alike.com.ph—Disney’s “Mary Poppins Returns,” isn’t the studio’s first attempt to revive a classic for a new generation. But the sequel does come before an era when the most popular of children’s movies are being calibrated as anticipated live-action films—among them “Dumbo,” “The Lion King,” and “Aladdin,” which are all slated to come out in theaters this 2019. Honestly, it couldn’t have come at a better timing.
The movie follows the original’s arc almost too obsessively. But what should be emphasized is this: “Mary Poppins Returns” is not a remake—it is a continuation of the exciting adventures of the extraordinary nanny with the precocious Banks children.
As it tries to recapture the magic of the iconic 60s film, it sets tons of callbacks in place—it carries the same snap and prance in the melodies, coincidentally fashions similar characters, and reminds the same life lessons the fantastical nanny has taught once before. But these are all welcomed parallelisms, plotted in astonishing daydreams and flashy sequences.
“Mary Poppins Returns” leads us once again to 17 Cherry Lane, and here we find the inseparable duo of Michael and Jane Banks—only this time they’re all grown up. We are instantaneously welcomed to the chaos of their home and their lives, struggling to make ends meet under the Depression-era (yet lovely) London sky.
The mischievous Jane has taken her mother’s ballsy outlook on advocacies, and the way Emily Mortimer brought her to life on screen brought delightful and cheery breaks from the anxious atmosphere.
While Michael (Ben Whishaw) has decided to stash his art along with that career in the forgotten corners of the attic, and instead armed himself with a briefcase as he goes to work at Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, where he is a teller. If that place sounds familiar, that’s cause it’s the same financial institution where his father and grandfather worked before him—like I told you, this sequel thrives in the past’s cliche, making history repeat itself.
He is now a father to three children: Annabel, John and Georgie. And, you guessed it, following the overused Disney trope, his family is struggling to cope with the death of their matriarch. In their mourning, the three youngsters feel the need to take some responsibilities off their father’s hands, thinking and acting as adults should.
It’s in the trio’s fantastic misadventures with Mary Poppins where they shed their prudent fronts and feel the joys of being a child. They enter the ceramic world of the Royal Daulton bowl and find a carnival of sorts, while eccentric characters greet them as they venture out on the streets or dive into the depths of a bath tub.
Each adventure carries a different flair from the last (and a different lesson to be learned, too), definitely testing the limits of imagination and its whimsical worlds. “Mary Poppins Returns” is a magnificent viewing experience that turns cinemagoers into wide-eyed spectators, with sparked curiosities and reignited youth.
Emily Blunt does an amazing job following Julie Andrews. She manages to embody Mary Poppins’ no-nonsense demeanor, but almost to a fault. Her enigmatic portrayal makes the character recognizably more sophisticated, and I must admit humor is found in her vanity. But Blunt is also too cautiously surreptitious that cloaks her as frigid and unfeeling, lacking that compelling emotional connection. There are only a handful of moments she lets herself empathize and be childlike on screen.
And that’s where Jack comes in. The street lamplighter balances the act with his naturally infectious warmth and entranced doe-eyed charms, which he obviously got from equal parts of belief in magic and excessive imagination. Lin-Manuel Miranda is bloody brilliant—who else can make a Hamiltonian rap work its way in a “Mary Poppins” movie as flawlessly as he did?
Every time Jack is on the front and center of the frame, Miranda makes you feel the magnetic confidence in his performances. Not only that, you’d find yourself moving along to the beat of the tunes he’s singing. It is his scenes where “Mary Poppins Returns” truly feels like a musical—seemingly like a live experience you’d have engraved in your mind.
The ballads are the most novel in this movie. “A Conversation” and “The Place Where Lost Things Go” are the most honest and vulnerable moments of the film, and revels on the importance of processing grief, and exactly how fickle memory makes fools of men.
Tony award winners Marc Shaiman (“Hairspray,” “South Park”) and Scott Wittman (“Hairspray,” “Smash”) took a lot of cues from the music of the Sherman brothers, arranging new beats to suit tonally similar tunes—they made it apparent that songs in this movie are counterparts of the one that came before it. “Can You Imagine That,” sounds a lot like “Spoonful of Sugar,” while “Nowhere To Go But Up” has a similar groove to “Let’s Go Fly a Kite.”
For the most part, “Mary Poppins Returns” collects itself a forgettable bunch of songs (nothing you’ll find yourself singing on your way out of the cinema, sadly), but these are instant tonics of hope once they’re performed on screen. It’s a blissful cinematic experience, and all I can say is Rob Marshall surely knows how to construct a musical with his undeniable touch of modern sensibilities.
Mary Poppins Returns is now showing in Philippine cinemas. Photos courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures.
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