When Walt
Disney's daughters begged him to make a movie of their favorite book, P.L.
Travers' "Mary Poppins," he made them a promise - one that he didn't realize
would take 20 years to keep. In his quest to obtain the rights, Walt comes up
against a curmudgeonly, uncompromising writer who has absolutely no intention of
letting her beloved magical nanny get mauled by the Hollywood machine. But, as
the books stop selling and money grows short, Travers reluctantly agrees to go
to Los Angeles to hear Disney's plans for the adaptation. For those two short
weeks in 1961, Walt Disney pulls out all the stops. Armed with imaginative
storyboards and chirpy songs from the talented Sherman brothers, Walt launches
an all-out onslaught on P.L. Travers, but the prickly author doesn't budge. He
soon begins to watch helplessly as Travers becomes increasingly immovable and
the rights begin to move further away from his grasp. It is only when he
reaches into his own childhood that Walt discovers the truth about the ghosts
that haunt her, and together they set Mary Poppins free to ultimately make one
of the most endearing films in cinematic history.
This was a very well
done movie and while it eventually got to the happy ending, this was not a light
and fluffy Disney movie by any means. The back story of the author's childhood
was tough at times. However, the back and forth jumping in the timeline to
explain the much deeper levels of Mary Poppins was amazing storytelling. It
definitely keeps the viewer hooked and wanting to know why PL Travers was the
way she was. Tom Hanks was great at Walt Disney but the best acting of the
movie by far was Emma Thompsen and Paul Giamatti as her driver.
I would
definitely recommend people checking this movie out. It is great storytelling
on a couple different levels and has some really good acting.
