Mary Poppins Returns
/“One thing you should know about Mary Poppins: she never explains anything.”
Filmology Rating: 3 out of 4
When Disney announced that they were going to make a sequel to the 1964 classic Mary Poppins I felt my heart sink. If I were asked to name ten of my favorite films Mary Poppins would always be named, if asked now or if asked twenty years ago shortly after first seeing the film, my love for the film has never dampered. Mary Poppins simply had a world of wonder and awe to live up to, which is no small feat, but it manages to recapture some of that magic that makes us relive our childhood innocence.
It’s been twenty-five years since Mary Poppins, played by Emily Blunt, left the Banks family. Things in the Banks household are not going smoothly as Michael Banks, played by Ben Whishaw, has recently lost his wife and is having a difficult time keeping the household together. Mary Poppins returns to help Michael and his family realize that growing up is something that everyone does but it never hurts to feel the wonder of childhood again.
From a conceptual level the most appealing, and also terrifying aspect for screenwriter David Magee, Life of Pi, is that you have a complete blank slate when crafting a sequel. It’s one of the greatest blessings that you have no other sequels to live up to, so you could take the film in any direction you wish. While P.L. Travers wrote eight “Mary Poppins” books in total, the 1964 film took the best elements of the earlier novels, leaving in theory plotlines from the newer books to adapt for the new story. Since I have never read a “Mary Poppins” novel I cannot begin to tell the difference from a Travers creation and a Walt Disney creation, but the final result in Mary Poppins Returns feels of one piece with the original film. While it might have taken the most simplistic story troupes from the first film and inverted them with this new film, they still feel impactful and rather emotional and as they say if it’s not broke don’t fix it.
I would argue that the aspect that most people remember from the original film are the songs. Mary Poppins Returns had an enormous uphill battle with the songs since most film goers either have a soft spot for the earworms crafted by the Sherman Brothers or they have just become immune to the charm of the songs since they have become a part of popular culture. While I do like most of the songs, “A Conversation” in particular is especially moving, they don’t seem to have the same memorability that the original songs had. The new songs composed by “Hairspray” team Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman are all good songs but they don’t overly sound different from one another; they all have the same tone which becomes slightly monotonous by the end of the film. One aspect I liked about these songs more than the original is that these all have a lesson that can be learned from them which can redeem the songs from all carrying the same tone.
The one scene that adds nothing to the overall narrative of the film is the scene with Topsy played by Meryl Streep. While the song “Turning Turtle” has a good lesson for the children to learn, like all of the songs in the film do, it just seems like a needless detour to add some padding to an already long film. This scene is clearly the replacement for the Uncle Albert scene from the first film but at least that film had a joke that was called back to numerous times during that film, in fact Mary Poppins Returns even has a callback to the joke which brought a huge smile to my face. After getting over the nostalgia factor it becomes increasingly clear that the character of Topsy nor the song that she sings needed to be in the film since it doesn’t advance either character or plot.
While most of the world is fawning over Lady Gaga’s performance in A Star is Born I would argue that we finally have an actual race for Best Actress at the Academy Awards this year. Emily Blunt has proven time and time again that she is a spectacular and dynamic actress! For those who need more convincing of this simple fact, I urge you to watch The Devil Wears Prada and Sicario. Blunt captures the firm yet caring hand that you must have as a parental figure, the whimsical wit that will charm the most cynical of people, she simply becomes Mary Poppins. Blunt transforms into the character so phenomenally well that you have to remind yourself that she isn’t actually Mary Poppins but an actress playing the character; that is something that cannot be said for any other performance given by an actress this year.
While I cannot say that Mary Poppins Returns is practically perfect in every way, I can happily say that you will have a jolly holiday while watching the film and you will simply feel your spirits fly, as high as the balloon that you once clinged to during childhood.
Rating: See It
-Jonny G
Mary Poppins Returns is another Disney reboot/soft reboot/sequel that was green lit because the women who held the rights to the original film died. So it's time for everyone's favorite Hollywood hacks to make a sequel and cash in! I also called it weeks ago that this would be the same theme/plot as Hook and Christopher Robin. As the Banks family has money issues and may lose their house due to foreclosure from the Bank, Mary Poppins returns to inject some joy in the lives of the Banks family and the depressed people in the audience because a border wall was just approved.
I have always said, "they don't make movies like they used to." Time to put that quote to bed because this feels like a sequel a few years after the 60s films came out. This film felt very old Hollywood with big musical numbers with actors who can sing and dance along with a cliche plot. It was quite enjoyable at times.
The biggest positive of the film is Emily Blunt as Marry Poppins who was terrific. She was the best part of the film by having a sort of edge to her that worked. It was Emily Blunt having fun with the character and not doing an impersonation of the original character.
What was most apparent in the film was this sense of child-like wonder that has been missing from film for a while. The sense of just having fun and using your imagination is what this movie dives into and captures wonderfully. The music was very ear-wormy, but not catchy enough to get them stuck in your head.
The plot was cliche and generic, but as this being a film for children, it's something that has to be overlooked. For a children's film, you have to look for distinct themes and if they are repeated for children to grasp (unlike The Grinch) and this film does that many times through songs.
The musical numbers were incredibly creative and choreographed to where it did feel like a 60s Disney film along with the hand drawn animation that was a strange contrast to the live action, but suited the thought of using your imagination. I found a sharp contrast with the Marry Poppins scenes and the Mr. Banks scenes and it made an odd jump in fun to boring for me, which I suppose was the point, however, it stuck out. The music also felt a little timed. Like after fifteen minutes or so, when you started to feel bored, music would start playing and then the creative scenes would occur.
I also felt that Ben Wishaw (Mr. Banks) was playing dress up to me. He looked like a 22 year old college student wearing a mustache in a musical put on by his local school. It just felt odd to me because in Skyfall, the joke was that he was a young kid working at MI6.
However, this is a film that injected a fun child-like wonder of imagination into the film and made for an enjoyable time as adults in and out of the film felt what it was like to be a child again. And by that I mean all of the elderly people who were in the theater.
Rating: See It
-Nolan