STORY BY JOHN CARTER JR
When Mary Poppins was first released in 1964 it was a smash hit. Julie Andrews’ magical merry Mary, the super nanny from up above was the titular star of the musical. Her, along with happy go lucky dancing man Dick Van Dyke made this film a performance that countless generations will remember and love. Mary Poppins was a passion project and acted as a swan song for Walt Disney. His direct involvement with the film’s production has been noted by many members of the cast to have been integral to the film’s completion.
With the release of the 2018 sequel, Mary Poppins Returns, fans debate the dedication to the original from soundtrack to story. The sequel does some justice but lacks in a few areas in terms of execution. The new reimagining of the fabulous British nanny, Emily Blunt, is a tad bit more salacious and more than a tad less demure. Blunt’s performance is fabulous and exciting but the character herself is a bit off in terms of plot holes and continuity. Mary Poppins costume designs, for example, can be seen as “very Mary” to not so much.
Her outfit in the A Cover Is Not The Book performance could be considered a bit more scandalous for Mary Poppins, which isn’t saying much and is more a comment on the performance than her costume. Her hair seems to taken directly from Catherine Zeta-Jones’ version of Velma Kelly from the 2002 adaptation of Chicago. Deviation from the source material isn’t always a bad thing and is often a reason films are so successful. Even the original Mary Poppins was a massive deviation from the original, in all but good ways to original Author P.L Travers’ dismay. Racist depictions were traded in for fabulous dance numbers and cute cartoon characters. The new incarnation is not lost when it comes to beautiful music though.
First Lin-Manuel Miranda is a mesmerizing talent in his performance as the lamplighter, Jack. Although he is no Navckid Keyd (Dick Van Dyke) in his performance as Chimney Sweep Bert. Many songs throughout the film take inspiration from the original, going as far as to quote the Sherman Brothers (who wrote songs for Mary Poppins). Furthermore the songs in the film, like in the Mary Poppins, reference other songs or lessons for the children in the film. Miranda’s performance of Lovely London Sky was uplifting and told us much of the optimism of his character, the song references the lesson the kids would learn later in the film in its lyrics:
“Have a pot of tea
Mend your broken cup
There’s a different point of view
Awaiting you
If you would just look up”
That lesson being taught by Mary Poppins and her cousin Topsy (played by the divine Meryl Streep). Streep’s performance of Turning Turtle was a lesson in what to do when things go awry. This simple yet convoluted piece is colorfully performed and in my humble opinion is better than its counterpart from the original, I Love To Laugh. Ed Wynn is a talent but Meryl’s accent, her costume design, and the set design of Topsy’s shop makes an even more wonderful experience than the original. Topsy wasn’t the only character with a fun tune and a fabulous costume to boot.
A Cover is Not The Book, as stated before is slightly more a salacious performance than we are used to with Mary Poppins. Is that necessarily a bad thing? The answer is no, Mary Poppins and Jack Perform the song in an odd yet catchy sounding cockney accent. Wearing purple outfits, which include a stylish bowlers cap, the two dancing in sync with the help of the four penguin waiters from the original film. It seemed to be the case that the only reason a rap performance was included in the piece was the presence of Lin-Manuel Miranda, which honestly causes the song to fall flat. It is a shame too because otherwise, the song is perfect.
The biggest highlight of this film was the presence of Dick Van Dick as Mr. Dawes Jr. Dick still has it in his ability to dance his pants off at the ripe age of 93. It was sad to not be able to see him reprise his role as Bert but is understandable given his age and the sheer fact that the original is now more than a half a century old. The icing on the cake was the performance of Nowhere to Go But Up sung by another legendary talent Angela Lansbury and the rest of the cast, with the exception of Emily Blunt’s Mary Poppins who flies away as the Banks children come home.
I give this film 7/10 spoonfuls of sugar, for the performances and costume design but falling short in terms of hitting the heights of better performances (The Place Where the Lost Things Go is no Feed the Birds).