In this musical sequel set two decades after the original, Banks siblings Jane and Michael are all grown up. But a family tragedy prompts the return of their former nanny, Mary Poppins, to bring some magic into the lives of the entire clan.
Saturday, January 5, 2019
Movie #1651 ........................."Mary Poppins Returns"
Movie #1651 "Mary Poppins Returns" Saw this on New Year's Eve and really enjoyed it. How does it compare with the classic one? Well, it's a bit scarier for kids, Mary is a bit more sarcastic and (excuse the pun) blunt, and not as smiley; Mary's worker friend isn't a chimney sweep but a lamplighter, Ed Wynn is replaced with Meryl Street (a welcome exchange for me), the songs aren't as memorable, the kids are more self reliant and therefore get in more trouble, the story doesn't hang as well --- not clear why Mary is there ---- confusing at first --- in the first movie she was supposed to bring help to the dad and help the dad get closer to the kids and everyone just loosen up a bit; In this one, is she to help the dad or help the kids with grief or help save the house? or ? not as clear. I don't think anyone would really say it is better than the first one, but was it trying to be? Pretty tall order, in my opinion. This looks like an attempt to redo, in a way. (In fact, a friend of mine referred to it as a possible "evil twin") Why do I say that? Because it seems to use a checklist in the making of this film -- juxtaposing it with the original -- for example, the first one starts out with a ditty sung by Dick Van Dyke/this one starts out with a ditty sung by Miranda; mother isn't a suffragette, but Jane is protesting something or other in this one, there's a mouthy maid in both, they changed the actors for obvious reasons but the admiral still shoots off a cannon once a day in both. I don't want to go too much into what is in the redo because you might not have seen it yet, but it's sufficient to say there's a checklist by each big musical number with a variance --- and here's the wonder --- in each of the songs, they seem to teach a lesson, and once again, as if they had a checklist, someone was worrying about making them separate lessons (spoonful of sugar vs don't judge a book by its cover; it's a jolly holiday with Mary vs. Can you imagine that?; step in time replaces trip a little light fantastic, and of course the kite scene vs. balloon, etc) Just like Feed the birds, a very emotionally favorite number for me, there's a fantastic song about grief and missing someone that was my favorite from this recent film. And overall, to get to see Dick Van Dyke dance on top of the desk at age 85, that's worth the admission price, to me. And this link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yon4Wr4D-FE) will explain why a lot of stuff is included in this film (Emily Blunt narrates) and will convince you (as it did me) how much respect is shown for the book and the original film, and that this becomes a huge homage to those pieces of art. (e.g. the original Jane crosses the street in this film and asks for directions, and as she leaves, she says "Many Thanks, Sincerely") As long as you go in to just enjoy the musical numbers and the creativity of everything, this is a must see! but don't expect it to be a classic like the first, but once again, who really expected that???? I give it 4.5.
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