The following is a movie review “Mary Poppins Returns” by Marc Primo.
Release date: 19 December 2018 (United States)
Director: Rob Marshall
Language: English
Production companies: Walt Disney Pictures, Lucamar Productions, Marc Platt Productions
Producers: Rob Marshall, John DeLuca, Marc Platt
Unless their parents or grandparents made them watch the original Mary Poppins film, millennials and most youngsters born after the ‘80s will have no clue who Mary Poppins is, or where she is returning from, as the title of this 2018 sequel slash reboot proclaims.
It has been 54 years since Julie Andrews took on her first screen role of the singing nanny in the 1964 Academy Award-winning original that has since proven itself to be an enduring classic more than half a century later.
Set in 1930s London, this Rob Marshall retelling sees Emily Blunt step into Julie Andrews’ shoes in the title role, with support from a powerhouse cast including the A-list likes of Julie Walters, Colin Firth, and Meryl Streep.
Michael and Jane from the original movie are now grown up and it is the former’s three young kids who are the subject of David Magee’s screenplay that require the legendary services of Poppins.
How you feel about Mary Poppins Returns depends a lot on your expectations of it. Watch it with an open mind and take it for what it is—part sequel, part reboot for a new generation—and you will not be disappointed. See it with high hopes of being better than the first and you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.
Oscar-nominated and Grammy Award-winning composer Mark Shaiman, who was given the gargantuan task of penning new songs for the sequel to this beloved musical, might not have matched the Sherman Brothers' feel good ditties like A Spoonful of Sugar, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, and Chim Chim Cher-ee.
Fortunately, Blunt’s refreshing voice and childlike charm are enough to make it a toe-tapping, feel good movie experience that will keep both you and your young ones humming the tunes long after the end credits roll.
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