Entertainment : From the front row of the balcony: Movie industry needs more like Nanny McPhee

Paul Harvey – whom Americas misses way more than Americans realize – used to say, “Wash your ears out with this.”

He used that phrase after sharing some particularly bad news, and just before sharing something good.

I thought of Paul Harvey Saturday night at the Palace, as I sat watching “Nanny McPhee Returns.”

I had spent my last two nights at the Palace looking for good things to say about “The Other Guys” and “Expendables.” I didn’t find many.

I expected, before going to see the movie, to sit in a theater full of families with lots of children, enjoying the movie along with them.

That is exactly what I did.

If you remember the first Nanny McPhee movie, you certainly knew what to expect: A houseful of children in need of guidance find themselves powerless and frightened at the sight of the ugly nanny.

Like she did in the first movie, Nanny McPhee shows up – uninvited, at least by the children – with an agenda.

There’s nothing really surprising about the second “Nanny McPhee” movie, other than how much fun you have along the journey. ‘

The story:

Isabel Green (Maggy Gyllenhaal) is struggling to raise three children on a farm in England during World War II. It’s been three months since she has heard from her soldier husband, although it seems to the youngest child like years. The family is struggling to get by; Isabel’s brother-in-law is urging her to sell the farm (so he can pay off a gambling debt) but they are getting along with each other.

But then the snobby, rich city cousins show up on the farm – “the land of poo,”’ in the their eyes.

The city kids and country kids spend all of their time arguing, pushing Mrs. Green to the edge. In addition to handling the farm and the children, she also has the unenviable job of trying to run a general store with the assistance of an elderly and apparently senile woman who has forgotten how to store flour or syrup.

That’s when the call goes up: We need Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson, who wrote and produced the movie).

With the help of the good nanny, the children learn the five lessons she came to teach them, while learning how to work together to save the farm and find out what really happened to their father on the battlefield.

Why you should go:

It’s Nanny McPhee. She’s frighteningly ugly at first, but Emma Thomson has given us another delightful family story. In addition to the five lessons – stop fighting, share, work together, be brave, and understand that faith makes you complete – Emma Thompson and Nanny McPhee teach the audience a bit of history, while making us smile, laugh and just feel good all over.

What you should know before you go:

The Palace is the best place (and of course the cheapest) to see this movie on the big screen. The youngest children may be frightened at first by their first impression of Nanny McPhee, but soon they – like the children in the movie – will love her.

My favorite part:

I have always disliked synchronized swimming. But seeing that Olympic event performed the way it appears in Nanny McPhee is a complete joy.