Review of Mary Poppins (1964) by Harry W — 09 Sep 2013

Mary Poppins is dated and features no real intention in its plot, but it has an immense sense of fun and plenty of zany dynamics to overshadow that.

The minor flaws in Mary Poppins are that the film isn't particularly interesting until Julie Andrews graces the screen with her presence, and the fact that there is no particular narrative in the story. Mary Poppins is more focused on showing off glamourous colours and visual effects as well as musical numbers than any direct premise or intention within the plot, so where it starts and ends is essentially the same with lieu of character development and the viewing pleasure of many magical moments. Still, the seeing eye can identify that Mary Poppins has no real direction to go in and instead sings and dances around the issue to disguise it with the sleight of hand of director Robert Stevenson to ensure it succeeds at that, which it really does.

Underneath that is an amiable sense of fun, a sense of splendourous wonder and magic which is what solidifies Mary Poppins' legacy as a Disney classic. Mary Poppins' Academy Award winning visual effects are excellent and create the sense of magic the film needs, particularly in the scenes requiring animation with wonderful colours and unbridled sweetness and fun. Mary Poppins is a technical breakthrough and serves as a paradigm of Disney's live action movies.

And it's a musical wonder because of all the wonderful and sweet songs used in the film, particularly the Academy Award winner "Chim Chim Cher-ee" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" which are unforgettable and iconic of Disney's musical cinema.

But the thing above all that makes Mary Poppins the exceptional wonder that it is, is Julie Andrews' magical performance as Mary Poppins. There's no better way to put it, Julie Andrews is absolutely flawless in Mary Poppins. She provides a sweet sense of warmth to the character as well as a sense that she is strong as she conveys the ability to dominate the screen and captivate fellow characters and viewers. Her performance is legendary, one of the greatest female performances in film history, and a sure fire win for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Dick van Dyke also captures a fun amount of energy for his characterisation of Bert, presenting a fun sense of magic in the heart of a male character to mirror Mary Poppins through a male character, making the characters diverse in gender and therefore more widely appealing.

The entire cast of Mary Poppins is good, but none of them hold a candle to Julie Andrews, and Dick Van Dyke makes for good chemistry with her.

There's no better way to describe Mary Poppins than to say its magical and boasts one of the strongest and most loveable female characters in film history due to Julie Andrews' flawless Academy Award winning performance. It's rich with magic which overshadows the lack of story direction.