Film / Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang

The person you need is Nanny McPhee.

"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."

— Nanny McPhee

In this 2010 sequel to Nanny McPhee, Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (also known as Nanny McPhee Returns in the U.S.), Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) returns. This time to farm in rural war-torn England. Isabel Green (Maggie Gyllenhaal) plays a beleaguered housewife and three children, who are all coping just fine with the war, awaiting the return of her husband, Rory Green (Ewan McGregor). Meanwhile, Isabel has to fend off Rory's brother Phil (Rhys Ifans), and his persistent attempts to get her to sell the farm, and deal with the arrival of the children's Londoner cousins.

Being driven to the brink of exasperation after an elderly Mrs. Docherty (Maggie Smith) "puts away the treacle" by pouring it into a set of drawers, the day before the cousins arrive, Isabel starts hearing mysterious voices telling her "the person you need is Nanny McPhee". Nanny McPhee turns out to be an "army nanny" with magical powers, using them to help teach the children the five lessons they need.

The trailer can be found here.

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Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang provides examples of the following tropes:

• Accidental Good Outcome: When McPhee uses magic to save Mr. Eidelweiss so that instead of exploding from eating the explosive putty, he just burps instead, his burp ends up harvesting the barley.
• The Ageless: Nanny McPhee still looks the exact same age as she was in the first film, despite several decades having passed. Mrs. Docherty, the elderly shopkeeper, was Baby Aggie Brown in the first movie.
• Affably Evil: Topsey and Turvey, especially the former, are friendly, polite, and cheery to Phil. They also plan on subjecting him to several gruesome fates per Mrs. Biggles's instructions, but to them that's nothing to get upset over.
• All There in the Manual: The film's Novelization greatly expands the backstories of most of the characters.
• Animal Companion: Nanny McPhee is joined by Mr. Edelweiss, a jackdaw with a predeliction for inappropriate substances, such as putty.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • On the night when things are going wrong after the cousins' arrival, someone bangs on the door and we see a familiar profile through the window. It turns out to be Phil holding a paper over his head. The next knock is actually from Nanny McPhee.
  • When Celia refuses to go out to help catching piglets in the mud, it seems that Nanny McPhee is going to force her to go outside with magic... then she just holds up a pair of wellingtons.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Played with. It's more like "goodness equals beauty", as Nanny McPhee grows progressively beautiful as the families she cares for become better people. She initially starts out as a Creepy Good herself and her transformation is reflective of the family's, with an ugly feature on her face removed for each lesson the family learns.
• Beauty Inversion: Spun into a plot point for Nanny McPhee. Every time the children learn something, one of her many hideous blemishes disappear. By the time her job is done, she's a completely unblemished Emma Thompson. Essentially, she's as ugly on the outside as they are on the inside.
• Be Careful What You Say: When the farm kids refuse to share their beds with the city kids, claiming they'd rather share their beds with the farm's goat and cow. Then Vincent blurts out "elephant" as his choice, leading up to Nanny McPhee trying (and succeeding) to hide a literal Elephant in the Living Room.
• Beware the Nice Ones: When the extent of Phil's wrongdoing is finally made known to Isabel, Isabel takes the other end of the manacles he is holding, after his failed attempt at getting the warden to arrest him so he'd be safe, and cuffs him to the stove-rack.
• Big Bad: Phil's efforts to manipulate the Greens into selling the family farm are what cause all the problems in the film, with the exception of the UXB, which was just poor timing.
• Big Ol' Unibrow: Like in the first film, one of Nanny McPhee's unflattering features that disappear as she bonds with the children is a large, bushy unibrow.
• Black Cloak: One of these helps to intensify Nanny McPhee's spooky vibe, to the point where, in each film, we do not see her arms at all until she pulls out her magic walking stick for the first time.
• Blanket Tug O' War: The baby elephant takes Vincent's blanket for itself.
• Blatant Lies:
  • Nanny McPhee offers a strange justification for herself, calling herself an "army nanny" that had been deployed and was remunerated by the military, who had arranged her own accommodation, to assuage Isabel's concerns of her not being able to afford a nanny.
  • Phil Green himself frequently lies to Isabel in an attempt to get her to sell the farm, because he lost it in a bet in one of Mrs. Biggle's riverside casinos, and she sent hit-women after him.
• Blitz Evacuees: The cousins from London. Though that wasn't the only reason they were sent to the countryside...
• Brainy Pig: Zigzagged. The piglets do synchronised swimming and climb trees, as a result of Nanny McPhee's magic. The guy who buys them claims that he knew a pig who could play Scrabble and another who could count to ten in French. He turns out to be joking for the last one, but he admits that pigs are clever animals.
• Brick Joke:
  • At a picnic, Mr. Docherty gives a hypothetical scenario of an enemy pilot with a bad cold sneezing, and accidentally dropping a bomb on the empty countryside, which ends up happening at the climax of the film. Fortunately, the bomb does not immediately explode, and can be defused.
  • Ellie, the elephant that Vincent shared his bed with, who returns to help Celia and Megsie stop Isabel from signing away the farm, by stealing Phil's pens.
• Bright Is Not Good: Topsey and Turvey both wear bright clothing with popping colors, and they're both hitwomen.
• But Now I Must Go: As Nanny McPhee says about herself:
  "There is something you should understand about the way I work. 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."
• Cassandra Truth: When the kids talk about the pigs' amazing abilities, like synchronized swimming and climbing trees, Isabel tells them to stop telling lies.
• Casual Danger Dialogue:
  • When the bomb hits:
    Vincent: I'm going to get under the table.
    Mrs Green: I'll pop the kettle on.
    Mr Docherty: Mine's a milk and two sugars.
  • When the bomb is about to explode:
    Mrs. Docherty [into a megaphone pointed at Mr Docherty]: Wake up, Algernon. I don't want you to miss the bomb going off.
• Chekhov's Skill: From a bird of all things, whose predilection for putty comes in handy when defusing a bomb.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Mrs. Docherty's a bit odd, seemingly from a mix of old age and innate whimsy. She stores treacle by pouring it into her shop's drawers, decides to sit on a cow pat even after learning what it is, because it looks comfortable, and when her husband, a safety marshal, faints during the bomb defusing panic, she earnestly tries to wake him up so he doesn't miss the explosion.
• Continuity Nod: Mrs. Docherty turns out to be Aggie, the youngest Brown child from the previous movie. She still has her precious rattle.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: Nanny McPhee's preferred method of punishment. Won't stop fighting? She will make you beat yourselves up.
• Cool Bike: Nanny McPhee's motorcycle initially seems like a fairly ordinary motorcycle. Except that it can fly, and move much more quickly than a regular motorcycle. It even includes a place for her to put her stick, and a sidecar for the children.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: Mr. Docherty, the safety marshal, seems to have some of the eccentricity of his wife, recommending that Isabel and the children wear safety helmets whilst out on a picnic in a field. He provides an example of an enemy pilot with a terrible cold sneezing and accidentally dropping a bomb on the family. That is exactly what happens later on in the film, when an enemy pilot with a terrible cold sneezes and accidentally drops a bomb onto the Green family's barley field.

• Dark Is Not Evil: Nanny McPhee wears dark clothes and may be a frightening woman with an unsettling appearance, but her approach is always effective and she shows a true caring for the issues close to the families' hearts.
• Disappeared Dad: Rory Green is away fighting in The War^note Implied to be World War II.
• Eek, a Mouse!!: Faked by Celia to keep her aunt Isabel from signing Phil's contract to sell the farm. When the film cuts back to the scene, we find out that she manages to pull this off for thirty minutes, screaming the whole time.
• "Eureka!" Moment: The kids in the second film have one when they realize it wasn't some military tech or gas that Nanny McPhee used on them, but magic.
• Fooled by the Sound: When Algernon whistles to demonstrate a bomb falling, Mrs. Docherty thinks it's the kettle.
• Foreshadowing: A British Royal Guard turns out to be one of Nanny McPhee's charges from the past. So was old Mrs. Docherty— known as Agatha/Aggie Brown before her marriage.
• Freak Out: When the bomb hits, it seems the pressure of the last few days - trying to get Isabel to sell the farm before time runs out and Topsy and Turvy butcher him - hits Phil all at once and he starts desperately begging Mr Docherty to arrest him, where he'll be safe, much to everybody's confusion.
• Freudian Slip: When Uncle Phil is under threat from two women who keep talking about taking his kidneys out, he once accidentally blurts out that he'll "lose the kidneys" when meaning to say, "sale".
• Frozen Fashion Sense: Nanny McPhee's personal attire hasn't changed in the decades since the previous story, though she briefly dons a contemporary army uniform when speaking to a former charge.
• Full-Name Basis: We're given no alternative address for Nanny McPhee herself, and nobody refers to her as any less than her full title. An army recruit and former 'patient' of hers in the second film refers to her as "ma'am," but only after providing the complete title first.
• Gasshole: Mr. Edelweiss the jackdaw's habit of eating inappropriate substances, such as putty, consistently turns him into one, as it gives him collywobbles.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Mrs. Biggles is a casino owner who Phil owes gambling debts to. While she never appears in the film, she's the one who sends Topsey and Turvey after Phil, thus driving Phil to his Big Bad actions.
• Hollywood Board Games: Proof that the pigs are clever animals is that the buyer claims they can play Scrabble just fine, even those who are unaffected by Nanny McPhee's magic.
• Inexplicably Awesome: We don't know where Nanny McPhee got her powers from. She seems to be the only person with magic.
• Injured Limb Episode: Rory Green has his arm in a sling when he returns at the end of the film.
• Kicking My Own Butt: Nanny McPhee casts a spell on the Greens and their cousins, causing them to fight themselves rather than each other while Vincent gets compelled to destroy their valuables, and will end up destroying their father's letters if the scene goes on. She agrees to lift the spell if they apologize for hurting each other.
• Leap of Faith: In the sequel film, one of Nanny McPhee's medals is for Leaps of Faith and, at the end of the film, she awards it to Isabel.
• Lighter and Softer: The second film has a lot more whimsical, extravagant, and perhaps frivolous uses of magic, and the scary vibe around Nanny McPhee herself is reduced, with her participating in more comedic moments.
• Light Is Not Good: Miss Topsey and Miss Turvey are both pretty blond women who wear bright clothing, and sound sweet and friendly. They're also mercenaries who are perfectly happy to kill anyone Mrs. Biggles asks them to.
• Magical Nanny: Nanny McPhee shows up to help parents who are at their wits' end and teaches the kids to behave, whether they want to or not. She also possesses magical powers, which she mostly channels through her stick.
• Meaningful Name: While not prominent, Celia and Cyril's surname is Gray, while Isabel's family is Green. Celia and Cyril come from the city while Isabel's family lives on the countryside.
• Missing Mom: Rory Green is away serving in "the War," and is thus unaware of his brother Phil's attempts to con his wife Isabel out of their farm in order to pay Phil's gambling debts.
• Mistaken Identity: Phil Green is initially terrified by Nanny McPhee's appearance, fearfully asking if she's Mrs. Biggles.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The girls have to prevent Isabel from signing the deed to the farm, and Megsie successfully filches uncle Phil's pen. When Phil finds three more in a drawer, Nanny McPhee intervenes by bringing back the baby elephant to snatch the three pens without him knowing. And then he finds the first pen on Megsie.
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Miss Topsy and Miss Turvy in the sequel, who talk about harvesting Phil's kidneys and taxidermising him with mad glee.
• Not So Above It All:
  • Nanny McPhee, upon hearing that the children are catching the pigs too easily, uses her magic to make them climb trees, do somersaults, and various other gymnastic acts, to make them harder for the children to catch.
  • She also summons Ellie to steal Phil's pens, and help Celia and Megsie stop Isabel from signing away the farm.
• Novelization: This film has one written by Emma Thompson, who plays Nanny McPhee and was the writer for both films. It was her first ever children's book and it takes the form of a movie filming diary mixed in with the film's story.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: Lord Gray. He is unresponsive to Cyril's request to look into the status of his father, after Cyril received a telegram from the War Office stating that he had been killed in action, Lord Gray disbelieving that Norman could "feel it in his bones" that Rory Green was alive.
• Overly Long Scream: Celia when faking seeing a mouse. She apparently had been screaming for half an hour straight.
• Pet the Dog: Cyril and Celia’s butler is just as pompous as they are and wants to leave them behind as fast as possible, but when he returns to give them some unfortunate news involving their parents he is much softer to them and even seems to be on the verge of tears showing he does care for their well-being.
• Really 700 Years Old: Nanny McPhee appears the same in both movies despite a possible time difference of 60 years, Agatha Brown, the baby in the first film having grown into an elderly woman in that time.
• Revolting Rescue: Eidelwiess the talking jackdaw inadvertently saves Uncle Phil by burping so hard he blows Phil's would-be killers away.
• Running Gag: Mrs. Docherty is always doing and saying silly things, such as opening all the flour onto the floor of her store, filling all the drawers behind the counter with treacle, or sitting on a cowpat ("Can I sit on it anyway? It looks so comfortable.").
• The Stinger: At the end, the elephant gets to enjoy the Scratch-o-Matic machine that was designed for the pigs.
• Time Bomb: Of a sort. An unexploded bomb drops and must be defused, with the pressure of error and its potential to explode at any moment by itself. It becomes a time-bomb, when it turns out that there is a secret third wire that must be cut after the first two, or else the bomb detonates in 10 seconds.
• Title Drop: Mr. Docherty warns Isabel and family of the threat of bombings, calling it "the Big Bang". The American title averts this.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Megsie and Celia, although the difference is less obvious as the movie goes on and they get closer to each other.
• Trapped by Gambling Debts: Why Phil is so desperate in convincing Isabel to sell the Greens' farm. He gambled away the farm at a casino, despite only legally owning half of it, and the casino's owner has sent two hit women to either collect it, or his kidneys.
• Trickster Mentor:
  • Nanny McPhee always has five lessons to teach. What form they take, and what lessons the children learn is entirely up to them.
  • While she is a nanny to the children, not all the lessons are for the children. Lesson 5, to have faith, is implied to apply to Isabel as well as her children.
• Villainous Breakdown: Phil Green undergoes one when an unexploded bomb hits the farm. Believing it to be a sign that Topsy and Turvey are going to kill him, he starts begging Mr. Docherty to handcuff him, so that he'll be safe. When Mr. Docherty leaves to deal with the bomb, he turns to the Green family, asking them for much the same.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Megsie is appalled when she sees Celia wearing her mother's wedding dress, having stolen it from her wardrobe without permission.
• Wardrobe Wound: Celia shrieks more about her new clothes being dragged in the mud than during the ensuing beat-'em-up scene.
• Wicked Witch: Nanny McPhee takes significant cues from this. She's an old woman who wears a conservative outfit in all black, with an ugly nose, snaggle tooth, and warts, wielding a magic stick. The second film even gives her an animal companion who is strongly implied to be a human she transformed. Of course, she's not actually evil and her witchy elements decrease as the family learns and improves.
• Wire Dilemma: With an unexploded bomb. According to the bomb defusing manual, all enemy bombs are like this, with wires that must be cut in specific sequence to defuse the bomb.

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