Tear Jerker / Nanny McPhee

• Nanny's catchphrase of "When you don't want me, but need me, I will stay. If you want me but don't need me, I will have to go." In the first movie she even lampshades this as she finishes, noting how tragic it was. True to her word, her departure is a sad one.
  • What makes it even sadder is that, in the first movie, she just quietly slips out while everyone else is busy with Mr. Brown's wedding to Evangeline. No one gets a chance to say goodbye to her.
• When Mr. Brown finds out that someone DID go with Aunt Adelaide, and presumes it to be his beloved daughter Chrissie. Frantic, he chases after Adelaide's stagecoach but is unable to catch up. As the stagecoach rides away he wails the loss of his daughter... when suddenly all the children catch up to him, including Chrissie. So... who left with Adelaide? Evangeline, the scullery-maid. Also a Moment of Awesome for Evangeline.
  • Tora, the second-eldest, genuinely believed that her father would have told Aunt Adelaide straight away that he wouldn't allow her to take any of his children. When Chrissie, the second-youngest, tells her that he didn't say anything, she's stunned and just sits for a moment in silence. Chrissie seems just as dejected but completely unsurprised. Given how young she is, it's sad to realise just how distant Mr Brown has grown from his children that she would believe he doesn't mind Aunt Adelaide taking one of them away.
• After the children drive Mrs. Quickly away, there's this moment where Mr. Brown just looks so defeated as he tells them that she was the last thing standing between them and financial ruin. Them learning exactly how bad the family's situation is prompts them to make amends and convince her to marry their father.
• The scene with the Brown children and Selma Quickly on the day of her wedding to their father. When she thinks she’s alone with the children, she lets her true colors show as she snatches Aggie’s rattle from her and tells one of the children to calm the now crying baby. Then when Tora tells her that it’s their mother’s rattle, Selma smugly tells them that she’s their mother now and snaps it in half.
• When Mr Brown is too busy to read to his kids, and later when he tells them that some of them might go to the workhouse.
• Simon visiting his father at work and finding out about Mrs Quickly. Mr Brown snaps at him angrily and tells him to get out, prompting Simon to scream, "YOU NEVER LISTEN!" before running off.
• Mr Brown talking to his wife's chair. It's clear how much he misses her.
  • When the audience learns of his financial troubles and the deal with Aunt Adelaide and how desperate he is to keep his family together.
    Mr. Brown: Remember we talked about what would happen without her money? The bank will take the house. There'll be debtors' prison for me, workhouse for the older children. Goodness only knows what'll happen to little Chrissie. And as for Aggie... it's unimaginable.