Rent Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

Practically imperfect in every way - Mary Poppins Returns review by Pete W

OK, this is a very clever reworking of the original Mary Poppins story but it's nowhere near as entertaining. The parallels with the first film are very close - sweeps become lamplighters, there's a cartoon element accessed via a porcelain bowl rather than a street painting, Uncle Albert has turned into Meryl Streep - and there are some nice homages to the original characters and songs. But the songs really let it down - nothing of the calibre of the songs in the original. Dick van Dyke's appearance is a highlight as he's the only cast member who conveys any of the feel good factor of the first film although he's obviously been passing on his linguistic Cockney skills to Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Surprisingly great and faithful as a sequel to the greatest childrens movie - Mary Poppins Returns review by Tej

The first film is in my all time favourite holiday film. It is a true classic that justifies its status. I never tire watching it simply because its such a magical film filled with the beautiful songs, and a practically perfect cast (yes Dick Van Dyke included! His cockney accent is way over criticised and although no one on earth sounds anything like that, it's charming and I am a born 47 year old Londoner!) and of course Julie Andrews voice and demeanour is mesmerising and unmatched.

So this sequel was a must see for me but I was realistic about my expectations for it. I don't expect it to be anywhere as good as the original but I hoped it would be at least an enjoyable film in its own right.

So, after watching the sequel, I was completely floored. I was on cloud Poppins. It's a huge shock to find that this movie captures the same feeling and quality as the original in almost every way. The songs are stunningly delightful, each one brilliantly performed with the most sumptuous lyrics but absolutely fitting for this surreal world of Mary Poppins. It's as if Robert Sherman was back from the place that "lost things go" to scribe all the songs with his brother. Each song holds its own to match the first film's songs yet one rehash of any of the original songs either.

The characters are as charming as the original in their own way and Mary Poppins herself was ALMOST practically perfect in every way. The versatile immensely talented Emily Blunt is not quite the match for the purity of Julie's voice and she does overdo the shoulder swinging a tad whereas Julie was far more natural in her demeanour...surprising giving Emily's elite standard of acting but she was terrific in her own way with a slightly edgier and aggressive but still playful portrayal. The rest of the cast is lovely with two DIsney legends popping in with a wonderfully substantial contribution of their own and such a joy to see them on the screen in what almost feels like a complete circle of life for those two legends. Streep, a relatively younger legend once again nearly steals the show too. Ben Wishaw is especially excellent as the grown up Bank's son with grief and troubles of his own. The children are lovely too.

The story and atmosphere is somewhat a reflection of the first film but it's not a complete rehash. It's simply a natural follow up and this is a sequel where we don't want drastic changes, we want familiarity and it delivers just that, beautifully,

This is as true a Mary Poppins sequel expansion that you could ever want, maintaining the magical feeling of the original. Quite outstanding.

I still advise you not to expect the quality of the original if you are a fan of the original but to just enjoy everything this love letter has to deliver.

Standout ballad: "Lost Things Go". Standout wacky song: "Turning Turtle"

4.5/10

Gave up after twenty minutes - Mary Poppins Returns review by CP Customer

It was so boring. The songs were forgettable. This was emphasised when Mary appears to the now grown upgrade Banks. A reprise of the original music is a leitmotif and shines like gold amongst the dross of the new music.

Beautiful, but inauthentic with no soul - Mary Poppins Returns review by TH

It was beautiful to look at as a series of vistas or scenes but the songs were doleful, and the narrative was largely pointless and predictable.

It made some obvious contemporary references (including Mary Poppins doing BMX tricks?!) which just didn't sit right. The historical placement was all over the place.

I also didn't like the importance that was placed on a wealthy family keeping their palatial London house at the expense and labour of all the street lighters (common folk). That feels very unaware and irrelevant in our current context.

Annoyingly well worth flying a kite for. - Mary Poppins Returns review by RP

When they first said they had made a sequel of one of the best loved children's films of all time. One had to ask why? Who could possibly play Mary Poppins once Julie Andrews is so comfortably singing in your brain. I do love Emily Blunt though and so despite the weird accent She uses I did watch it, with much trepidation. Annoyingly it works and works well. We could do without Meryl Streep character that adds nothing but a reminder of the original better song. We could do without some of the constant reprises of the songs. However that is being a bit harsh for the sake of it. The song by Dad to his late wife is a tearjerker and much of the story rides along happily with a'will they or wont they' solve the big problem given to them. As much as it annoys me to say. I was taking into the film and I guess my fears made me underestimate it. I never give five stars to any film other than the ones I intend to add to my collection. To my surprise I loved it.

Even Dick Van Dyke is there. - Mary Poppins Returns review by NC

Worth seeing just for 93 year old Dick Van Dyke in amazing form, plus Angela Lansbury as well!

To be fair I found it boring, but wife liked it. Not sure if a bit slow for kids, and do they like so much music? Not tried it out on any yet.

Is well done though. Blunt does well singing. Replacement for Van Dyke is very competent, but no match for the megga dynamics that was Dick.

The nice normal family live in Paddington type family house in London....circa 5Mill in todays money!

Good Songs but simply a Remake rather than anything new! - Mary Poppins Returns review by CS

This is called 'Mary Poppins Returns', but turns out to less of a sequel and much more of a remake, as the storyline keeps slipping back and badly attempting to reproduce the original, only in a much poorer style! Emily Blunt is rude, stuck up, arrogant, pompous and cold as a fridge in her role as Mary Poppins. The Lamplighter is quite a loveable rouge, as played by Lin Manuel, but really this is just a re-make of the same characters and new versions of old themes, with the same old storyline. Julie Walters is badly mis-cast as the house keeper and gives a completely over the top performance, a though it is she who is trying to steal the show! Ben Wishaw as Mr.Banks gives quite a good performance as usual, but his character really is quite bland, wishy washy and blatantly pushed to one side! There's lots of blatant product placement for Royal Doulton when they enter the realm of the broken pot, but the animation really is very good and well done and it's nice to see the original 60's style animation too. Then comes along the completely irrelevant but obligatory romance between the sister and the Lamplighter, so much so that this comes across as more about the blossoming romance between these two, especially as Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins has nothing to offer this film from her rather lacklustre acting! It's quite obvious that there are lots of blatant Feminist and Politically Correct elements throughout, would there really be lots of Black Staff working in a UK Bank in 1929, Disney need to stop being PC and show a bit of reality from this angle! What really stands out for me about this film though, rather unusually for Disney nowadays, is the great strength of the songs. Rather than going with all those awful warbling operatic numbers that seem to have become standard nowadays, they've gone back to the 60's and given us some great poppy singalong ones, just like in the original! So all in a good but average re-telling of the original, but could have been so much better!