{"id":6650,"date":"2018-12-18T10:56:53","date_gmt":"2018-12-18T15:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=6650"},"modified":"2018-12-18T10:57:12","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T15:57:12","slug":"review-mary-poppins-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=6650","title":{"rendered":"Review: MARY POPPINS RETURNS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Reverent throwback has Emily Blunt taking over from Julie Andrews in title role of the magical nanny.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Starting with the opening credits set against painted backgrounds, \u201cMary Poppins Returns\u201d pays homage to the 1964 Oscar-winning musical fantasy \u201cMary Poppins.\u201d But while it is truly a tremendous effort by all involved, this film falls just short of being Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. That\u2019s a word I cannot say without singing it\u2014you try. Still, high praise is in order as Blunt gets the spunky attitude down and receives fantastic support from award-worthy Lin-Manuel Miranda, as the all-knowing chimney sweep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jane and Michael all grown up, as played by Ben Whishaw and Emily Mortimer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When the Banks family finds themselves on hard times, Mary Poppins flies in on a kite, returning to their household to help right the ship. The children from the first film, Jane and Michael, are all grown up. Michael (Ben Whishaw) has three children, Anabel (Pixie Davies), Georgie (Joel Dawson), and John (Nathanael Saleh). We meet them following the untimely passing of Michael\u2019s wife, leaving the children without a mother. To make matters worse, Michael is visited by lawyers who inform him that in just five days the Banks home will be foreclosed on, unless he pays a loan off in full.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is hope. If Michael and Jane can find paperwork documenting their late father\u2019s shares in the bank, they can square things and keep the Banks\u2019 London brownstone. As the search for the shares progresses, nanny Mary Poppins takes charge of the children. And, of course, her style of child-rearing includes a spoon full of magical sugar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The penguins are back to dance in “Mary Poppins Returns.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Setting aside the unconvincing central plot involving the bank, the loan, and immediate foreclosure, \u201cMary Poppins Returns\u201d is all about sweet, rousing musical numbers. And they are splendid. Making expert use of traditional animation techniques that harkens back to the marvelous first film, this movie seamlessly integrates into the magical world created by Walt Disney in 1964. In fact, \u201cReturns\u201d is so exacting in its reverent approach that it is perfectly suitable as a double feature with the one that inspired it. I\u2019m surprised that Disney hasn\u2019t re-released the 1964 film to play together with this one. Needless to say, \u201cMary Poppins\u201d fans, who grew up with the music, will not be disappointed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lin-Manuel Miranda is fantastic as the all-knowing chimney sweep.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Blunt is fine in the lead, however, without Miranda\u2019s clear Broadway savvy and assured presence, her somewhat limited performance would have suffered. Every time they share the screen together, \u201cReturns\u201d crackles with musical energy. And Miranda brings it with a spirited rap sequence reminiscent of his Tony award-winning \u201cHamilton.\u201d Miranda\u2019s somewhat cockney accent seems right enough, and his singing voice clothed in this affectation is impressive. It all works swimmingly, although, not one song stuck in my head like those of the 1964 film. I must listen to the soundtrack closely, but I did not hear a tune that compared to the weight and sentimental quality of, say, Oscar winner \u201cChim Chim Cher-ee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Meryl Streep gets a little topsy turvy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Supporting performances are excellent with Ben Whishaw giving an emotional turn as an artistic widower and single father dealing with the reality of losing everything. Emily Mortimer plays his sister Jane, who is like her mother is an activist, something akin to a \u201cSister Suffragette.\u201d Colin Firth is relegated to largely a one-note villain, but he\u2019s Colin Firth, so, it works. And Meryl Streep has a fun musical sequence as Poppins\u2019 cousin Topsy, who you can imagine goes a little turvy. Yes, there are some original cast members on hand as well, which I will not spoil here, although the cat is probably already out of the bag on key surprises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A cheery, vibrant musical, \u201cMary Poppins Returns\u201d is a delightful family fantasy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Disney revisits one of Walt’s most celebrated works in rousing follow-up to 1964 film.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[1131,294,177,736,1130,1129,1065,50,1132],"class_list":["post-6650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-ben-whishaw","tag-disney","tag-emily-blunt","tag-emily-mortimer","tag-lin-manuel-miranda","tag-mary-poppins","tag-mary-poppins-returns","tag-movie-review","tag-musical","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6650"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6661,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6650\/revisions\/6661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}