Determined to fulfill a promise to his daughters, Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) tries for twenty years to obtain the rights to P.L. Travers’ beloved classic Mary Poppins, but spinster Travers (Emma Thompson) doesn’t want to sell the book because she doesn’t want her book to be a musical cartoon.   She goes on a two week trip to Los Angeles, California from the United Kingdom in an attempt to write the script like she wants it to be.  The attitudes of Walt Disney and Pamela Travers are so different.  Walt wants everyone known by first name while Pam wants to be known as Mrs. Travers.   The author of Mary Poppins is haunted by the ghosts of her childhood where it will take Walt to discover why she is so reluctant to let go of Mary Poppins.

 

SAVING M.R BANKS is a moving docudrama that somewhat tells the behind-the-scenes story of the origins of how Mary Poppins was turned into a movie, but this film is just fuel to feed the myth of Walt Disney in a fictionalized retelling of the true story.   Mrs. Travers had adopted a kid and Walt had the rights to the book by the time where the movie starts.  The events of Mrs. Travers’ childhood do cut really close to the real story, but the tale of how the script finally came to be made is made of fiction mixed with truth.    Tom Hanks is great as Walt Disney and Emma Thompson pulls off a great performance as the stiff and proper grump of an author known as Mrs. Travers.  I just don’t want you to take this movie as gospel of the truth and I hope you go out to find out more about the true story this movie is loosely based on.   SAVING MR. BANKS invents things to make it feel like a fairy tale and a Hollywood-esque drama.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

THE WALT DISNEY STUDIOS: FROM POPPINS TO THE PRESENT- Director John Lee Hancock takes a tour of Walt Disney studios as he reflects on studio life during the time when Mary Poppins was made as he talks with the people who worked during that time period.

LET’S GO FLY A KITE is the cast and crew singing the song as a tribute to composer Richard Sherman on the last day of filming SAVING MR. BANKS.

 

Three deleted scenes are also included on the disc, but the scenes are thankfully cut for pacing reasons.    Previews for other releases from Walt Disney and a code for a digital HD digital copy are also included on this release.

 

FINAL ANALYSIS:  SAVING MR. BANKS is an uplifting fictionalized retelling of true events with great acting from Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson.  I hope people will go read about the true story this movie is loosely based on.

 

This review is ©3-16-2014 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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