December 30th
Mary Poppins Returns was a delightful, magical, musical film like the original was way back in 1964. We saw the first one again before this.
This film is set 25 years after the first, so in the 1930s. Michael and Jane are all grown- up, and Michael has three children of his own: Anabel, John, and Georgie. Micheal loses his sense of childhood, and his wife who had died a year prior.
Mary Poppins then returns, and his kids have wonderful adventures with her and Jack. I'm not going to go any further then that. You will have to see the film if you want more about the adventures and stuff.
Lin-Manural Miranda is Jack, an apprentice of Bert, and is a lamplighter. He does a good job, maybe not as good as Bert, but still good.
Emily Blunt does what Mary Poppins would've done in the first, and I think she played it well, and did it justice. Julie Andrews's portrayal of her was 'practically perfect in every way', and her personality might have slightly changed a little, but Disney did a good choice when casting her. It's just too bad Julie Andrews didn't make a cameo.
The music might not be as memorable compared to the first, but they were still nice. A couple are like the songs in the original, not the same, but similar and reminds you of them.
It was nice seeing Disney's 2D animation again. Don't get me wrong, I love Disney's animated stuff nowadays, but seeing them making a return to the 2D stuff, even if most of the movie was live-action was a breath of nice air. Hopefully they return to it in the future.
Dick Van Dyke makes a great return as Mr. Dawes Jr, and for a man in his 90s, he can still dance and do moves as he did 54 years ago! Interesting fact, not only did he do Burt in the first, but he also did Mr. Dawes Sr, so it was a nice circle. What comes around, goes around!
Angela Lansbury also comes at the end. She wasn't a character in the first, but had appeared in P.L. Travers' writings. Angela also appeared in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, which also co-starred David Tomlinson who played George, the father, in the first.
And I guess the little actress who played Jane in the first also made also made a little cameo near the beginning. I didn't see her, but considering she's in her sixties now, it'll be hard. It's nice when actors and actresses or other people involved in a project from a long time ago make a comeback. It shows that they truly loved making it, and it brings them back to when they were younger, and its nice for the fans.
So if you liked the first, you'll like this. It had the same charm and magic as the first, maybe not nearly enough, but close enough.