This adaptation of the Nurse Matilda books wants to be an amalgam of Mary Poppins, the
Harry Potter films and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events – Emma Thompson, also the screenwriter, plays a magical governess of sorts who tends to a rowdy British brood of seven children – but the movie really belongs to the genre of excruciating mega-family comedies. Like Cheaper by the Dozen and Yours, Mine & Ours, this strenuously whimsical family film relies on the supposed cuteness of monstrously behaving children; the thin comedic value of clueless parents; and the questionable appeal of repeated pratfalls involving the family pet. The movie also is off-putting in a garish way: The color scheme feels strangely out of whack – the rooms are painted violent blues, reds and greens for no clear thematic reason – and director Kirk Jones never tires of showcasing the movie’s most unpleasant characters in claustrophobic close-up.
