddie flicks that knocks you upside the head from its opening frame.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Stephen Holden New York Times (Top Critic)

70

... a movie whose twisted visual imagination is more forceful than its wobbly, zigzagging narrative.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Claudia Puig USA Today (Top Critic)

75

... an appealing tale of youthful empowerment and whimsy.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Wesley Morris Boston Globe (Top Critic)

75

At its most enjoyable the film feels like Roald Dahl's idea of Mary Poppins -- and on occasion, The Sound of Music.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Jaime Mastromonica Village Voice (Top Critic)

If you have someone under 10 to take to the movies, this one is charming and painless.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Jami Bernard New York Daily News (Top Critic)

63

Any time Thompson curls that prosthetic snaggletooth over her lower lip and murmurs a nearly inaudible harrumph is a comic moment to be treasured.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Amy Biancolli Houston Chronicle (Top Critic)

25

A howling headache-inducer that features bratty urchins prone to torturing people and a color scheme resplendent with hot-pink bustiers and peeling lime paint.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Nancy Churnin Dallas Morning News (Top Critic)

75

And while those classics, like Julie Andrews' incandescent Maria and Poppins, were practically perfect in every way, Nanny McPhee is quite deserving of its own special place in the magical universe.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Lisa Kennedy Denver Post (Top Critic)

88

A winning tale of naughty children in need of love and the mysterious governess who comes to their aid.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times (Top Critic)

75

Will kids like the movie? I suspect they will. Kids like to see other kids learning the rules even if they don't much want to learn them themselves.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune (Top Critic)

75

With Yours, Mine and Ours and Cheaper By the Dozen 2 lately cluttering up the multiplexes with teeming masses of onscreen children in search of a better agent, Nanny McPhee arrives as a jolly improvement.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Carrie Rickey Philadelphia Inquirer (Top Critic)

63

This bracing adaptation of the Nurse Matilda books by Christianna Brand is the acidic antidote to Mary Poppins sweetness.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Colin Covert Minneapolis Star Tribune (Top Critic)

75

Nanny McPhee casts a captivating spell.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Tom Long Detroit News (Top Critic)

67

Nanny McPhee offers solid family entertainment in the face of it all. Mary Poppins, eat your heart out.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Kathy Cano Murillo Arizona Republic (Top Critic)

60

The fun is doled out in small portions and the film is so passive that younger kids will probably fidget in their seats.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Rex Reed New York Observer (Top Critic)

The kids will love the candy-box sets and costumes like confectionery-shop windows, the whimsy and farcical grotesqueness of it all.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Leslie Felperin Variety (Top Critic)

Under the surface, the movie has a streak of Roald Dahl-style darkness which dilutes the sugar.
Full Review » 7 years ago
Kyle Smith New York Post (Top Critic)

50

The kiddie komedy of Nanny McPhee shows that Mary Poppins plus Charles Dickens can add up to less than even Cheaper by the Dozen.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Roger Moore Orlando Sentinel (Top Critic)

80

Nanny McPhee, though it drags a bit in its middle acts, finishes with such gusto that neither you nor your kids will need a spoonful of anything to make this movie medicine go down.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Susan Walker Toronto Star (Top Critic)

63

Nanny McPhee has its own enduring charm, a mix of witty dialogue, pie-throwing slapstick and eccentric family portrait.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Kate Taylor Globe and Mail (Top Critic)

75

Thompson's script is clever and, despite that monstrous makeup, her performance is deliciously balanced by the standards of what is, after all, a children's fable.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Stephanie Zacharek Salon.com (Top Critic)

There's nothing offhand or spontaneous-feeling about Nanny McPhee; it's a highly mechanical piece of work, and its potentially delightful details are wasted.
Full Review » 6 years ago
James Berardinelli ReelViews (Top Critic)

63

Nanny McPhee is perfect for little girls.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Ray Bennett Hollywood Reporter (Top Critic)

Thompson is impossible to dislike, but her ineffable grace and sympathy are not as evident as usual.
Full Review » 7 years ago
Paul Chambers CNNRadio

75

The kind of movie that I would have loved to seen as a kid. Magical stuff. I look forward to the sequel. Paul Chambers, CNN.
Full Review » 2 years ago