PLOT: Now an adult with three children, bank teller Michael Banks learns that his house will be repossessed in five days unless he can pay back a loan. His only hope is to find a missing certificate that shows proof of valuable shares that his father left him years earlier. Just as all seems lost, Michael and his sister receive the surprise of a lifetime when Mary Poppins — the beloved nanny from their childhood — arrives to save the day and take the Banks family on a magical, fun-filled adventure.
REVIEW: Like Mary Poppins herself, this long awaited sequel is practically perfect in every way…but one.
First and foremost is the casting in this film, which is by far one of the best aspects of the film. In particular, and out front is Emily Blunt in the titular role, and she knocks it out of the park. My gosh, the personality, the charm, and the voice. Everyone else was fantastic. But, this movie sank or swam based on how Emily did, and I know she made Julie Andrews proud. It was also wonderful that they could get Dick Van Dyke back as Mr Dawes, and boy he still has it.
I loved the story, and the care that was taken to recreate the sets, and more so, the care that went into using classic animation for some of the integrated scenes.
The music was very Mary Poppins. In fact it had the same feel and sound. But, here is my one complaint, it lacked the memorability of the music from the original. It all sounded like it was Mary Poppins, but, nothing you could walk out of the theater singing or humming, like we all did as kids with the original film, with classic Mary Poppins tunes like “A Spoonful of Sugar,” “Feed the Birds,” “Super-Cali-fragil-istic-expi-ali-docious,” “Chim Chiminey,” and “Step In Time.” In the end, the music was the greatest let down of this new film, and felt it really felt it was unworthy of ALL the hard work that went into everything else in the film. The music just felt hollow, and plain, like it was written for a straight to DVD film.
SPOILER: I was very disappointed that the Colin Firth’s character didn’t learn the joy of imagination, in the balloon scene at the end. It seemed a little cheap for him to get a dud balloon from the balloon lady. Yes, it was good for a laugh, but, like the music, it felt hollow.
CONCLUSION: Mary Poppins Returns is a fun film, great for the kids, and parents alike…especially for fans who grew up loving the original film. I give the film a solid 8 out of 10 Potatoes.
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