Review of Mary Poppins Returns (2018) by C K — 24 Dec 2018

My wife and I took our two girls (3 yr old and 5 yr old) to see this movie last night and everyone was looking forward to it. I am sad to report that it was not well received and we all left the film feeling a bit cheated and questioning why Disney would greenlight such a mediocre execution and concept?

Disney has managed to make this movie so incredibly unoriginal following the original Mary Poppins almost to a "T" with the only obvious changes being inconsequential (Mom has passed and Dad is an idiotic struggling artist turned bank teller). The casting is uninspired and as much as we love Emily Blunt, she doesn't make this movie sing. She's not bad but if Disney is going to do such a vanilla remake then you better get a full cast that can sing their faces off. Emily does not fit this role.

Even the amazingly talented Lin Manuel Miranda seems out of place here. His only capacity in this film is as a performer only and it makes me wonder how much better the movie would have been if he had been allowed to take his brush to this canvas?

But shame again on Disney for taking the middle-of-the-road approach and releasing a movie that should not have been made. It runs too long and the true test of a movie like this is my kids who stopped paying attention very early on. The songs were not good and we just don't really care about the Banks family. Dad is a dope who is not likable and it's surprising he didn't lose the house years ago. The effects look like they were done in the 60's and the only stand-out aspect to this movie is some of the costumes and sets. We wish Disney would have put a bit more effort in to re-releasing this classic instead of just remaking the exact film but only worse. In essence, we wish Mary had not returned.