To me, this movie is perfection.

Pretty Good

Don't Believe the Hype

Absolutely Fantastic

Kinda like a really long Mad Men episode with a more recognizable cast, a peppier soundtrack, worse flashbacks and less historical accuracy. Well done? Yeah. Entertaining? Meh.

"Saving Mr. Banks" is all about saving the film, "Mary Poppins." That is saving, as in being able to make the film in the first place. It tells the story of the culmination of a 20-year pursuit by Walt Disney of English author, Australia-born P.L. Travers for the film rights to her books. She neglected all appeals until, according to the film, her finances dwindled to the point that her London agent urged to meet with Walt Disney at his California studios and to consider again the Disney offer. One can understand that many authors are concerned about Hollywood substantially changing their stores when making them into movies. In this case, Travers was more resolute than most, and obstinate. She didn't want "Mary Poppins" to be a musical. There could be no animation (as in the short scene with penguins dancing). Mary Poppins was not to be a happy spirited woman, but a stern, serious teacher. Her conditions for granting film rights reached to the level of insisting that no red color be used at all in the film. This movie is the story about Ms. Travers (nee, Helen Lyndon Goff), and how Walt Disney warmed her some and otherwise wore down her resistance. She had encounters with most of the Disney studio people she met, especially the song-writing team of the Sherman Brothers – Dick and Bob. Walt Disney's tenacity paid off and the happy ending of this story is in the wonderful musical that generations to come will enjoy. Without "Mary Poppins," we wouldn't have the wonderful songs of the Sherman Brothers, "A Spoonful of Sugar," and "Super‐cali‐fragil‐istic- expi‐ali‐docious."All of the cast in this film are very good. Tom Hanks conveys the conviviality, decency and hopeful spirit of Walt Disney. And, Emma Thompson is superb as P.L. Travers – or, "Pamela," as Walt kept calling her. This movie is a good accompaniment for viewing "Mary Poppins," especially for those interested in the source and history of the movie. Here are a few of my favorite lines from this film. P.L. "Pamela" Travers, "Poppins. Mary Poppins. Never ever just Mary."Travers, "I fear we shan't be acquainted for very long." Richard Sherman, "Why is that?" Travers, "Because these books simply do not lend themselves to chirping and prancing. No, it's certainly not a musical."Walt Disney, "Cancel my morning tomorrow. I'm going to take a ride with my favorite author." Travers, "No, no, no! Please, Mr. Disney. I cannot begin to tell you how uninterested – no, positively sickened I am at the thought of visiting your dollar-printing machine." Walt Disney, "Well, for crying out loud. When does anybody get to go to Disneyland with Walt Disney himself?" Travers, "Disappointments are to the soul what thunderstorms are to the air." Don DaGradi, "A word of advice, Mrs. Travers, if I may." P.L. Travers, "You may. Whether I mind it or not will be another matter entirely. Don DaGradi "Well, it's just that he can't stand being called Mr. Disney. We're all on a first name basis here. Walt Disney, "Let's make something wonderful." P.L. Travers, "Well, let's see if that's at all possible." Walt Disney, after she walks away, "Whoa! Damn!"P.L. Travers, "Mary Poppins and the Banks – they are family to me." Walt Disney, "I understand that – I do."

Many of us consider Marry Poppins a classic, one that has endured and still entertains audiences today. Saving Mr Banks takes an interesting look at the author behind Mary Poppins and the film adaption. Not many would be familiar with the background and difficult personality of the author. We also learn the inspiration behind the timeless classic. The film excels in getting you to dislike and maybe even hate Emma Thompson's character, P. L. Travers. She is disagreeable, stubborn and peculiar. Even though she is in need of income to save her home she is not willing to make a deal until all her demands are met. One important demand is the absence of animation which is central to many Disney films. Over the course of the film she warms up to the writers and Walt Disney who write the songs that we all know and love. When she cancels the deal and flies back to the U.K. she is visited again by none other than Walt Disney. We learn that her hopes for the film as in the books were not to save the children but their father which fictitiously based on her father. Mary Poppins was the nanny who saved everything that her real nanny or aunt could not do in her life. She lost her father as shown in her flashbacks. The real reason behind this classic creation endears her to the audience as we are told Mr Banks will be not just be saved he will be honored. While Mary Poppins brought joy to many to many children's lives the author also sought to bring joy and solace to her inner child and fathers memory. Excellent acting from Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and Thompson who deliver star performances.

Following three years since its release, I can't help but express how thought-provoking Saving Mr. Banks turned out since the day I first watched it on opening night. The 1960s became one of the last prominent moments in Uncle Walt's lifetime that he witnessed before he passed away, but it's really about how one movie almost never came to be. About how the Mouse met the Magical Nanny.The story follows P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson), the renowned author of the Mary Poppins books. In 1961, when Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) asks for her to fly to America to meet her personally about his film adaptation of her book, she reluctantly accepts to meeting him. Despite her tragic and bitter past life that greatly dictated her present self, Travers learns from Walt's experience that it doesn't have to be that way and what really matters is letting go and keep moving forward.Director John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) definitely showed the tribulations and conflicts Travers had when overseeing the production of Walt Disney's Mary Poppins adaptation. It may have gotten off to a troubling start with her not being open to how each character in her book should be portrayed as well as showing disdain on a few songs, even the animation that Walt wanted to include, but upon seeing the progress of where the direction was going, there were signs that she was beginning to warm up to it. I loved how a few scenes began to jump ahead back and forth on a recurring basis between glimpses of her childhood and then into how that reflected onto her books.Tom Hanks' take on Walt was pretty uncanny in how he segued into sounding like him and Emma Thompson's portrayal as P.L. Travers showed angst and bittersweetness, yet is misunderstood as a troubled individual that had a rough childhood. I was also left in awe on how in one scene Disneyland was shown as it once looked in the 60s. Looked pretty nifty as though you've traveled back in time. Overall, it's a dramatic and tense element deep beneath the inner workings of light-hearted Disney.