Sometimes it feels like we’re lost in a world so focused on intelligence and logic that we’ve forgotten childhood magic and wonder. But, as Mary Poppins reminds us, “nothing’s gone forever, only out of place” and we’re never too old to give in to imagination. Mary Poppins Returns, the sequel to the much loved 1964 musical film Mary Poppins, is as wonderful as the original, telling a new story with equally important lessons about family, love, and hope. Twenty-five years after the original, Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw), is all grown up and a father of three who is struggling to support his family after his wife’s passing when Fidelity Fiduciary Bank (one and the same from the original film) threatens to repossess his home. Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) returns to save the day, and with the help of Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda), a London lamplighter and former apprentice to chimney sweep Bert, shows Michael, his children, and his sister Jane (Emily Mortimer) how a little imagination can go a long way to change their point of view and, as a result, everything else around them. Mary Poppins Returns brings back many beloved elements from the original film, including the musical sequences with paintings that come to life, Michael and Jane’s old kite (whose magic is at the heart of the film’s story), and Mary Poppins’s flying, talking umbrella. The film also features cameo appearances from stars like Meryl Streep (as Mary Poppins’s eccentric cousin Topsy), Colin Firth (as the villainous bank president, Mr. Wilkins), and Dick Van Dyke (not as Bert, but as the honorable bank chairman, Mr. Dawes Jr.).
Mary Poppins Returns
PG • 2 hours 10 min • 2018
