Emma Thompson is superb as Mary Poppins author Pl Travers as she tries to resist Walt Disney's transformation of her famous creation
Anyone who has seen and loved Mary Poppins as much as I have knows one thing for certain: it's not about the kids. For all its riotous scenes of young Jane and Michael having tea parties on the ceiling and jumping through chalk pavement pictures, it's the uptight Mr Banks who is the real target of Poppins's attentions, as she seeks to break him out of his "bank-shaped cage" and reconnect him with what really matters – his family. No wonder the enduring Disney classic ends with Mr Banks himself leading everyone in a tear-jerking chorus of Let's Go Fly a Kite; after all, it was his story all along.
This is the central thrust of Saving Mr Banks, a lovely, sentimental and quietly insightful account of the making...
Anyone who has seen and loved Mary Poppins as much as I have knows one thing for certain: it's not about the kids. For all its riotous scenes of young Jane and Michael having tea parties on the ceiling and jumping through chalk pavement pictures, it's the uptight Mr Banks who is the real target of Poppins's attentions, as she seeks to break him out of his "bank-shaped cage" and reconnect him with what really matters – his family. No wonder the enduring Disney classic ends with Mr Banks himself leading everyone in a tear-jerking chorus of Let's Go Fly a Kite; after all, it was his story all along.
This is the central thrust of Saving Mr Banks, a lovely, sentimental and quietly insightful account of the making...
- 12/1/2013
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson give this making-of Mary Poppins confection a supercalifragilistic flavour, but it sours with its bland biographical flashbacks
• Read more about Saving Mr Banks
• More from the Reel history archive
Director: John Lee Hancock
Entertainment grade: B
History grade: B
Pl Travers wrote the first Mary Poppins book in 1934. Soon afterwards, Walt Disney sought the film rights – though it would take him until 1964 to make the movie.
Literary life
The film's main narrative is set in 1961. Pamela Travers (Emma Thompson) is coaxed into meeting Walt Disney by her literary agent. This isn't easy, for Travers is a misanthrope, highly strung and fiercely protective of her books. Admittedly, most writers are a bit like that, but Travers is at the extreme end of the spectrum. Biographies of her paint a very similar picture. Under substantial pressure, she eventually flies to Los Angeles to meet the person she...
• Read more about Saving Mr Banks
• More from the Reel history archive
Director: John Lee Hancock
Entertainment grade: B
History grade: B
Pl Travers wrote the first Mary Poppins book in 1934. Soon afterwards, Walt Disney sought the film rights – though it would take him until 1964 to make the movie.
Literary life
The film's main narrative is set in 1961. Pamela Travers (Emma Thompson) is coaxed into meeting Walt Disney by her literary agent. This isn't easy, for Travers is a misanthrope, highly strung and fiercely protective of her books. Admittedly, most writers are a bit like that, but Travers is at the extreme end of the spectrum. Biographies of her paint a very similar picture. Under substantial pressure, she eventually flies to Los Angeles to meet the person she...
- 11/28/2013
- by Alex von Tunzelmann
- The Guardian - Film News
Tom Hanks is slated to play beloved moviemaker Walt Disney is a new film about the making of Mary Poppins.
The Forrest Gump actor is set to star opposite Emma Thompson in the movie, which chronicles Disney's battle to secure the rights to Mary Poppins.
Author P.L. Travers rebuffed the mogul's efforts to convince her a big screen version of her books would be a good idea.
Rumours suggest it took Disney two decades to be given the green light and he had to surrender script approval rights to the stubborn author.
When filming got underway in the early 1960s, Disney and Travers clashed over song choices, animated sequences and storyline changes.
The difficult working relationship between filmmaker and writer was chronicled in Valerie Lawson's biography Mary Poppins She Wrote, which inspired two documentaries on Travers.
Thompson will play the writer and John Lee Hancock has signed on to direct, according to Variety.
The project is tentatively titled Saving Mr. Banks.
The Forrest Gump actor is set to star opposite Emma Thompson in the movie, which chronicles Disney's battle to secure the rights to Mary Poppins.
Author P.L. Travers rebuffed the mogul's efforts to convince her a big screen version of her books would be a good idea.
Rumours suggest it took Disney two decades to be given the green light and he had to surrender script approval rights to the stubborn author.
When filming got underway in the early 1960s, Disney and Travers clashed over song choices, animated sequences and storyline changes.
The difficult working relationship between filmmaker and writer was chronicled in Valerie Lawson's biography Mary Poppins She Wrote, which inspired two documentaries on Travers.
Thompson will play the writer and John Lee Hancock has signed on to direct, according to Variety.
The project is tentatively titled Saving Mr. Banks.
- 4/10/2012
- WENN
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