Mary Poppins returns (Emily Blunt)

(Amazon UK link)

When the film ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ was released a few years ago, I didn’t think I would want to see it. But after re-watching the original 1964 ‘Mary Poppins’ a few months ago, and reading some reviews, I decided to put this sequel on my wishlist. I was given it for my birthday, and we watched it last night.

I knew that the story was about the next generation of the Banks family: mainly Michael Banks, who was a child in the original film, and his children. I also knew that Mary Poppins was played by someone different - obviously Julie Andrews was too old to be in the role again but I wasn’t at all sure how anyone else could take it on. 

Emily Blunt, however, succeeds. She doesn’t look like Julie Andrews - even her hair is a different colour - but her costume, her way of relating and even her speech patterns are the same. It didn’t take me long to adjust to her in the role - which she does excellently, dancing and singing as well as playing the strict nanny. She doesn’t have quite the voice that Julie Andrews did, but it’s still very pleasant.

Lin-Manuel Miranda is also extremely good in his role as Jack, the young man who rides a bicycle around and does any odd job that needs doing. Jack mentions that he was a young lad when Michael and his sister Jane were young, and that he worked with Bert, the equivalent in the first film. 

The three children (Pixie Davies, Nathaniel Saleh and Joel Dawson) are confident, believable and at times amusing. Julie Waters is perfect for the role of Ellen.  Ben Whishaw is the grown-up Michael Banks, father of the children, and we quickly learn that his wife Kate died a year earlier. No details are given, but he’s still grieving. He’s also struggling financially, and has failed to keep up payments on a loan. His sister Jane (Emily Mortimer) doesn’t live with him but is often at the family house to help out. 

The underlying story is about the potential loss of the family home. There’s much that mirrors the original film, including several visits to the bank. Colin Firth is the apparently genial manager; indeed, the minor characters are something of an all-star cast. We loved seeing Meryl Streep as Mary Poppins’ eccentric cousin, and Angela Lansbury as the balloon lady at the end. It was also amazing watching Dick van Dyke in a cameo role towards the end. He was 93, apparently, but still full of life.

Like the original, some of the song sequences felt a tad over-long to me, but perhaps that was deliberate. There are a couple of lengthy fantasy scenes which work well with animated sequences interacting with the real characters. I don’t suppose PJ Travers would have liked them, but she’s no longer around. And the animations emphasised the nature of the surreal parts of the story that were more for children.  

I thought some of the songs were good, again reminiscent of the originals, but different. We didn’t think they were quite as catchy as, for instance, ‘A Spoonful of Sugar’, or ‘Let’s Go Fly a Kite’, but then we’ve only heard them once. Perhaps, if we hear them again a few times, they will start to feel just as memorable.

Overall we thought this was a very enjoyable and well-made film, one that adults can appreciate as much as children, if they don’t mind some silliness and animation. The rating is U in the UK, PG in the more cautious United States, possibly because there are some mildly perilous scenes towards the end (there was one scene where I had to look away as I am somewhat phobic about heights).  But there's really nothing inappropriate for young children. 

Definitely recommended if you like the original ‘Mary Poppins’. 

Review copyright 2024 Sue's DVD Reviews

Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor)

(Amazon UK link)

Last year when I put the loosely biographical film ‘Goodbye Christopher Robin’ on my wishlist, Amazon recommended another film, confusingly called just ‘Christopher Robin’. The reviews weren’t quite as good but it sounded interested - if a tad weird - so I added that to my wishlist too. I was delighted to receive it (as well as the other one) for Christmas last year.

We watched ‘Goodbye Christopher Robin’ about six weeks ago, and thought it an outstanding film, well worth seeing. Then we watched ‘Christopher Robin’ last night. It was good that we left a few weeks’ gap since of course the characters were played by different actors. This is a Disney story rather than having any reality in it, other than some rapidly shown drawings from AA Milne’s classic books.

This film opens with the animals in the Hundred Acre Wood, presumably CGI versions, having a goodbye party for their friend Christopher Robin as he is sent to boarding school. But there are no scenes from school. We next meet him as an adult (brilliantly played by Ewan McGregor). From this point all is fictional: he is known as Mr Robin (rather than Milne), and he works for a luggage factory. He is married to Evelyn (Hayley Atwell) and they have a daughter called Madeline (Bronte Carmichael).

Christopher has forgotten his childhood friends, and what used to matter to him. He is caught up in his work, albeit reluctantly at times. We meet him as he’s about to take his wife and daughter to their cottage for the weekend, only to discover that he’s expected to work hard to find some way of cutting the company’s expenses.

There’s a rather strange mixture of realism and fantasy in this film. Since the image on the front of the DVD shows it, it’s no spoiler to say that one of the childhood animals - who walk and talk in the hundred acre wood - emerges into London and finds his old friend. But Christopher Robin is not entirely pleased to see him, particularly when people around him start noticing that he has a talking stuffed animal.

There are some cleverly choreographed scenes as chaos takes over the household, forcing Christopher to travel down to the cottage, where his wife and daughter have gone on their own, to try to restore his old friend to his natural surroundings.

Of course the storyline is rather predictable. Work contrasts with family life, not just for Christopher but for his daughter who is very academic and is soon to be sent to boarding school. She doesn’t really know how to play at all. It’s classic Disney, and becomes more so as the film progresses. There’s a villain - Christopher’s boss - who is really quite unpleasant, but is ousted eventually, and there’s a happy ending when everything falls nicely into place.

But despite there being no real surprises, it’s surprisingly cute, amusing at times, and even poignant towards the end. It could provide a good reminder to serious folk that it’s important to play, that families matter, and that we should not forget our childhood stuffed animals.

The rating is PG, which seems about right; there’s no bad language, no innuendoes or even partial nudity. There are very brief war scenes but nothing too scary. Perhaps a very sensitive young child might be worried by the scene involving a ‘heffalump’; maybe some young children wouldn’t really appreciate the theme of a man absorbed by work and neglecting his wife and daughter. But for anyone over the age of about eight or nine, who doesn’t mind some bizarrely surreal scenes, I would recommend this.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (Mackenzie Foy)

(Amazon UK link)

I’m not entirely sure why Amazon recommended the film ‘The Nutcracker and the Four Realms’ to me. Sometimes it’s a bit spooky. I did see an amateur production of ‘The Nutcracker’ ballet mid-December, but must have added this to my wishlist considerably before that time, as I was given it for Christmas 2019.

We wanted to see something light and undemanding, and not too long. So we decided to watch this film, with little idea what to expect. We were, of course, familiar with the basic Nutcracker story, and to start with it looked as though it was going to be an expanded, non-ballet version of that traditional tale.

Clara is the main character, played by Mackenzie Foy, and she does a good job. She’s one of three children who, according to the film, have recently lost their mother. Clara is quite miserable and has no wish to go to the annual Christmas Eve ball given by her godfather. But her father hands out gifts which their mother left them for this occasion; Clara receives a locked container that looks like an egg, but the key is missing.

Morgan Freeman is her godfather, Drosselmeyer, and he - as ever - is superb in the role, though sadly it’s quite a minor one. He is an inventor. But Clara is also mechanically minded, and manages to fix a problem with one of his creations. At the party she follows a golden thread that leads to the key to the box… but it’s stolen by a mouse, and in trying to get it back she is led into adventures in the ‘four realms’ of the title.

There’s more than a nod to the original ‘Nutcracker’, in the places Clara goes, and some of the people she meets. The scenery is stunning, and the CGI so well done that it mixes seamlessly with the real people. There’s an extra plot, involving an old woman - Mother Ginger, played by Helen Mirren, although I didn’t recognise her, which is more Mother Goose than Nutcracker.

But it’s Disney, and they’re not known for sticking to storylines. In the original ‘Nutcracker’ ballet, Clara’s visits to other realms are basically in order to showcase different styles of dancing. In this film they’re an integral part of the story. It felt a bit convoluted in places, with some silliness, but as we reminded ourselves, it’s really intended for children.

There’s a hero - of sorts - in the story, although no romantic development. Philip (Jayden Fowora-Knight) is supposedly the ‘nutcracker soldier’, whom Clara meets as she is trying to cross a bridge. He joins her in her journey, but his acting isn’t very strong, and there didn’t seem any reason for the ‘nutcracker’ name - there’s no back-story, as in the ballet, and he’s an ordinary person, albeit not in a very interesting job.

The other minor annoyance is that the Sugar Plum Fairy (Keira Knightly - and, again, I didn’t recognise her) is frankly irritating, and bears no relation to the original in the ballet. There’s no ballet to speak of, but plenty of the original Tchaikovsky music, connecting the ballet story with the Disney film, and that was well done, although it would have been nice to have a bit more of it.

As well as the adventure story, with the quest to save the realms (and to find Clara’s key) there’s a ‘real world’ story, involving Clara and her father. At the start of the film she is moody and irritable, convinced that he doesn’t care at all about having lost their mother. Towards the end, they manage to reconnect in quite a moving scene.

The rating is PG, which is about right; there are two or three instances of minor bad language, and some slightly tense scenes that could disturb a sensitive child, but since it’s all fairytale fantasy it’s not particularly realistic - other than one scene on a cliff-face, where I had to hide my eyes for a few moments! There’s no real violence and nothing romantic; possibly there were some mild innuendoes, but they would go over the head of most children, and I don’t recall any of them as being offensive.

Overall, we liked the film. Knowing the ‘Nutcracker’ storyline and recognising the music is an advantage in seeing it, but not necessary. If you’re a fan of Disney movies, then this isn’t a bad one; for family nights or children’s viewing I would recommend it. Indeed, I look forward to introducing my grandchildren to it one day.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews