Saving Mr. Banks -- December 2013

MARY AND PAM

Patty: Hello?

Mattie: Hi Patty. Guess what. I wanted to get a recommendation from my favorite movie critic.

Patty: Sure, Mat. What are you up for? Heavy drama? Comedy? Something heartwarming?

Mattie: Heartwarming, for sure. My nieces are here visiting, and I thought it would be fun to take them out to the flicks.

Patty: How old are they?

Mattie: They're in their teens.

Patty: OK, then, I know just the thing: Saving Mr. Banks.

Mattie: Is that the Walt Disney picture – something about Mary Poppins?

Patty: That's it.

Mattie: Well, I was curious about that one. What's it really about?

Patty: It's about Disney persuading P. L. Travers – you know, the author of the Mary Poppins books – to give him the rights to make a musical about Mary. It took him 20 years to win her over.

Mattie: Sounds pretty derivative – a movie about making a movie?

Patty: I know what you mean, but it works. It's really about the character of P. L. Travers as compared to the character of Walt Disney – and it's also about relationships between parents and children, especially between fathers and daughters.

Mattie: Why did it take Disney 20 years to persuade her to give him the rights?

Patty: Well, it's the characters of the two of them. Walt Disney comes off as a basically outgoing, humorous, enjoy-life-kind-of-guy. P. L. Travers is just the opposite: At first glance she seems prim and proper, introverted, stubborn ... really formal. We can see that in the names they call each other. Disney insists on calling Travers Pam – Pamela is her real first name – and Travers doesn't like that. She won't call Disney Walt. She insists on calling him Mr. Disney. And then there are lots of other obstacles: Disney wants to turn her stories into a musical, but Travers is adamant that "Mary Poppins doesn't sing," and she says there can't be any animation. She thinks Disney just wants to expand his empire, but his own daughters love the Mary Poppins stories, and he's promised them he'll make them into a film. He finally convinces her that he loves the Mary Poppins character and isn't just trying to make himself richer.

Mattie: What about the relationships between fathers and daughters? That sounds interesting.

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Patty: Well, the whole movie is done with flashbacks between the present with Walt Disney and the past with Travers and her family, especially her father, in Australia. Travers and her father had a close relationship when she was a girl, but he had a drinking problem, and he got very sick and eventually died. That devastated her, and she's carried that devastation with her for most of her life.

Mattie: What does the title mean? Who's Mr. Banks?

Patty: In the stories, Mary Poppins becomes the nanny to the Banks children in London. Mr. Banks is a stiff, flawed father who doesn't pay enough attention to his kids. He gets into some very serious difficulties with his job at a bank and almost loses his job. In reality, Travers's father couldn't save his family, but in the stories Mr. Banks ultimately is able to save his. You can see it as the way Travers dealt with her pain and difficulties and managed to save her father in her memory.

Mattie: How's the acting?

Patty: Top notch. Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson give their usual strong performances. So does the rest of the cast. Colin Farrell is terrific as Travers's father.

Mattie: Sounds quite good. What kind of rating would you give it?

Patty: I'd give it about 3 ¼ stars. It's rated PG-13 for some language issues, including misuses of the Lord's name, and probably also Travers's father's alcholism.

Mattie; OK, Pat, you've convinced me. Do you want to go along with us?