Movie Review : Saving Mr.Banks

Saving Mr.Banks (2013) by John Lee Hancock. With Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson, Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, Bradley Whitford and Colin Farrell.



I saw for the first time "Mary Poppins" the movie when I was 8 or 9 years old, thanks to the awesome nanny I had myself back then. I'm ashamed to admit that only recently I've find out that originally "Mary Poppins" was a book, so when I heard about this movie I called my ex nanny (now friend) and went to see it.








Here's the plot (SPOILER ALLEART!!)



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1906 - Australia 

10 years old Helen Goff hs to move from her big house to another smaller and in another town because her father (Travers  Goff) has been transfered due to his alcohol problems. She's very fond to him and loves him very much. Unfortunately her mother can't take his addiction to alcohol any longer and after she tried to kill herself (Helen persuaded her not to) she called her older sister, aunt Ellie, a very practical and down-to-Earth woman to help her out. 






Since Helen had a fervid immagination (and her father always encouraged it), she thought aunt Ellie came to help her father against his problem and save him...




                                                            
    
1961 - England 

Pamela L. Travers is globally known as the author of the most famous nanny : Mary Poppins. So you may think she's a sparkling woman, married and mother, all fun and games....well, she is not.
She lives alone, has a terrible temper and, since she refuses to write other novels, she is struggling financially. It has been 20 years that Walt Disney tries to buy the author's rights for making a movie on Mary Poppins and miss Travers has always declined the offer...until now.
She is now about to go to L.A to supervise the script's writing and she is irremovable on two point: the movie must not be a musical and (horror!!) a cartoon.
  
When she finally arrives in Los Angeles and at the Disney Studios, she meets the script writer, the music and words writers and Walt Disney himself.
He's always in good mood compared to miss Travers, who has to contest every decision the team have made since then : the cast choices, the characters' names they want to change and she seems particullary fond to the figure of Mr.Banks, the one she claims has to be saved...
        

I'd like to write one of the last dialogues between miss Travers and Walt Disney, which is really fun and dramatically profound at the same time...

P.L.Travers: "Mary Poppins isn't real."
Walt Disney: "Oh, no, no, no. She's as real as can be to my daughter...and thousand of other kids and to adults too....She has been there as nightime confort for a lot of people!"
P.L.Travers: "Uhm...and where is she when I need her? I open the door to Mary Poppins and who's standing there? Walt Disney!"

Ranking : 3½ / 5

P.s = You may not be aware that the movie "Mary Poppins" was nominated for 13 Academy Awards in 1965 and won 5 of them: Best Actress in a Leading Role (to Julie Andrews), Best Film Editing, Best Score, Best Visual Effects and Best Song.