Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Emma Thompson | ... | P.L. Travers | |
Tom Hanks | ... | Walt Disney | |
Annie Rose Buckley | ... | Ginty | |
Colin Farrell | ... | Travers Goff | |
Ruth Wilson | ... | Margaret Goff | |
Paul Giamatti | ... | Ralph | |
Bradley Whitford | ... | Don DaGradi | |
B.J. Novak | ... | Robert Sherman | |
Jason Schwartzman | ... | Richard Sherman | |
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Lily Bigham | ... | Biddy |
Kathy Baker | ... | Tommie | |
Melanie Paxson | ... | Dolly | |
Andy McPhee | ... | Mr. Belhatchett | |
Rachel Griffiths | ... | Aunt Ellie | |
Ronan Vibert | ... | Diarmuid Russell |
When Walter Elias Disney's (Tom Hanks') daughters begged him to make a movie of their favorite book, P.L. Travers' (Dame Emma Thompson's) "Mary Poppins", he made them a promise - one that he didn't realize would take twenty years to keep. In his quest to obtain the rights, Walt comes up against a curmudgeonly, uncompromising writer who has absolutely no intention of letting her beloved magical nanny get mauled by the Hollywood machine. But, as the books stop selling and money grows short, Travers reluctantly agrees to go to Los Angeles, California to hear Disney's plans for the adaptation. For those two short weeks in 1961, Walt Disney pulls out all of the stops. Armed with imaginative storyboards and chirpy songs from the talented Richard M. Sherman (Jason Schwartzman) and Robert B. Sherman (B.J. Novak), Walt launches an all-out onslaught on P.L. Travers, but the prickly author doesn't budge. He soon begins to watch helplessly as Travers becomes increasingly immovable and the rights ... Written by Walt Disney Pictures
This movie is much more than and definitely deeper than one would suspect from the 'syrupy' trailers most people have seen. The understory, gradually revealing the early life of P.L. Travers, the author of Mary Poppins, and depicting how the people in her dysfunctional family led her to write Mary Poppins, is the true core of this movie. I will never see Mary Poppins in quite the same way. All of the acting is superior, and the score is excellent. This is not the shallow, childlike movie that many will expect. I would not recommend it for children 11 and under, depending on the child. Otherwise, I highly recommend this movie, even if you are not a big fan of the original Mary Poppins film.