Nanny McPhee Returns
Universal Pictures | Release Date: August 20, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
8
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Los Angeles TimesGlenn Whipp
The animals are impossibly adorable, but never threaten to upset the film's delicate balance between magic and a more sobering reality. It's a fairy tale in the best tradition. Read full review
80
Time OutKeith Uhlich
Thompson's imagination-she's also the screenwriter-knows no bounds, and she does a brilliant job of connecting the fantastical elements to the sobering realities of life during wartime. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCharles Williams
Weighty issues such as war and divorce are mentioned, but the serious themes pass quickly. The lighthearted story always takes precedent over the special effects, but a scene involving swimming piglets will have kids flashing a sea of smiles. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
At its best, Nanny McPhee Returns has the playful surrealism of "Babe," if "Babe" had been directed by Terry Gilliam. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Has a lighter spirit than its predecessor, but it arrives at the same warm and touching place. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Ultimately, the performances carry the film. Read full review
75
Orlando SentinelRoger Moore
Sweet, sentimental, silly and star-studded, Nanny McPhee Returns is one of the best children's movies of the year. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill Goodykoontz
The results of her work are predictable yet pleasantly played out. Read full review
70
Boxoffice MagazinePam Grady
This comic fantasy will delight kids and parents alike. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
James Newton Howard's music picks up its comic cues perhaps a bit too swiftly and loudly, but little of this detracts from the movie's many pleasures. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Thompson, who also wrote the script, has skittery, baffling fun enjoining her plummy guest actors (including Ralph Fiennes, Rhys Ifans, and Maggie Smith) to play broad Brit types. Read full review
63
Washington PostStephanie Merry
It can take a miracle to create a movie that's fun for kids and their parents. Luckily, Nanny McPhee has a little magic up her sleeve. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
The end result, while entertaining, is the kind of unruly mess you can't imagine the indomitable Nanny McPhee tolerating. Read full review
60
EmpireNick de Semlyen
With flying pigs and magical nannying, this will charm children - but it could have been a little more charming for adults. Read full review
50
NPRMark Jenkins
Nanny McPhee, the homely yet exemplary governess, is back. Why? Hard to say, but one thing is certain: Writer-star Emma Thompson didn't do it for the kids. Read full review
50
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
She could stand to learn a lesson herself, from another magical governess -- you know, the one about the spoon full of sugar. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
Pigs fly and perform a Busby Berkeley-style water ballet. Maggie Gyllenhaal sports a posh British accent. Everybody steps in dung repeatedly. These are the high points of Nanny McPhee Returns. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTom Russo
The initial close-up of Thompson - all sourly snaggletoothed and begoggled - is as funny as anything in the original. And just that one quick glimpse would have been perfect. Read full review
50
The New York TimesMike Hale
Neither the dangers of the plot - a dissolute uncle who wants to sell the farm, a father missing in action - nor the forbidding Nanny McPhee herself are as fearsome as they were the first time around. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Too much of the contrasting comedy in Nanny McPhee Returns is shrill, laden with routine computer-generated effects and pounded into dust by James Newton Howard's shut-up-already musical score. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
For American children, Nanny McPhee Returns may seem something like a foreign film, but the movie has enough spoonfuls of sugar to make the Britishisms go down. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
On balance, more dignity is lost than gained. Read full review
30
Village VoiceNick Schager
McPhee's latest saga neither conjures the humanistic heart of "Babe" nor addresses father-son separation issues with the sobriety of "The Water Horse." Instead, it's merely a compendium of photocopied elements, cartoonish special effects, and easy-bake happily-ever-afters. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
This children's entertainment-grownups beware!-is preoccupied by squishy stuff that includes mud and poop, as well as by syrup that oozes from cabinet drawers. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
This dour, hyperactive family film is joyless, overly busy and starchy. Read full review
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