Saving Mr. Banks

I already know that I cannot do justice in writing about the movie Saving Mr. Banks. I am a huge fan of Mary Poppins, well anything with Julie Andrews really. I was very intrigued to learn about how the Disney Empire got the rights to the story. This movie sheds some light on Ms. P L Travers, the author of Mary Poppins.

Mary Poppins to me has always been this fun story with some catchy songs. I don't think I have ever really dug into the meaning of the relationships between the kids and the father, the father and Mary Poppins, and Mary Poppins and the kids.

Emma Thompson puts the importance of the story into perspective. As she is meeting with the writers for the movie you can see the heartache as they are portraying something that obviously means everything to her.

Walt Disney is played by the always impressive Tom Hanks. Walt has been trying to get the rights to the stories for 20 years, and has finally been able to get P L Travers to come out to California. Walt discovers who the characters in the story are, and is able to truly relate to P L Travers.

The movie did an impressive job of transitioning from when they were trying to make the movie, to when the real stories took place. Colin Farrell plays the father of this little girl, played by Annie Rose Buckley. Buckley does a great job playing this little girl who loves her father. Colin Farrell probably isn't every ones favorite actor, but I have always liked him because one of the first DVDs my family bought was American Outlaws staring him. Not a logical reasoning for liking him, but what is logical about the movies I like. I would like to dig deeper into his character in the movie, but I would rather you go see it. Just know that Mr. Banks will be alright in the end.

There is an interesting relationship that develops in the movie, that I thought added so much to the movie. P L Travers is the snobby Brit who is all prim and proper. When she arrives in California to work on the movie, she treats everyone like they are beneath her. Travers did not want to be there in the first place, and was finding every reason to not like their ideas. Paul Giamatti is the driver that picks her up at the airport and takes her around. Giamatti and Thompson played very well off of each other, and there was a relationship created that puts that extra touch to the movie.

I thought that Bradley Whitford, B J Novak, and Jason Schwartzman do a great job as the script writers, and showing the early stages of the movie creation. A nice historical touch they added, was how P L Travers wanted everything recorded on tape. They do it during the movie, however during the end credits, they play a couple minutes of the real recording from 50 years ago when they were creating the movie. You can hear P L Travers, and realize that Emma Thompson does an excellent job.

To not spoil anything from the movie, I will avoid any plot details. However I would like to share a line, and expound upon it. Walt says to Emma, "That’s what story tellers do. We restore order to imagination. We bring hope.” We all have the ability to make the past what we want. We know what happens, but we can focus on the negative or the positive. I can look back at Jr High and think of the insecurities, and and struggles to make friends. How I never really made the basketball team, and was just socially awkward, which we all were. Or I can look back and see the great friends that I have made since. I was on the volleyball team, and was able to gain confidence in other aspects because of it. 

Our imagination is ours, and we can make it whatever we want. P L Travers created the story of Mary Poppins, and through much heartache, and trust she let Walt Disney make Mary Poppins into a movie that portrayed the story as P L Travers may not have originally envisioned, but later was happy to live with, because in the end Mr. Banks is alright.