![]() Dawes of the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank in the first movie, he now plays the elderly Mr. It’s when we see none other than Dick Van Dyke himself. But there are few moments when this movie truly comes alive, and none is more instructive than the last time the film works. Really, none of the actors in Mary Poppins Returns stumble in embodying either direct analogs to the characters in the first Mary Poppins or older versions of beloved characters. The shame is that she’s given this material to work with. Blunt’s innate charisma makes it so you never doubt that she could take over for Mary Poppins. Though none of the songs are remotely as charming or tuneful as those from the original film, she belts them out suitably well. And Blunt is exactly as charming as you might hope she is. For the most part, the cast can’t be faulted the stealth MVP is Whishaw, who makes it almost tangibly obvious how heartbroken Michael is at having lost his wife and potentially losing his home. What’s perhaps worse is that, by so strongly inviting comparisons to the original Mary Poppins, Mary Poppins Returns only makes it clear that the magic of the first film can’t be replicated. It’d be one thing if the film was simply too content to echo its predecessor. And many of the songs serve the same function as songs in the first film did, from an extended dance sequence featuring Miranda’s character, Jack, and his fellow “leeries,” that feels like the chimney-sweep dance sequence from the original to a side-track song where we visit a relative of Mary’s (this time played by Meryl Streep) who’s getting up to shenanigans on the ceiling. Though there are a few twists and turns in the new story, its episodic nature is clearly aping the structure of its predecessor. But the real issue is that the script, and the film’s many new songs (for good or ill, none of the songs from the original appear in this movie aside from being utilized briefly in the score itself), are heavily echoing the original film. She’s not embodying the nanny as much as she’s trying to emulate the actress who originated the role. ![]() Watching her in every scene, it’s hard not to see her as playing Julie Andrews, not Mary Poppins herself. It is to Blunt’s credit that whatever flaws Mary Poppins Returns has, none of them can really be laid at her feet. The difference is that those moments are window dressing, as opposed to the way the character is developed. These are elements that do appear in the first film - one of the original’s funniest moments is when Andrews does a deadpan slow clap when Dick Van Dyke’s chimney-sweep Bert fails to transport the Banks children into one of his chalk paintings. The new film’s script leans a little too hard into emphasizing Mary’s caustic wit and her willingness to gaslight the children into thinking that all their fantastical misadventures are just in their collective imagination. Blunt almost instantly proves herself to be a very worthy candidate to step into Mary Poppins’ shoes and wield the umbrella with a talking parrot head at its top. This is both a good and a bad thing for Blunt, who’s had a very good year considering her work in A Quiet Place, co-starring, co-written and directed by her husband, John Krasinski. ![]() Once again, Mary travels with the children (and a Cockney-accented charmer, this time a lamplighter played by Lin-Manuel Miranda) into an animated world, and she once again is able to help save the day when all seems lost. Banks was fighting for women’s voting rights, and Jane is fighting for the cause of the common worker. Michael’s sister, Jane (Emily Mortimer), has now taken the place of her flighty mother - in the original film, Mrs. ![]() That’s because this time, the gruff-ish dad who works at a domineering British bank is a grown-up version of Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw), and the three children are his. In both, Mary arrives to serve as the nanny for the Banks children in the first one, there are two children, but now there are three. If you’ve seen the original Mary Poppins, frankly, you’ll see a lot of connections between that film and Rob Marshall’s new movie.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |