MARY POPPINS RETURNS – Review

With the big year-end holidays just days away, many are rushing out of town to be with loved ones, which makes it a perfect time for the movies to ponder that age-old question, “Can you really go home again?”. In other words, can you recapture the wonder and general magic of our childhood years? The Disney Studios certainly hope that’s possible, for they’ve got a lot riding (financially and artistically) on a sequel to their founder’s last great box office triumph (certainly “Uncle” Walt’s biggest “mainly” live action hit). But wait, you may ask, didn’t that celebrated “man from Marceline Missouri” pass away in 1966? Exactly, and this classic hit theatres two years before that, even inspiring a “making of” docudrama five years ago, SAVING MR. BANKS. So, can this icon, a different sort of soaring super-heroine, save filmgoers from the holiday flick doldrums (so many of the end of the year films are “downers”)? Well, as fans across the globe will learn when MARY POPPINS RETURNS, she’s still practically perfect in every way.

The first person greeting us at the start of this tale is not Bert the chimney sweep, but Jack the lamp-lighter (Lin-Manuel Miranda) who rides his bike around dawn in the still darkened streets of London, though part of the darkness might be the fact that the city is in the throes of “The Great Slump” (in the states we called it a “Depression”). Yes, a lot has changed in the 25 years since we last visited Cherry Tree Lane. The Banks family still occupies a lovely home there, not far from the punctual Admiral Boom (David Warner), but it’s Michael (Ben Whitshaw) that’s the head of the household. He has three children of his own, ten-year-old Anabel (Pixie Davies), eight-year-old John (Nathanael Saleh), and six-year-old little Georgie (Joel Dawson), but no wife since she passed away fairly recently. Luckily Michael’s sister Jane (Emily Mortimer) helps out whenever possible, between protesting corruption and serving at the soup kitchen (some call her a “union organizer”, but she’sd no doubt prefer “defender of the downtrodden). Plus there’s long-time cook/housekeeper Ellen (Julie Walters) who seems more like part of the family. Unfortunately, Michael’s artistic aspirations have not been fruitful, so he has taken out a loan from the bank where his father worked, the old Fidelity Fiduciary (he’s a part-time clerk there). And now the loan is almost due and the bank will take the house in just a few days unless it’s paid in full. The sympathetic (seemingly) new bank manager, Mr. Wilkins (Colin Firth) insists that he’ll give them until midnight on that Friday. Oh, but didn’t Grandpa’ George buy bank stock notes? As they frantically look through the attic, Michael tosses out an old kite. The wind picks it up and takes it to the park where the children are playing. Lil’ Georgie grabs the string and is almost pulled into the sky until Jack rescues him and pulls at the kite. Suddenly the line goes slack, the clouds part to reveal that a woman floating by means of an umbrella is now holding the kite. It is the Banks’ former nanny Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt). She takes the trio home to a very surprised Michael and Jane (“You’ve not aged a day!”). Though they cannot pay her, Mary insists on taking charge of the three children. They then embark on a series of magical, musical adventures as the elder Bankses struggle to save the old house from foreclosure, something Mary’s magic cannot forestall. Or can it?

The main question in the minds of most fans of the character is how Ms. Blunt stacks up to the Oscar-winning performance of Julie Andrews in the original. The short answer is very well, with Blunt putting a similar but different spin on her. Yes, Mary’s still a tough taskmaster and stickler for order, but Blunt delights as she shows us her mischevious, fun-loving side, such as when she joins the kids for a “dive” into the bathtub, and later as she demures before going into a big musical number before a very appreciative animal audience. For that sprightly song, Mary drops the prim and proper to be a bit, well, bawdy as she doffs a derby and twirls a cane. Mere moments later she’s the ultimate caregiver, so soothing and warm as she helps the children cope with their recent loss (the ballad “The Place Where Lost Things Go”). And as we heard in her role recently in INTO THE WOODS, Blunt has a most lovely singing voice. The same can be said of her frequent dance partner here, Miranda, who has taken over the Bert functions (it’s explained that Jack was an apprentice to Bert, and waved to little Jane from the rooftops). Best known for rapping in the Broadway smash “Hamilton”, Miranda even gets to indulge in a bit of the same during that earlier mentioned number with Blunt. Later he keeps up expertly as the leader of the “Leeries” (lamplighters) in the energetic (exhausting really) “Trip a Little Light Fantastic”. Unfortunately, the Jack character can be a little cloying to the point of preciousness as he seems to condescend to the kids (always on the verge of a wink), and he appears to grab screen time away from Mary. And who in the make-up department thought the “five o’clock shadow” effect didn’t look like a child’s “hobo” Halloween outfit (either grow some stubble or be clean-shaven, really)?

Yes, it’s basically the Mary and Jack show, but the supporting cast gets many chances to shine. From a dramatic standpoint, Whishaw is the story’s bruised, almost broken heart. Life has truly pummeled him, and like his papa, Mary needs to “save” him and remind him of life’s joys. We see all this through Whishaw’s sad, sunken eyes which show a spark as Mary enters his lofe once more. Though not as tragic as her brother, Mortimer is excellent as the grown empathetic sis who seems to have never forgotten those sweet moments of generosity. Plus she has some lovely moments with Jack, as the hint of romance makes Jane’s bubbly attitude return. Firth oozes silky menace as the duplicitous money-lender, going from sweet (around Michael) to sour on a dime (if his mustache weren’t pencil-thin he’s be twirling it as he thinks of taking the house). Warner’s a loveable old crank as the time-obsessed neighbor. Blunt’s frequent film co-star Meryl Streep shows up for a song and dance as Mary’s wacky, repair-shop owner Cousin Topsy. Sporting a bright red flapper wig and doing a Fanny Brice-style Old World accent, her “Turning Turtle” number is a bit of forced whimsy that grinds the plot to a halt, though Streep, as usual, gives her utmost effort. Another screen veteran, Angela Landsbury, works much better as the Balloon Lady as she sings a spirited rendition of the very catchy final tune “Nowhere to Go But Up”. Oh, the new trio of Banks kids are pretty great, very natural and endearing. But they’re not nearly as adorable as the film’s scene-stealer Navckid Keyd, whose number at the bank office is a real “show stopper”. This fella’s going places, even with that tongue-twisting moniker.

Movie musical vet Rob Marshall (CHICAGO, INTO THE WOODS) keeps the story moving along at a fairly brisk pace, making its over two-hour running time almost breeze by (despite the “Turtle” number and the endless stunt cyclers). And there’s plenty of good-natured humor in the script he co-wrote with David Magee and John DeLuca (based on the characters and stories created by P.L. Travers) which recalls many of the “story beats” of the original without being an exact “carbon copy”. The same could be said somewhat with the original songs and score by Marc Shaiman (with a lyric assist from Scott Wittman) which evoke bits of the iconic score by “The Boys”, as Disney called the Sherman Brothers (try and watch the superb documentary THE BOYS for some great insight into the 1964 film) while having a distinct sprightly, hummable energy and offering a familiar formula (“Step in Time”=”Trip a Little Light Fantastic”,”I Love to Laugh”=”Turning Turtle”, and so on). Time will tell if they’ll have the staying power of Robert and Richard’s melodies (my bet is on the infectious “A Cover is Not the Book” and “Can You Imagine That?”). And big big kudos to Mr. Marshall on insisting that the animated sequence (the highpoint of the original for me) be produced in “hand-drawn” 2D rather than computer-aided 3D (though tech helped with shadows and mixing in the live actors). The line work on the pastel-attired menagerie is delicate, almost “whispy” as though lightly brushed on ceramic as opposed to heavier scratchy lines of the first film. The audience of “The Royal Doughton Music Hall” is a delight that suddenly turns dark and full of danger as a cartoon wolf behaves more like one of the human predators. The whole film greatly benefits from the very talented craftspeople led by production designer John Myhre and photographed with dazzling skill by Dion Beebe with great use of real UK locales (the first film was shot entirely on Hollywood sound stages). So, did the filmmakers “go home again”. For the most part, they’ve produced a most happy “homecoming”. Remembering that 2013 “behind the scenes” film, I’d surmise that “Uncle” Walt would have a grand ole’ time with this while Mrs. Travers would be fairly irritated (too much use of the red color for one thing). With so much discord and darkness filling the news these days, audiences should find a much welcome escape by revisiting the magic when MARY POPPINS RETURNS.

4 Out of 5