MARY POPPINS RETURNS – A Review by John Strange
Mary Poppins returns to save the same children she helped in Mary Poppins back in 1964. Michael and Jane Banks (Ben Whishaw and Emily Mortimer) are all grown up now. Michael has three children of his own. Anabel, John, and Georgie (Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, and Joel Dawson) are surprisingly well adjusted children who, with their father, are dealing with the loss of the kid’s mother/Michael’s wife the previous year.
Michael has forgotten to make the payments on a loan he took to get the family through his late wife’s illness. The bank (the one he works at) is going to repossess the house. This is when our favorite nanny, Mary Poppins, arrives to bring order to the family and save the day.
The bad guy in this story is Colin Firth playing the nephew of Mr. Dawes Jr. He is greedy in a way his uncle would NEVER go along with if he knew about what was going on. The story, because of this evil, has a dark tone except for the flights of fancy that Mary brings to the kids.
When the first trailer for Mary Poppins Returns hit the internet, I was excited! Mary Poppins was one of my favorite films and I was going to get to see the magic light up the silver screen again! Rob Marshall is writer, director, producer, and choreographer of this film. It is obvious he really had a strong vision of what he wanted. Sadly, the story he has given us feels forced in many sections, the dance numbers are boring, and the songs are really not very memorable.
While the film has a feel good ending, in my opinion the dark scenes over-power the cheerful ones. I liked it but I just don’t love it. Like me, many adults may not be able to set aside the beauty of the original but I think kids will enjoy it mostly for the animated scenes and the dance number with the bicycle trick riders.
I give Mr. Marshall and Mary Poppins Returns a B for effort. There are a couple of nice surprises in the film but they don’t save it.
Directed by: Rob Marshall
Cast: Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, Joel Dawson, Colin Firth, Meryl Streep
MPAA Rating: PG (for some mild thematic elements and brief action)
Selig Rating: B
Runtime: 130 Min.
Movie Site: https://movies.disney.com/mary-poppins-returns
The Selig Rating Scale:
A – Excellent movie, well worth the price.
B – Good movie
C – OK movie
D – No need to rush. Save it for a rainy day.
F – Good that I saw it on the big screen but wish I hadn’t paid for it.
