Nanny Mcphee and the Big Bang (U)

Second time out for the warty child wrangler with magic powers in her walking stick.

Played by Emma Thompson (who also wrote the screenplay), Nanny McPhee arrives at a poor but picturesque farm to rescue Maggie Gyllenhaal's exhausted mum from the tyranny of her three children and two spoilt cousins. Father is away at some unspecified war – it's a storybook version of the 1940s Blitz, without terror or rationing – which is why wicked Uncle Phil (Rhys Ifans) is poised to sell off the farm to pay his gambling debts. Fields of swaying corn mix with corny swathes of English heritage – hurrah for ginger beer and Fairisle sweaters – though the farmyard slapstick and Poppins-style magic should keep the minors entertained. The cast I could take or leave, but I did love the piglets and their synchronised swimming.