Reviewed by Victor Rebikoff.
Director: Rob Marshall, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, G 130 Minutes.
It has been some 55 years since the marvelous Julie Andrews graced our screens as the magical Mary Poppins only to see her portrayed again by the popular Emily Blunt (‘Sicario’) in filmmaker Rob Marshall’s reimagined rendition.
Marshall is no novice to making musicals having earlier directed ‘Nine’ and ‘Chicago’ and teaming-up again with Australian cinematographer Dion Deebe in delivering his delightful sequel set during London’s depression-era where the young Banks children are now both adults.
In a somewhat similar opening to the original, lamplighter Jack (newcomer Lin-Manuel Miranda) – a direct relative of the Dick Van Dyke chimney-sweep character Bert – is seen singing a song about London before the scene switches to Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw –‘Suffragette’).
Besides maintaining close contact with his sister Jayne (Emily Mortimer –‘The Bookshop’), Michael continues to live in his parents’ home together with his three children – Anabel (Pixie Davies), Georgie (Joel Dawson) and John (Nathanael Saleh) – including housekeeper Ellen (Julie Watters – ‘Mamma Mia’).
But Michael soon learns that the bank he works for is out to repossess his house due to the lack of loan repayments and demanding full payment to be made before midnight on Friday.
In order to save their home both Michael and Jayne carry out an extensive search for their father’s bank shares hoping this will appease the duplicitous bank manager Wilkins (Colin Firth – ‘King’s Speech’).
In between the personal drama, Mary Poppins flies in to immediately take charge of minding Michael’s children and whisking them to magical worlds through a bath and later a bowl, combining live action scenes with animated characters.
When crunch time comes just before Friday midnight, it is Michael’s children with the help of Jack and Mary Poppins – particularly the sudden reappearance of a former bank elder known to Michael – that ultimately saves the day and their house.
Although not as memorable as the 1964 release, Marshall has still made a refreshingly entertaining movie that in many respects pays tribute to the original by adopting a similar style by incorporating many colourful and animated characters.
Despite being unable to replicate many of the original fun loving songs, one of the movie’s major highlights must be the enjoyable performance of Blunt, not to mention the too brief participation of the legendary Dick Van Dyke.
Vic’s Verdict: 3 ½ Stars
