yeojennifer

Absolutely brilliant. It's the Von Trapp family meets Mary Poppins. The kids were wonderful and played their parts very well. The boy from 'Love Actually' is just fantastic.

Colin Firth was at his best portraying the rather lost and muddled man that he has perfected in movies such as 'Love Actually', Bridget Jones's Diary'.

Emma Thompson has created a wonderful screenplay, having never read the book(s) I am not sure how close to the story she came. She is amazing as the infamous 'Nanny' and pulls it off with aplomb. She is a very talented actor and writer.

The story follows the trials of Colin Firth's character trying to find a Nanny for his seven children (he even seems a little confused as to how he has so many), after the demise of his wife - which is never really explained in the movie. The children have very active imaginations and have read way too many children's books so therefore are very familiar with the 'step-monster' syndrome. Their father has really no idea who they are as he has always worked and left the child rearing to his late wife. It is a lovely story about hope, family and why you should tell your children what is going on in your life.

I really enjoyed the movie but it is very much a cartoon movie. There are some really cheesy lines and some interesting special effects that make it great for kids and those who are willing to suspend belief for 2 hrs and be entertained. I watched it mostly because I like Ioan Gruffudd who plays Mr. Fantastic (and boy is he ever). Jessica Alba can't seem to find an intelligent movie to appear in, but lots of skimpy clothes. At least she was wearing more than she did for 'Sleeping Dictionary'. I loved 'The Thing', Michael Chiklis did an amazing job running around with all that makeup on and that's what I call suffering for your art. Overall, I found the movie campy and very unrealistic but as long as you're only there to be entertained and not educated it's a fun ride.

I really found the ideas behind the show interesting. It may not have been for everyone's taste, but they certainly didn't hide from the big issues, such as cloning and plastic surgery. I only caught 3 episodes but I thought they were very aware of the issues that are being addressed in courtrooms and laboratories around the world. Some of them scenes did disturb me but so does CSI and that show is thankfully not going anywhere soon. Iam a big Ioan Gruffudd fan and thought his first foray into American television was very brave and as always, I applaud his choice to stay away from the mainstream.

I may also mention that having my sentence structure changed because the 'system' doesn't think I have enough lines is annoying.