Genre: Drama/Biography/Musical
Starring: Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Annie Rose Buckley, Colin Farrell, Ruth Wilson, B.J. Novak, Jason Schwartzman
Mary Poppins, written by P.L. Travers (Thompson), went down in history as being one of the most memorable children's book. The movie is inspired by Travers' own life in Australia and the hardships she faced due to her fathers drinking problem and their ongoing poverty. When Walt Disney (Hanks) first read her book, he instantly felt the need to make it into a movie and promised his daughters that he would do so. Travers did not want her book to become a movie, being of the opinion that Disney would ruin it and not give it complete justice. However, Travers was under financial pressure and felt compelled to allow Disney to make a movie out of it, only if she had the last say in everything. Her terms, as it turned out, were quite preposterous and it gave the Disney team a very hard time. Right from not being animated, whether Mr.Banks must have a moustache or not and the complete non-presence of the colour red anywhere in the movie, Travers dictated all the terms and Disney was compelled to bow down to each of it. The movie traces how Mary Poppins became a movie and the constant battle between Disney and Travers. There were constant flashbacks to Travers' young days in Australia and how her life there inspired her to write Mary Poppins. The movie appears to be a little slow, especially the moments in Australia but it progresses well to give a touching and extremely heart-ful ending. It always been said that the philosophy of Walt Disney is to always have a smile on your face, no matter what the situation is and Tom Hanks seems to have carried forward Disney in an impeccable fashion. An extremely interesting movie to watch sans the slightly slow bits.
Thumbs up: Tom Hanks
Thumbs down: The Australia story segment that is a bit slow
Rating: 8.1/10
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