Review of Saving Mr. Banks (2013) by Tyler M — 17 May 2014

A movie with one of my favourite actors playing one of my favourite human beings making one of my favourite movies should be a slam dunk, and in many ways it is.

P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) has rejected Walt Disney's (Tom Hanks) request to hand over the rights to her Mary Poppin's book into a film for over 20 years. The primary reason is because she's afraid that Disney would ruin the integrity of the book by making "another one of his cartoons". But Disney's persistence to appeal to Travers' better nature is what he hopes will eventually win her over.

Mary Poppins is considered by me as a perfect film. So, the making of it should be equally enjoyable. While I did find flaws here and there, Mr. Banks is far from a bad film.

One of the film's strongest suits is the acting. Emma Thompson is quite excellent as the adamant Travers. A lot of scenes of her just fighting with various staff members about Mary Poppins is just a joy to watch. One of the biggest question marks in recent years casting-like has to be Tom Hanks as Walt Disney. As much as I love both people, he was not the first person I had in mind to play the iconic man (I don't care if he is or is not a racist, he's still awesome!), but I watch it and I couldn't help but have a big grin on my face every time he's on screen. What can I say, he's Walt. He's a total Walt. It was like I was seeing the man himself in the flesh. I looked past the fact that it was so obviously Hanks in the role. There's just something in his charm and demeanor that just made me love him in this role. An odd casting choice, but mad props.

This movie has a special bit of magic with it. It's a different kind of magic from watching Mary Poppins, but still some great iconic scenes abound in this movie. Ones with Travers and the songwriters, The Sherman Brothers (who are awesome, too) or others of her childhood life with her father are just wonderful to watch, even if I did feel that this motif was used too often and I quickly grew tired of using it so frequently, but honestly this is just a nitpick.

Awesome Quote Alert: "That mouse..., he's family.".

Whereas Frozen disappointed this year, Saving Mr. Banks didn't. You don't have to be a Disney geek like me, or someone who knew every aspect of Disney's history, like me, to thoroughly enjoy this film. Be it the acting, with strong suits from Thompson and Hanks, the music, the year's best score by Thomas Newman which always makes me feel like a little kid every time I listen to it, or just the fact that this movie knows what it is, an earnest family drama that has a happy ending (whether or not it's factual to history) that will make people cry, because it sure did for me. Saving Mr. Banks, while having a different kind of magic than Mary Poppins, and while the latter is better than the former (and it's better than most films ever made), it will not disappoint.

*** out of ****.

FINAL VERDICT: 83%.