Review of Saving Mr. Banks (2013) by Lane B — 21 Jun 2015

Saving Mr. Banks.

On DVD.

Rating: PG-13 125 minutes Biography & Comedy.

2 stars.

Director: John Lee Hancock.

Writer: Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith.

Stars: Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks.

Thompson (as author P. L. Travers) and Hanks (as Walt Disney) are brilliant as ever. I watch everything they are in. The supporting cast is solid: Colin Farrell (as the drunken and sick father), Paul Giamatti (as the chauffeur who ending up befriending Travers), Jason Schwartzman (the song writer) and Rachel Griffiths (as the "real" Mary Poppins).

Disney begged for the rights to Mary Poppins for 20 years. Travers refused - until she was nearly broke. Her demands for the movie are extreme - she wants the color red removed from the film! She goes over every detail with a fine tooth comb. Nothing makes her happy and she leaves Hollywood. Back in London, Disney pays her a visit - and reveals that he knows that the book was based on her troubled childhood and relationship with her father.

Here's the stick: the flashbacks. A couple would have been enough. Instead we were subjected to more flashbacks than Jimi Hendrix experienced on an average day!

Hancock is noted for his work on "The Blind Side" (he was the director and writer) and was co-nominated for a BAFTA Award for "Saving Mr. Banks".

The producers:

Marcel, usually a minor television actress and writer, co-wrote "Saving Mr. Banks" as her first screenplay. Smith was also a television writer and a script editor (since 1980s), breaking into screenplays. The producers have often produced various projects together. The most established (Andrew Mason) produced "The Matrix" movies amongst 22 others.