Saving Mr. Banks **** imdb/title/tt2140373/ Mary Poppins (imdb/title/tt0058331/) was a grand movie. I was a twenty-two year old tween when I saw it, and I still remember leaving the theater as delighted as the time I first stepped with Judy Garland out of the wreckage of that gray old Kansas farmhouse into the brilliant Technicolor of Oz (imdb/title/tt0032138/). I felt supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Saving Mr. Banks is about the making of Mary Poppins, especially the negotiations between author P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) and Walt Disney (Tom Hanks). I suppose the unsurprising narcissism of Disneys making a movie about Disneys making a movie is forgivable after half a century. Whats not forgivable are the previews, which focused almost solely on Walts exasperation with Mrs. Travers and her demands, and completely ignored the back-story explaining her expectations. The trailers made the movie look like just another forgettable bit of Disney fluff, when in fact it presented a poignant human drama, as well as a much richer depiction of Disney by Hanks. The trailers almost made me miss this movie. Im glad I did not. To my consternation I saw a little too much of my serious senior self reflected back at me from Thompsons gruff, anti-whimsical portrayal of Travers. I rarely watch movies that dont have the gravitas she wanted from Mary Poppins. Im going to have to give that aspect of my character some thought. By the way, sensitive viewers should be warned: the movie is full of ear worm eggs (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_worm). Cover your ears and by all means do not think about songs like Spoonful of Sugar, Feed the Birds, and Supercali... etc. You might not hear anything else for a week.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 18:03:41 +0000
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