Starring: Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw
Director: Rob Marshall
Run Time: 2 hours 11 minutes
Rating: G
Rating: ★★★
A spoonful of fun and whimsy help the unpalatable songs go down.
The original 1964 Mary Poppins film is one of the greatest musical films ever created, a film that catapulted Julie Andrews to stardom and engrained the Sherman brothers’ catchy tunes as musical staples. More than half a century later, children and parents alike are still charmed by this whimsical tale of following one’s dreams and not getting tangled in our daily lives.
When a sequel to this beloved movie was announced, I, along with many others, feared that Disney would butcher this classic and turn it into a sappy, over sentimental drag. But after watching the film, I was thoroughly pleased by the colourful and faithful sequel, which carried the same air of imagination and fun as the original.
Set 25 years after the original, this story follows the Banks family. Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw, who gives a fine emotional performance) is a widower with three children: Annabel (Pixie Davies), John (Nathanael Saleh), and Georgie (Joel Dawson). Annabel and John, the two oldest siblings, assume greater responsibility and help their father take care of Georgie. The household is turned into disarray when lawyers from Fidelity Fiduciary Bank announce that they are repossessing the family home after Michael fails to repay a loan. Michael, along with his sister Jane (Emily Mortimer, making the most of her one dimensional character), try to search for a certificate of bank shares that could repay the loan. Meanwhile, Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) arrives to take care of the children, whisking them away on multiple adventures along with Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda), a lamplighter and former apprentice of Bert from the original film.
The plot does not break new ground, and is uncannily similar to the original. There is the disconnected father, the innocent children, and the poised nanny. For every scene in the original, there is a comparable scene in this sequel. Instead of “Step in Time” with the chimney sweeps, there is another thrilling dance number, this time featuring the lamplighters. Instead of flying kites, the end scene features everyone flying balloons. The only significant difference in the screenplay was that the adults are Michael and Jane Banks. This choice to propel the story 25 years forward allows that audience to see how the two siblings have grown up and how adulthood has changed their imagination. Although the show’s formula works, and even makes the film more nostalgic, screenwriter David Magee should have tried to create a more original screenplay.
Despite the predictable plot, Emily Blunt breathes fresh air into the role of Mary Poppins. Her luminous portrayal of the nanny was not an imitation of Julie Andrews’s characterization, but rather a new take that showed the more human side of the nanny. She shows us that her Mary is not “practically perfect in every way” and is sometimes willing to shed a tear or two. And while her voice may not be as lush as her predecessor (though she wasn’t given any good music to work with), her acting more than embodied the character. Dare I say, she could even give Andrews’s portrayal a run for her money.
In the supporting cast, Lin-Manuel Miranda gives a strong performance as Jack, the cheeky lamplighter. His strong acting and singing chops more than make up for his uneven Cockney accent, which is not much of an improvement to Dick Van Dyke’s infamous take. However, the true star in the supporting cast is Meryl Streep, who gives a hoot of a performance as Mary Poppins’s eccentric cousin who runs a repair shop. She has a wonderfully choreographed number that has her singing from the rafters (literally) and swinging on chandeliers.
But while the cast is practically perfect, the score (composed by Marc Shaiman) is a spoonful of sourness. At times, Shaiman tried too hard to imitate the catchy 60s score by the Sherman brothers (which include classics such as “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” and “A Spoonful of Sugar”), to no avail. At other times, he tried to add some 21st century flair into it by shoe-horning in a rap verse and a song where Mary Poppins growls (yes, you read that correctly, a la Jessie J). In the end, you are left with a soundtrack of uneven and unmemorable songs that, if not for the stunning choreography, would grind the film to a halt.
Despite these qualms, Mary Poppins Returns embraces the fun, magic, and silliness of the original and left this filmgoer with a wide grin.
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