MARY POPPINS RETURNS: Spit spot on!
Contrary
to some of the reviews I’ve read from other critics I very much enjoyed ‘Mary
Poppins Returns’.
There
were some bugbears like the casting of Ben Wishaw and
Julie Walters together smacked too much of 'Paddington' for me to a degree that
took me out of "Mary Poppins Land" into 'Paddington' on a few
occasions. We have more actors than that Bernard Tesley (Casting Director)
let’s branch out a bit, it’s just lazy casting.
However,
on the whole ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ was a great, nostalgic throw back to
everyone’s childhood that the movie captured with, personally, a delightful
satisfaction.
Emily
Blunt was a stunning Mary and at no point did I think "Oh. Dear. She’s no
Julie Andrews". Emily had the ‘practically perfect’ slightly arrogant
vanity of Poppins spot on. The rye smiles and eye rolling attitude was as funny
as ever with children and adult characters alike, and you can tell she worked
very hard on her kite dismount which I greatly appreciated.
I
also appreciated the work of Lin-Manuel Miranda, who had to tread the difficult
line of playing Bert, the role originated by Dick Van Dyke, made tricky by
paying homage to the terrible, yet iconic accent without making it too
laughable. This Mr Miranda pulled off well in my opinion and his relationship
with Jane Banks (Emily Mortimer) was just the right amount of ‘throw up in
bucket’ sweet for 'Mary Poppins'.
The
children in this film were brilliant (and barely annoying at all!) although,
the two older kids were fairly unbelievable as actual nine year olds and were
written as mini adults, which I guess was "kinda cute."
Colin
Firth as the unscrupulous baddy and Meryl Streep as Mary Poppins’ .... cousin?
... okay ... made their appearances to boost the star studded line up and were
just fine if I’m being completely honest.
The
use of CGI and the blend of cartoon world with live actors was very beautifully
done; I feel the style of 'Mary Poppins' does lend itself very well to this
level of production value and the various worlds that Mary and the
children found themselves in benefitted greatly from impressive CGI landscapes.
Overall
I’d give this film a 7.6/10. The plot was simple, as it should be, and on the
whole I felt far happier leaving the cinema than I did when I entered which is
all you can wish from a good film, really. I thoroughly recommend a family trip
out to see this one.
If
you liked this review or want to share with me your thoughts on 'Mary Poppins
Returns' please do comment below. I appreciate feedback and any recommendations
for films you think I need to watch and review.
You
can listen to more on this film from me and Sam Adamson, co- founder of The Reel Easy and fellow film buff, on The Reel Easy Podcast
that’s going to be launched soon!
I've been Christopher Whitmore, thank
you for reading.
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