Mary Poppins Returns

Runtime: 2 hours, 10 minutes
Rating: PG
Director: Rob Marshall

Quick Impressions:
I loved this movie so much. Honestly my intensely positive reaction took me by surprise. I’ve always loved Emily Blunt, but it’s hard not to be suspicious of a sequel to Mary Poppins. Plus, except for that marvelous exit into the bath tub, I found the trailer a bit turgid and drab. I was worried the movie might be a mix of overlong, plodding reality and forced CGI “magic.” I wanted to see Mary Poppins Returns, of course, but I went in suspicious.

And then the movie won me over completely from the very first song. Watching in genuine delight, I realized, “I love London! I love musicals! I love musicals set in London! Why did I think I wouldn’t love this?”

I mean, honestly, this blog is called Nancy’s Night at the Movies as a nod to my all consuming obsession with Oliver! back when I was three years old. For weeks, I spoke in a cockney accent (kind of like Dick Van Dyke’s, I’m sure) and refused to answer to my own name. I was Nancy.

I love Oliver! and My Fair Lady. (And then there’s Scrooge, Sweeney Todd, The Mystery of Edwin Drood…others, I’m sure.)

I guess the thing is, too often screen musicals have a cramped, obligatory quality. They officially exist, all right, but they’re sort of joyless and hollow. And with a production like this one, unless you’re a child, it’s hard not to suspect that some cynical executive at Disney is looking at the name Mary Poppins and seeing dollar signs.

But Mary Poppins Returns feels like a real musical with heart and a sense of purpose. It starts, and immediately we see that while our imagined executive might be dreaming of money and awards, that’s not what Lin-Manuel Miranda is doing. He’s performing his heart out, transporting us into the world of musical theater. He might as well be on the stage (though it’s lovely that they actually filmed on the streets of London).

I loved the opening number, and I loved the rest of the movie just as much. I loved it so much that I worry this review might not be as objective as it should. I’m so biased in the movie’s favor. I can’t help it. Mary Poppins Returns genuinely reached me on a primal level, and I forgot to evaluate it critically. I was just enjoying it so much. I want to see it again.

My three-year-old, meanwhile, adamantly refused to see it even once, so he stayed home with my parents while my husband and I took our soon-to-be ten-year-old daughter.

After the movie, I told her, “I think Grandma and Grandpa would really enjoy this. Maybe when we take your older brother to Bumblebee, they can go to Mary Poppins Returns.”

“Um, I’m going with them then,” she replied, “to see Mary Poppins Returns again.”

(I assumed she said that because she loved the movie, though it’s possible she’s just really desperate to avoid Bumblebee.)

The Good:
Emily Blunt is fantastic in this role and deserves to win an Oscar. (I do think she’s a realistic dark horse for a Best Actress win, and a nomination seems more likely than not. She’s already nominated for a Golden Globe for this role, and the SAG just went crazy and nominated her for everything.)

Between Mary Poppins and A Quiet Place, Blunt’s having an extremely good year, and it’s about time. I remember loving her so much in The Devil Wears Prada. (Hers is my favorite performance in that film, which is saying something.) Then she was cast as Black Widow in Iron Man 2 but unable to accept the part because she was contractually obligated to appear in Gulliver’s Travels. (That frustrated me so much, and I don’t even know her! If it were my career, I would have been livid.) It’s all worked out, of course. Scarlett Johansson clearly loves playing Black Widow.  Emily Blunt has given American cinema a woman-in-a-farmhouse subgenre of sci-fi, and now she’s probably going to get her first ever Oscar nomination.

It was extremely brave of her to tackle such an iconic character. I’ve read that she was pretty much director Rob Marshall’s first and only choice. But can you imagine being asked to play Mary Poppins? It’s been fifty-four years, but it’s not like people have forgotten Julie Andrews. Who could ever forget Julie Andrews?  (I’ve heard she chose not to do a cameo in this film to avoid the risk of overshadowing Emily Blunt, but if you’re desperate to feast your eyes on Andrews, try watching Julie’s Greenroom on Netflix.  My daughter and I loved this wonderful show that introduces kids to musical theatre.)

Oddly enough, Mary Poppins was not my introduction to Julie Andrews. I didn’t see the 1964 Disney classic until I was in second grade. (And for some reason, I was twelve before I saw The Sound of Music. Well, I know the reason. My aunt watched the movie so often that my mother got sick of it and never showed it at our house.) Believe it or not, my introduction to Julie Andrews was Victor Victoria when I was four. My grandma loved the movie and used to watch it on HBO all the time. It was new then. I adored it. I was probably the only little girl who knew “Le Jazz Hot” before “A Spoonful of Sugar.”

Unlike some children (such as my husband), I never listed Mary Poppins as one of my all-time favorite movies, but I did like it (especially when I was in second and third grade). Andrews herself is incomparable, and I also really loved Glynis Johns with that unusual throaty lilt of hers. My favorite aspect of the film was that every main character got a song and theme music. I remember being eight and trying to compose little themes for everyone in my family, just like the ones in Mary Poppins. (I failed miserably at this because I have no musical talent, but I did come up with some genuinely clever lyrics.)

I’ve heard Emily Blunt say in interviews that to prepare for the role, she didn’t re-watch the 1964 classic because that would have been too intimidating. Instead, she read the books and tried to base her version of the character on what P.L. Travers wrote.

As you watch the film, you can tell that’s what she’s doing, and I think she succeeds marvelously.

I never read the Mary Poppins novels as a child, but I did read the first book just a couple of weeks ago when I checked it out from the library. I must say, now that I’ve read the novel, I am not at all surprised that Travers was dissatisfied with Disney’s version of her story. Frankly, I’m stunned she didn’t kill him.

The 1964 Mary Poppins is magical with an iconic lead performance and genuinely exceptional music, but it bears little resemblance to the P.L. Travers story I read. The novel is more Neil Gaiman than Walt Disney. In fact, as I read, I thought, “Neil Gaiman must have been influenced by this book. J.K. Rowling, too.” The book is episodic and mysterious. There’s a real darkness to it, and the Mary Poppins character herself is sort of eerie. Julie Andrews is sort of similar to that Mary Poppins, but the rest of the film bears little resemblance to the novel tonally (and not all that much in terms of content.  The song “Chim Chim Cher-ee” comes closest to the feel of the novel).

I really like Blunt’s version of Mary Poppins. I only wish she were in the movie more. (She’s in it a lot, of course, but towards the end, she does less and less. I understand why, but I still wish she were in it even more because I adore the performance.)

“I just remembered,” I said to my husband after the film, “I’m in love with Emily Blunt.”

And he replied, “That’s funny. I just remembered that, too.”

She makes a terrific Mary Poppins. She doesn’t try to be exactly like Julie Andrews, and that’s the only way to succeed at a task like this because there is only one Julie Andrews.

The rest of the cast is quite good, too, and the characters are all winningly engaging.

Emily Mortimer is wonderful as the adult Jane, who (logically) seems to have taken up her mother’s activism. (She’s for workers’ rights instead of women’s votes, but I’m sure Mrs. Banks would be proud.) (Fans of the original will be delighted to see a cute cameo by Karen Dotrice, Jane Banks in the 1964 version. I spotted her because of the peculiar phrasing of her parting words. See if you can, too.)

Lin-Manuel Miranda is great as Jack, this movie’s answer to Bert. He’s a lamp lighter, just as Bert was a chimney sweep. Miranda doesn’t really fool us into believing that he’s a cockney lamp lighter, but, in fairness, I’m pretty sure he’s not trying to. He’s an incredibly engaging and strong performer, easy to watch. In fact, it’s downright fun to watch him sing, dance, and deliver his heartfelt lines.

Ben Whishaw makes a compelling adult Michael. He has a song early on that made me tear up. I love the confusion and the vulnerability of his performance. (Incidentally, in case Jane’s cameo has you watching vigilantly for Michael, I learned after the movie that Matthew Garber died of pancreatitis in 1977 when he was just twenty-one years old!)

Julie Walters plays Ellen, the maid. (And I was delighted to hear her banter about marmalade with Whishaw, her Paddington co-star.) Honestly my favorite moment in the movie is a brief exchange when Ellen and Mary Poppins nonchalantly greet one another. My daughter and I have been repeating the lines to one another all day. Ellen was never a character I thought too much about in the 1964 film, but I love Julie Walters in this. She elevates the role, I think.

The three new Banks children are all incredibly sweet. It’s hard not to love little Georgie (Joel Dawson). His older brother John (Nathaneal Saleh) has the least showy role but is thoroughly convincing in the part. And as Anabel, Pixie Davies delivers her lines quite well and probably has a long future in acting.

There are actually quite a number of people in the cast, and most of them are given a good bit to do. I was also positively impressed by Kobna Holbrook Smith as the bank representative with a heart of gold and David Warner as Admiral Boom.

Going into this movie, I was under the impression that Meryl Streep, Angela Lansbury, and Dick Van Dyke had small cameos, but this is really not the case.  Streep and Lansbury each sing an entire (enchanting) song. I mean, sure, they’re each only in one scene. But both of those scenes consist of the actress in question performing a full length musical number. Their characters reminded me of the novel Mary Poppins, in which she frequently pays brief visits to other magical characters.

Streep’s zany song is quite fun and gives really solid life advice. It contains my favorite lyric in the film. What I love best about the scene is that it’s so weird and silly that it shouldn’t work at all, but somehow, she makes it good.

And Dick Van Dyke dances. His big moment probably made me happier than anything else in the movie. Admittedly, his scene took me out of the movie a bit. It just made me so happy for Dick Van Dyke. How nice for him! They wrote him such an integral role, honoring his work on the previous film and showcasing his talents. If you like Dick Van Dyke, then I dare you not to love the ending of this movie.

Lansbury’s song got me, too. The cynical part of me did think, “Hmm…Disney is stealing my tears by exploiting beloved entertainers from my childhood.” But I mean, regardless of any ulterior motives, the film gives us such lovely showcases for these two beloved ninety-three-year-old veterans.  So often, older stars are “honored” with a brief walk-on. These two get genuine showcases, and they’ve still got it.

Before seeing the film, I’d heard some complaints that the songs do not live up to the music in the original. Well, I mean, you can’t top the Sherman Brothers. But I, personally, found the songs in this movie quite good. They might not be earworms, but they’re lovely and melodic, and they have lyrics that are both compelling and meaningful.  (I woke up this morning with “The Cover is Not the Book” running on loop in my head.)

In Mary Poppins Returns, the songs genuinely help to tell the story. They really seem to have something to say. In fact, every so often, I would catch myself listening for profound meaning, as if I was somehow going to learn mysterious truth from these Disney songs. I kept having to remind myself, “Mary Poppins is not real. These songs were written to entertain movie audiences. This is not some mystical revelation of arcane wisdom.” (I know that sounds crazy, but the novel gives the impression that it’s hinting at something profound that the reader can almost grasp.  And there’s nothing I love more than almost grasping something profound.)

I really love the structure of the film. Mary Poppins and the children keep having random adventures. They go from one adventure to the next. The over two hour runtime feels quick. And each time they have an adventure, they sing a song and learn a little something that is deeply relevant to their lives. It’s like Mary Poppins is stealthily giving them the tools they need to solve a huge problem, parceling out the truth a little at a time. Her lessons sometimes seem pointed, but she never explains them. The children have to connect the dots themselves, and it’s fun to see them make the cognitive leaps.