FAQ

Similar to the first movie, Nanny McPhee is charged with helping the three Green children—Vincent (Oscar Steer), Norman (Asa Butterfield), and Megsie (Lil Woods) Green—and their two spoiled cousins from London—Cyril (Eros V) and Celia (Rosie Taylor-Ritson) Gray—learn to get along when the Gray children come to stay on the Greens' farm during World War II.

Nanny McPhee Returns (released as Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang in England) is based on a series of three Nurse Matilda books (Nurse Matilda (1964), Nurse Matilda Goes to Town (1967), and Nurse Matilda Goes to Hospital (1974)), all written by British children's author Christianna Brand [1907-1988]. The movie is a sequel to Nanny McPhee (2005) (2005). Emma Thompson, who plays the role of Nanny McPhee, wrote the screenplays for both movies.

They are, in order: (1) to stop fighting, (2) to share nicely, (3) to help each other, (4) to be brave, and (5) to have faith.

Yes. Nanny McPhee has the same two warts on her face, the unibrow, drab gray hair, and her snaggle tooth, just like in the first movie. Also like in the first movie, when the children learn their lessons, Nanny McPhee becomes more and more handsome. In this movie, when they learn to stop fighting, the wart near her nose disappears. When they learn to share their beds, the wart on her chin disappears. The unibrow disappears when they learn to help each other catch missing piglets. When the children are brave enough to disarm the unexploded bomb (UXB), her hair changes from gray to blondish-brown. The snaggle tooth disappears when the family learns to have faith.

To celebrate catching the piglets, Mrs. Green (Maggie Gyllenhaal) takes the children on a picnic. At one point, she offers a choice between egg and cress sandwiches or bloater paste sandwiches. Bloater paste is a sort of fish paste made from "bloaters" (salted, smoked herring). Bloater paste on toast was popular during the Victorian and Edwardian eras but has since fallen in popularity.

After Megsie defuses the UXB, thanks to Edelweiss' help, Nanny McPhee says that lesson four, to be brave, is complete, and her hair changes from gray to golden brown. Unfortunately, Edelweiss begins to blow up after eating all the explosive putty. Nanny McPhee stamps her cane in the barley field, causing Edelweiss to burp it all out. The strong wind created by his burp sweeps over the field and whips through the house, harvesting all the barley into bales and blowing Topsey and Turvey away, saving Uncle Phil (Rhys Ifans) (who is still chained in the kitchen) from being stuffed. While the children play on the grain chute, Nanny McPhee and Mrs Docherty make their goodbyes. It is then revealed that Aggy Docherty is the same Little Aggy who was a baby in the first movie. As Nanny McPhee heads across the barley field, Isabel and the children notice that she is leaving and go running after her, shouting, "Come back! I need you!" They almost catch up with her at the top of a hill when suddenly their father (Ewan McGregor) appears, his arm in a sling. Many hugs and kisses later, Nanny McPhee looks back, and her snaggle tooth is gone. "Lesson five...to have faith...is complete," she says. With Edelweiss on her shoulder, she continues to walk away.

During the credits, there are scenarios featuring characters from the movie in various cartoon situations. At the end of the credits, there is a very short scene of the baby elephant getting brushed by the Scratch-o-Matic.