87/365
Yesterday afternoon, we used the tickets we bought earlier this week using the Atom and Chase Pay discount to see Mary Poppins Returns. It was practically perfect in every way!
Watch the Original First
We all watched the original movie the night before we went to see the new one. I highly recommend you go this route as well. While the stories are a bit different, the filmmakers kept many of the same elements in this film that made the original so beloved. This new movie picks up about 20 years later with the Banks children grown and a troubled Michael with children of his own.
I swore we had a copy of the original Mary Poppins, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I remember we had watched it together as a family at some point, but I couldn’t get my hands on our copy of the movie. So I had to stop by Target, but their five copies were nowhere to be found. Fortunately, Walmart had plenty on their shelves, so we are now the proud owners of the 50th Anniversary Special Edition Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Copy of Mary Poppins (1964) for only $16.19, plus 150 points on Disney Movie Rewards!
Listen To the Soundtrack
Then, yesterday morning, we listened to the soundtrack on our Alexa, so that helped prepare us as well. I assumed Lin-Manuel Miranda had written the songs, but I was surprised to find out it was Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman. It’s always helpful to be familiar with the music of a new piece so that you can follow along with the story and enjoy both the visual effects and the complicated choreography that go along with the beautiful songs. Don’t forget that this is a musical, after all, so you can expect the characters to break out in song at every opportune moment.
Perfect People
The casting was also perfect, from Michael (Ben Whishaw) and his sister Jane (Emily Mortimer) to Michael’s three adorable children (Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, and Joel Dawson). Lin-Manuel Miranda is charming as Jack, and Emily Blunt’s Mary is everything she should be and then some. Colin Firth, Meryl Streep, and Angela Lansbury are wonderful in their roles. Of course, Dick Van Dyke’s turn as the bank chairman is the wonderful cherry on top, amazing and surprising to say the least.
A Treat for the Senses
This movie is a visual treat, from the use of color and light to set the mood to the stunning costumes. Especially delicious is the second animated sequence, with Mary’s dress the standout, and truly as delightful was the literary vaudeville-style number by Mary and Jack that included their own rich, colorful costumes and nods to PL Travers’ writing in the titles of the books on the set.
Bring the Whole Family
I highly recommend this movie for the whole family to enjoy. Everyone in our group was thoroughly entertained and left the theater uplifted. We will definitely be listening to the soundtrack well into the new year, wishing that Mary would descend from the skies to set our family straight as well! Now you can buy this movie on Amazon right here!
Referral
Don’t forget to upload or link your tickets to Disney Movie Rewards to earn points for Disney gift cards. If you use my referral, you and I can both earn 150 bonus points when you earn your first points from movie tickets or video purchase on the Disney Movie Rewards site.
