Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Saving Mr. Banks (2013): Review

I have been looking forward to seeing the movie Saving Mr. Banks since I first saw the preview and I am happy to say that I absolutely loved this movie.  It is definitely one of my favorites for this year and I recommend that you go see it.  It is a family film but I feel like it is more for adults as it really touches on the nostalgic feelings for those you grew up watching Mary Poppins growing up.
Saving Mr. Banks is a movie that focuses on the the making of the movie Mary Poppins (1964) and the struggle that Disney went through to get right to make the movie.  Walt Disney has been planning on making this movie and had people working on the screenplay and songs before he had convinced that author of the book series P.L. Travers to let him make the movie.  This movie is focused on Mrs. P.L. Travers, played by Emma Thomsan and the emotional journey she went through to approve the making of her books into a movie and how she was particular and shut down to the idea of Disney making a mockery of her books.  This movie is a combination of two stories and weaves in and out between the two.  The main story being that of Mrs. Travers and the Disney company's headbutting over the movie version of Mary Poppins and that of the early childhood of Mrs. Travers as Ginty, played by Annie Rose Buckley, in rural Australia with her family. This early childhood focuses her relationship with her father Travers Goff, played by Colin Farrell, who has an alcohol problem and struggles in his job as a bank manager.  Although I liked the story of little Ginty and her family, I really connected with Mrs. Travers and how she was desperate to hold true to her vision of Mary Poppins but having to come to terms with allowing it to be made into a movie.  While at Disney Studies she works with Sherman brothers, played by B.J. Novack and Jason Schwartsman, and Don DaGradi, played by Bradley Whitfield.  She also has an interesting relationship develop with her car driver, played by Paul Giamatti.
I really loved this movie and it definitely showcases what an amazing actress Emma Thomson. Although Mrs. Travers is quite haughty, I find myself caring about her and wanting to see her journey of resolving herself to letting her beloved book become a movie by Walt Disney, played by Tom Hanks, and because I know what the movie actually becomes it is interesting to see how the struggles came and how she resisted a lot of what was coming but then how she was won over by the Sherman brothers songs.  Although there were two different feels to the different storylines of the book Emma is able to get you to see how she might have been reflecting on her early life as she is going through her current journey. Basically I think Emma Thomson was this movie and because of her and the great support she has by the other cast, it was fantastic.  The interactions between all the main characters was great, but I really appreciated the scenes between Thomson and Gianatti, her car driver.
The was just enough of Mary Poppins songs spread through and even though I don't know how true the actual story of this movie is I really liked how the songs were put in the movie and how they were the scores to the emotions of the movie.

I think that this movie is one of the best of the year but it is definitely a family film but not one that is necessary for younger kids.  The movie focuses on a beloved movie of many peoples childhoods but all the characters are adults, I don't know if there is enough to keep kids interested. That being said it was a fantastic film and I look forward to seeing it on DVD and hoping that it has good special features to tell me more about the real life story.

My rating: 4-

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