Five brothers and sisters find their uncle has a big surprise hidden in his estate in this comic fantasy for the whole family. Not long after World War I breaks out, five children -- Cyril (Jonathan Bailey), Robert (Freddie Highmore), Anthea (Jessica Claridge), Jane (Poppy Rogers), and Lamb -- find themselves in dangerous circumstances when their father is sent off to fight, and their mother volunteers to be a field nurse. Unable to care for themselves, the children are sent to the country, where they stay with their eccentric uncle Albert (Kenneth Branagh) and his ill-tempered son, Horace (Alexander Pownall), in Albert's ramshackle home. Uncle Albert has more than a few rules about what the children can and cannot do, but his strictest edict is that the children must never go into his greenhouse. Of course, the children's curiosity gets the better of them, and they sneak in to discover their uncle's big secret -- the building is home to Psammead (voice of Eddie Izzard), an ugly and often bad-mannered "sand fairy" who has the ability to grant wishes. However, the kids discover that Psammead's wishes only last for 24 hours, and that they have a strange habit of backfiring on their beneficiaries. 5 Children & It was based on the classic book for children by E. Nesbit; Psammead was realized onscreen with a puppet created by Jim Henson's celebrated Creature Shop.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide