Saving Mr. Banks

I was going to write this review later but I thought I'd get it done now. There's a couple movies on my Netflix list that are going to be leaving Netflix at the end of the year and so there are going to be a lot of reviews in the next few days. Along with that I still need to see The Desolation of Smaug, Anchorman 2 so there are going to be a lot of reviews in the next few days before the year is out. Get excited!

That being said, a review of Saving Mr. Banks needs to be done because it is a solid movie.

Saving Mr. Banks is the story of how Disney got the rights to Mary Poppins and made it into the movie it is today.

I grew up in a family of three sisters, three sisters that loved Disney movies and one in particular that loved Julie Andrews and Mary Poppins. With that knowledge, of course I've seen Mary Poppins. I don't have the emotional connection to it that my sister has but I'm still pretty familiar to the story and the connection of nostalgia I have for it.

I have not read the book but it was a book before written by British novelist, PL Travers.

Saving Mr. Banks follows P.L. Travers as she takes on the wooing of Walt Disney as he attempts to get the rights to Mary Poppins and turn it into the Disney classic we know today.

Emma Thompson plays P.L. Travers and Tom Hanks plays Walt Disney. This was the big selling point for this movie. To have Tom Hanks, a man considered in many circles to be one of the greatest actors of our time play an iconic historical figure was just too good to turn down.

And while Hanks gives a phenomenal performance and is a very large part of the story, he's actually not what the movie is focused on.

The story actually is more about P.L. Travers. Not only her struggle with her objections to the movie but also the way that Mary Poppins is really apart of Traver's childhood.

Traver's childhood is really where the movie tugs at the heartstrings and makes this movie a great candidate for an Oscar. I don't think it'll win best picture but its definitely going to be in the running in my predictions.

P.L. Travers grew up in Australia and the flash back story focuses a lot on her relationship with her father and without giving too much away, it really is a center piece to the entire movie. Colin Ferrel plays her father and he's just phenomenal in the movie.

Another great strong point of the movie is the dynamic between Walt Disney and P.L. Travers. They are just two very different people, Travers being an uptight British woman, very humble and protective of the creativity she basically sees as her baby.

On the other hand you have Walt Disney, who at this point is just an American superstar. He's outgoing, he's kinda pushy, and he has this vision for Mary Poppins he won't say no to.

The dynamic between the two is phenomenal and its not too far off from reality.

In real life, the two most likely hated each other. You can see in the movie that Travers is hard to work with in the reading of the script with all the changes she wants to make. And Disney has this vision he doesn't want to ruin. However, the liberties the movie takes is when they make the connections between the two because they do have a lot of similarities despite their differences. And regardless the reality of their relationship, the movie illustrates a really compelling relationship between the two and really delves into the beauty of storytelling. A theme I can really get behind.

There's a lot of good elements of this movie that I haven't mentioned and that's because its really a movie you should see. Its just heartwarming, emotional, and definitely made me cry.

Not too many movies can do that. I would give Saving Mr. Banks a huge recommendation.

So have you seen Saving Mr. Banks? What did you think of it? Let me know.

There are a couple of youtube videos I could leave you with, one of them being Mary Poppins shaking a baby. I didn't really think it appropriate for this review, especially since its a solid movie. So I'll leave you with this and another Merry Christmas.