Summary
5 tech score
“Mary Poppins Returns” (Disney)
There’s something about Mary, in the new film “Mary Poppins Returns,” that is a bit off-putting. As she glides from the heavens holding on to her umbrella her look and demeanor tell you this is not Mary Poppins but rather her long lost cousin Margie. Margie is who the family calls in when the real Mary Poppins is otherwise occupied. Margie is a sweet girl but she does not have the Marty Poppins magic and neither does this movie.
The bad ideas surrounding this movie are immediately noticeable. First off we get the old “we can’t pay the mortgage” plot which is the least inventive way they could bring Mary Poppins back to good old London. We also get a sudden introduction to Michael and Jane Banks (Ben Whishaw and Emily Mortimer), a numbingly dull brother and sister act. It is also evident from the start that Ben is not a singer, and Emily doesn’t even try.
Lin Manuel Miranda can sing and he can dance but he doesn’t do anything to draw you to his character of Jack, the lamplighter. Plus he has zero chemistry with Emily Blunt’s Mary and even less with his love interest in the movie, Jane. Throw in a wasted Julie Walters as the housekeeper Ellen, and a lackluster Colin Firth as the villain in the piece and you have wasted talent strewn all over the place. Meryl Streep straddles the line of entertainment as a real cousin of Mary’s.
There are bright spots in the film, like Dick Van Dyke and Angela Lansbury, but they arrive as the ship is sinking. You needed them to appear as quickly as possible because they know what the essence of the Mary Poppins story is all about.
Emily Blunt has a nice voice and can hoof it up a bit but the shadow of Julie Andrews looms large. Anyone who has been exposed to the original Mary Poppins will miss Andrews greatly. Plus Blunt doesn’t seem to be the star of the show here as there are so many scenes and numbers in which she does not participate or is there momentarily.
When you think back on the musical numbers there is not a single song that pops into your head. Rob Marshall who gave us the award winning “Chicago” knows how to make movie musical magic, so what happened here. Couldn’t he hear how joyless the songs were and how flat the dance routines appeared. That special eye he has had in directing must have been shut.
The movie is rated PG for the stress of possibly losing the family home, or something banal as that.
If you are going to make a sequel to a classic you had better have some special talent lined up in all areas of the production. You can’t just throw the “Mary Poppins” name up on the screen and not pay homage in a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious way.
I scored “Mary Poppins Returns” a go back 5 out of 10.
Jackie K Cooper
www.jackiekcooper.com
