In Theaters ****^ Mary Poppins Returns
Emily Blunt wows as Mary Poppins and Lin-Manuel Miranda thrills as Jack, the Lamp Lighter and former apprentice of Bert from the original film. And the Banks family is made up of Michael, (Ben Whishaw) and his sister Jane (Emily Mortimer) who are in the original but now 25 years older. Michael is a widower. He has three children, Anabel (Pixie Davies), John (Nathanael Saleh) and Georgie (Joel Dawson). Meryl Streep also portrays a cameo, cousin of Mary Poppins, Topsy, who is a fix-it person. Michael has borrowed money against the bank, and the bank president (Colin Firth) is intent on taking the home, even if he has to hide stock records to do so. ALs taking cameo rolls are Dick Van Dyck (bank president’s boss) and Angela Lansbury, balloon seller. With this cast and Mary Poppins story we are in for a ride. It seems P.L. Travers published eight Mary Poppins books in all with many stories. Sheri really loved the music, but it still isn’t in my head like some of the original songs. I need to return to see this again.
Ellen Maxwell: I enjoyed it quite a lot. Emily Stone , Emily Blunt and the children were the favorite leads, which is a nice way of saying I didn’t care much for Ben Wishaw. Lin Manuel Miranda is an extraordinary talent and I can’t wait to see what he does next. The score was so busy trying to recapture the magic that most of the songs were like Be A Clown and Make Em Laugh, mirror images . By far my favorite things were the brilliant cameos by Meryl Streep, Dick van dyke and Angela Lansbury, who managed ,once again, to waltz off with the best song. Emily Stone is a great musical talent and a fine actress. I would lovĂ© for her to get a project that is worthy of her. Maybe Lin Miranda will write one for her.
ReplyDeleteMartyn Coates I loved it, and ordered the Blu Ray which is released in the UK this month. Great soundtrack CD!
ReplyDeleteMark Milano I liked it, but felt it was overly concerned with imitating the original. I wish they had done a completely different story instead.
ReplyDeleteJeff Beck I was taken to see the original Mary Poppins at Grauman's Chinese Theatre for my 10th birthday. It was, and remains, the best birthday of my life. When this film was announced, I was horrified. Until I saw it. It is a worthy successor to the original. I have now seen it three times, and have loved it more each time. It speaks directly to the 10 year old still locked somewhere inside me.
ReplyDeleteTimothy Wilson A worthy Sequel and successor to the original. The cast was wonderful and it has some great musical moments
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