Review: Mary Poppins Returns

One needn't have worried for Emily Blunt is practically perfect in every way as the title character in Mary Poppins Returns, a thoroughly delightful and heartwarming continuation of the 1964 Oscar-winning classic.

Hewing close to the spirit and narrative of the original, Mary Poppins Returns is refreshingly nostalgic - those allergic to enchantment will deem it out of touch - transporting audiences to a fantasy world where the primary driving force is to make one feel guiltlessly and gleefully happy. Of course, it's not the original, which featured superb turns from Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke along with a spate of classic songs like "A Spoonful of Sugar" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," but it very much is a worthy successor that, in and of itself, is a lovingly crafted and excellently executed film.

Much like this year's Christopher Robin, Mary Poppins Returns argues that, whilst growing up is hard, it doesn't necessarily mean one should lose touch with one's inner child and, by extension, one's sense of wonder. Set in the fog-cloaked cobblestone streets of London during the Great Depression, the film returns us to 17 Cherry Tree Lane, now inhabited by a grown Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw), hopelessly adrift since his wife passed a year ago. Helping him to raise his three children Annabel (Pixie Davies), John (Nathanael Saleh) and Georgie (Joel Dawson) are his sister Jane (Emily Mortimer), now a labour organiser, and Ellen (Julie Walters), the family's longtime housekeeper. Michael is desperately inconsolable - Whishaw's rendering of "A Conversation" (talk-sung to his late wife) just pierces at the heart - so much so that he's fallen behind on his loan payments. Unless he and Jane find the bank notes their departed father left them to cover the loan, then the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, run by the dastardly William Weatherall Wilkins (Colin Firth), will repossess his home.

As in the first film, Mary Poppins appears in the Banks' time of need, encouraging the children to use their imagination as a means of escape from their everyday, subtly nurturing their enterprising nature, and helping the family rescue themselves. Along the way, there are musical detours, the highlights of which are an underwater fantasia and, most especially, the extended sequence in which Mary Poppins, the Banks children, and her old friend Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda), who once apprenticed with Mary's old pal, chimney sweep Bert, step inside the surface of a decorative bowl. Here is where the film truly takes flight as director Rob Marshall not only cleverly retains the same traditional hand-drawn animation that was in the original film but allows his collaborators to let their imaginations run wild. The production design is magnificent, especially during the mildly naughty "A Cover is Not a Book" number that features books that unfold to present pop-up scenes. Sandy Powell's costumes are inspired and ingenious - bright and bold and appearing as if they had been drawn on.

The film makes few concessions to the modern world. Whilst Miranda's rap-adjacent interlude in "A Cover is Not a Book" nods to his Hamilton fame without sounding out of place, more unsuccessful is the "Trip the Light Fantastic" sequence where Jack and his fellow lamplighters pay homage to Gene Kelly's athletic hoofing and Kelly's classic An American in Paris but is marred by the jarring inclusion of BMX bike tricks. In fact, most of the numbers involving the lamplighters feel like filler; so, too, does "Turning Turtle" in which Meryl Streep cameos as Mary Poppins' kooky cousin. However, one cannot argue with Angela Lansbury's musical number late in the film or the 93-year-old Van Dyke demonstrating that he's lost little of his spryness.

Still, the film would not work at all without Blunt, who commands your attention whether she's front and centre or in the sidelines. She may possess the diamond-cut diction, ramrod posture, and no-nonsense yet mischievous air that we associate with the character, but what's especially marvellous is the way her Mary Poppins is suffused with warmth and yet is someone who never met a mirror she didn't like and thrives on being right, telling people what to do, and making sure that everything is in its proper place. It's a fine balance, and Blunt navigates it with grace and radiance, blithely gliding through the film like magic in human form.

Mary Poppins Returns

Directed by: Rob Marshall

Written by: David Magee; based on the novel Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers

Starring: Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, Joel Dawson, Julie Walters, Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Dick Van Dyke, Angela Lansbury